Weather again threatens to disrupt good racing weekend
Weather continues to wreak havoc with the racing calendar as venues deal with a strange and harsh winter. It’s in the 40’s at Gulfstream right now (7am), and though it should reach 70 degrees, rain may hit mid-afternoon, and there is a chance of a thunderstorm around 4pm which would affect the G3 Sabin (4:12p) and terrific G2 Davona Dale (4:43p). The card at Hallandale is compelling, with the three graded stakes and a P3 (2nd-4th) of one mile events for sophomore boys that should produce a few important types moving forward.
At Santa Anita, the G3 Sham is the key race as 10 three year olds audition for spots in the Santa Anita or maybe Sunland Derby. But the forecast is not good for Arcadia, and there’s no way to know at this time if the problematic surface has already taken enough water to consider a cancellation. Rick Hammerle explained yesterday that the races on the downhill course are always the first to come of the turf, and that could impact the Magna 5 which includes the SA 4th as it’s 2nd leg. Watch here for the any changes to this week’s penta-pick which is the most difficult sequence of the M5 season yet.
Speaking of Santa Anita, Frank Stronach is in California and will be meeting with Ron Charles and company about the impending decision on a new main track surface. Increasingly, the mercurial Austrian-Canadian appears like a Mel Brooks-film character on acid, and is now mumbling about another attempt at a synthetic cake frosting for the main track, this time something that sounds like a version of Fibresand as discussed by Steve Crist yesterday. This of course comes after a majority of interested parties were thrilled at the prospect of a new dirt track at the Great Race Place. Stay tuned…
Gulfstream Park
R7 – Clm 20k N2L (Inner Turf 8.5F)
#2 Distant Strike
#9 Pentecost
#6 Fastus Catus
#5 Henderson
R8 – Clm 35k (Outer Turf 5F)
#3 Bernard Terrace
#2 Sarah’s Tiger
#8 Sure Success
#1 Pinchin Entry
R9 – G2 Mac Diarmida (Inner Turf 11F)
#8 Expansion
#2 Winchester
#6 Thou Swell
#4 Precious Passion
Ex Box 2 8
R10 – MSW 45k (Outer Turf 5F)
#5 Top Yank
#4 Morethanatale
#2 Cause I Can
#12 She’s Packin Heat
PK4 – 2 9 / 1 2 3 4 6 8 9 / 2 8 / 2 4 5 12 = $56 ($.50 play)
Good Racing Luck