Bad beat sob story: I livebet Duke +13.5 and with almost no time left they stopped fouling down by 11, game's pretty much over almost no time left. Then some bastard from Oregon throws up a deep three b/c the shotclock's running out and hits it and I get fucking backdoored at the last second. Fuck that one hurt lol.
Hey Blunt. I've been looking over some videos and some past performances getting ready for the Louisiana Derby tomorrow, and while I'm not crazy about any of these horses' chances as of now as far as the Derby goes, I'm going to be dropping down some money on Gun Runner to win this race tomorrow.
He won the last prep race at this track when he took the Risen Star, and I think that win is actually much more impressive than his margin of victory indicated since he was stalking behind a past pace all throughout the race whereas the 2nd and 3rd place finishers came from way back in a race that should have benefited their style. Gun Runner also made a couple of nice early moves in that race that suggests good tactical ability. The race tomorrow shouldn't have nearly the fractions that last race did, and his tactical speed says that he'll be in a good position to get first run on the leader(s). His Risen Star performance, as well as him being a Candy Ride colt, says the extra distance should be no issue at all. His workout patterns says he's ready to run as well. He fired a bullet in his 2nd to last workout and then had a maintenance work last time out. I always like to see that, and especially when it comes to a Steve Asmussen trained horse. That pattern alleviates some of what I think may be my only concern about Gun Runner in this race. Quite often a horse will underperform (or bounce if you will) in his next race after a big effort in his first start off a layoff, but that pattern suggests that that shouldn't be an issue tomorrow for Gun Runner.
Gun Runner will probably be the 2nd or 3rd choice in the betting tomorrow behind Mo Tom for sure, and possibly Greenpointcrusader. I wouldn't touch Greenpointcrusader tomorrow, though, since his best race was in the slop, has only had one race since in the past 5 months and that was 2 months ago, plus his recent workouts have been slow. I don't think he's ready to fire his best tomorrow and I've not seen evidence that his best effort on a dry track would even be good enough even if he was at his best. He's an auto-fade. Mo Tom is dangerous though. He had an excuse against Gun Runner in his last race as he had to check up some in the stretch. But he also had a pace setup that was much more to his advantage in that race as well. Plus I'm not sure if it really made a difference in the result since that little bit of trouble happened when he was well out of it. He reminds me of Keen Ice in a lot of ways in that he's a closer that starts his late run way too late. Makes him a good bet to fill out exotics, but not really a good bet to win unless there's a pace meltdown in front of him, which I definitely don't see happening tomorrow.
Speaking of pace and if looking for some value, Candy My Boy could offer a lot if looking for a longshot to play. There's a decent chance that he ends up being the lone speed in the race tomorrow, and if he gets an easy lead he could carry this field a long way since he is another Candy Ride colt that should have the stamina. He faded to 4th in the Risen Star, but it was still a good effort considering he was the pacesetter all throughout and finished less than 3 lengths back at the line. With a slower pace he could close that distance some and maybe even all the way to pull the upset. Tom's Ready had a very poor effort in the Risen Star, but he fits one of my favourite betting angles if looking for a longshot to fill out tris and supers. Closers who are forced to run fast early and mid race in their last race before fading late have been really good to me in the past. Tom's Ready has already showed this pattern twice before in fact and he's rebounded both times. Forced to run fast early in the Hopeful and then faded to 5th beaten by 12 legnths. In his next race he won by over 3 lengths. Forced to run fast early in another and then faded to finish 8th beaten 13 lengths. Came back in the race after that and finished 2nd by a neck. These races where closers have been forced to run fast early tend to be real lung openers for them and they tend to produce good results in their next race. I don't think Tom's Ready is a real win candidate considering competition. But I expect him to run well above what his odds indicate.
Not sure what bets I place beyond a win bet. But if I am looking at some exotic plays I may go;
Win bet: Gun Runner
Exacta: Gun Runner over Candy My Boy with maybe a smaller reverse
Trifecta: I'd probably box those two with Mo Tom and hope for the best. Maybe key Tom's Ready in the 3rd spot behind those other three on a few tickets.