The Turf Club Bathroom will be an occasional blog that I put together to provide mediocre handicapping, color commentary, and some picks that likely won't win. Thank god I didn't post this last night because I went 0-4 at Belmont today including 2 losses coming from Joel Rosario. Something honestly is wrong with him, I don't know how many losses it's going to take for him to realize maybe I shouldn't sleep the first 3/4th of the race. But like many things I say in my blogs, another story, for another day.
This first edition will include my take on the Belmont Stakes and the OTM crew is hitting Golden Gate Fields, so I will provide a play of the day there.
Should be a fun/interesting day, they are going to wear suits and look like the triple clowns. They don't realize the kind of establishment they are walking into. I grew up going to Del Mar, where the turf meets the surf. Hands down maybe the most pristine track in the country.
Golden Gate Fields is not Del Mar. Golden Gate Fields has... character. I will be nice and leave it at that since they somehow gave the head bozo in the suit a press pass. But I may or may not have seen a man relieve himself in the bathroom trashcan because he couldn't make it to the urinal. But hey, its closing weekend and that means we are about one month away from the real racing, Del Mar and Toga.
I love it at the track, it is one of my favorite places in the world. And I love horse racing, no matter how bad I am at betting it sometimes. Anyways, it's closing weekend and we have had a few big days at GGF before in the past. Basically this means we absolutely cannot lose, so lets go let it fucking rip!
Golden Gate Fields Race of the Day:
Golden Gate Fields is fun man, it by no means is the best racing but it also isn't the worst. And Saturday's card has some competitive races albeit not the best conditions. I really like the opening double and I think it could return for a decent score to kick our day off.
Race 1: Daily Double
L1: 5,3
L2: 4
In the first race, I have narrowed it down to two horses for this 6 furlong opening sprint. The most logical choice is the ML favorite, #5 Rivers Behest. The horse appears to be in a good vein of form coming off two back to back second place finishes at GGF, both sprinting, and both against similar competition. I also love that this horse had a light workout on the 6/3 coming into this race. He has hit the board in 5-9 starts at GGF including one win and looks well poised pending a good trip to graduate from the non lifetime winner of 2 condition.
I am adding #3 Rancho Red to my ticket as well. From my experience money is typically pretty spot on at GGF. While I do think the likely winner of the race is the #5, I would look like a real jackass to give you an opening double with both chalk to start this series. Rancho is 6-1 on the morning line and provides value for several reasons in my humble opinion:
BLUF; The horse has run big against slightly better and will need to take a step forward but could surprise at a price.
Bonus Play: 5/3 Exacta Box
For the second leg, we are going to single a horse. And it is super simple, on paper and likely in real life when they run this horse is far superior to others in the field. That horse is #4 Like No Other. Jonathan Wong moved a lot of his barn out of California but all of his horses remaining have to be taken seriously. This horse was running lower level stakes and is now dropping in to a $20k claiming race.
Horse is also getting lasix for the first time (Wong wins 19% of time 1st time lasix) and is over 20% going from turf to synthetic. Also doesn't hurt us that he gets Elvin Roman who is having a helluva meet. I think this horse runs huge down the stretch and cruises home for an easy daily double cash to give us some momentum headed into the rest of the day! Sometimes this is an easy game!
Best of luck to all tailing!
Belmont Stakes
I likely will be betting all of the major races at Belmont no matter how hard I try not to. The only one I will give out officially is, Angel of Empire in the main event, the Belmont Stakes.
I had the horse in the Arkansas Derby and he ran a huge effort. Loved his third place finish in the KY Derby even though I wasn't on him that day. Flavien is back aboard and will look to get Brad Cox the last leg of the Triple Crown. I can't bet the Baffert horse, I don't think the race sets up well for Mage but (Repole magic in NY could honestly come back to bite me in the ass), and I am not buying the Arcangelo hype, sorry.
Depending on how things go in Albany, I may or may not place a sizably responsible wager on Angel of Empire.
Good luck to all!
Bonus Note: Cody's Wish, the horse named after the kid with ailment is running again tomorrow. And I am going to try to beat him... again. This likely won't end well.
Social Media
Electric...
This is hype... Jonathan Wong baby!!