In keeping with our "real time" theme here, let's take a quick look at a couple of situations which could be relevant for tonight's card at the Meadowlands …
First, I need not say this, but I will. At least during this series, you should be saving ALL the Meadowlands charts. I will include the relevant portions here, at least for now, but to make things easier on me and you - have them ready.
Also -- during these daily supplements, I will be asking questions. The first person to respond with the correct answer for the question will get into GOLD CLUB for the upcoming month, so stay tuned.
Looking at the charts from the previous week, Wednesday April 14 -- our broad view of the nightly action reveals 6 of the 10 races where the front end either won, or came pretty close.
This week's topic was the broad view and understanding the nature of the early speed, so let's turn to the charts, and look at what I feel was the key race of that evening in terms of early pace - Race 2.
M ,19990414,6,02 THE MEADOWLANDS RACE DATE: 04/14/1999
RACE: 02 TYPE: LATE BETTING CLASS: 3yrFnw2LcJ GAIT: PACE
EVENT:
PURSE: 12,500 TRACK COND: FAST TIME: 0:27.1 - 0:56.4 - 1:28.1 - 1:56.1
-- TIME --
HORSE NAME POST 1/4 1/2 3/4 STRETCH FINISH ACTUAL LQ ODDS
WHITE HOT HANOVER 5 4p 1p 1 1/1Q 1/2Q 1:56.1 28 *100
MONITRIX 2 6 8 7p 6/6 2/2Q 1:56.3 27.2 1180
CORRUPTIBLE 3 7 5p 4p 4/3 3/2H 1:56.3 28 1740
WEST COAST YANKEE 4 3 4 2p 2/1Q 4/2H 1:56.3 28.2 1850
POWER OF THUNDER 8 1 2 3 3/1H 5/3 1:56.4 28.1 960
MZ FIZZ BALL 6 8 9 9p 8/7Q 6/3 1:56.4 27.2 5520
PASS WITH CAUTION 1 5 6 8 9/7H 7/3H 1:56.4 27.3 430
SEA SEARCH 10 2 3 5 5/4T 8/4T 1:57.1 28.2 6780
BYDAWNEARLYLITE 7 9 7p 6p 7/7 9/7T 1:57.4 28.4 1200
JODI ST LAURENT 9X X10 10 10 10/DIS 10/DIS 570
DRIVERS: C.R. MANZI, J.G. MOISEYEV, L.R. OUELLETTE, C.J. RYDER,
D.S. MILLER, R.D. PIERCE, J.D. CAMPBELL, M. ROMANO, M. LUPO,
M. LACHANCE
|
In this race, it looks like we had 3 leavers: #5 WHITE HOT HANOVER, #8 POWER OF THUNDER and #10 SEA SEARCH. #8 looks like he gets the top pretty easy as none of the inside horses appeared to show any early foot. #10 fires out of there and gets a hole easily on the turn as no speed duel is indicated. #5 continues to grind his way up uncovered. Now, you will notice that #8 is ahead of #10 on the rail. This could mean that the #10 just left and took a quick seat behind him. It also could mean that the 10 got the top and the 8 retook. There would be a difference here, as each move takes energy. I lean toward the first explanation in this case because the first quarter was very fast, the #1 and #2 horses got away 5th and 6th respectively, meaning that it is likely that there was a place to drop in. Also, on that fast a pace, it is hard for a horse from post 10 to get the lead, and have the retake already completed BEFORE the ¼ . So that's the story line I will go on. As such, the leave by #10 becomes a bit less impressive. Moving forward, we see at the half that #8 is still holding the lead on the rail and is parking out the even-money choice #5. #5 takes command after the half. #3 CORRUPTIBLE was trying to use #5 for cover but was unable to keep up and winds up going on with a mild uncovered bid in the far turn. #5 justifies the crowd support by continuing on to a snappy win. The first half of the race was paced in 56.4, while the second half was a pedestrian 59.2. Particularly slow was the 3rd quarter which was backed down to 31.2 when the pace quickened turning for home.
Clearly, WHITE HOT HANOVER was used effectively during the most important part of this race, and must be considered IN SHAPE off of this effort. POWER OF THUNDER also runs a very respectable race here, having dueled through that whole first half - though he tired a bit, none of the horses who passed him in the stretch were used at all during the fast part of this race - all 3 did their work EXCLUSIVELY during the slower portions.
WHITE HOT HANOVER is in tonight, Wednesday April 21. I have not seen the program yet, but we know he is in shape. POWER OF THUNDER is in tonight's first race, from post 9
I am hesitant to give any sort of positive nod toward horses who closed here because of the slow fractions. Certainly CORRUPTIBLE had little here. Sometimes, when the 3rd quarter slows markedly, this has a negative impact on horses trying to come from way back and they could be worth looking at, but they must have been in shape coming into the race.
TODAY'S BONUS QUESTION IS: Of the 10 races, which race is probably the most important one to look at, in terms of the closers? In other words, if you were looking to find a sharp closer based on his performance on this evening, to which race would you look?