Maiden King

When I looked at this race the night before, I couldn’t figure out why the morning-line maker was favoring #2 Sterling Outlook and #4 Roman Counsel over #9 Really Uptown.

In his two lifetime races, Really Uptown ran Beyer Speed Figures of 71 and 74, while Sterling Outlook earned just a 59 in his only race and second-time starter Roman Counsel got a 69 for his debut. The figures on the latter two horses would have been OK had they shown superior early speed, but Really Uptown pressed a quarter mile in 21-4/5ths seconds on May 7, while the other two sat behind a pace that was a full second slower in their debuts. Furthermore, in his May 7 race, Really Uptown broke out of the disadvantageous post postion number 6 at 4-1/2 furlongs, so he didn’t get an easy trip. 

Yet, the morning line had Sterling Outlook at 3-to-1, Roman Counsel at 5-to-2 and Really Uptown at 9-to-2. To me, something was very wrong with that picture.

During Saturday’s actual betting, the public pounded first-time starter #10 The Skinny Man down to 6-to-5 and sent Roman Counsel off as the 7-to-2 second choice. They were more realistic about Sterling Outlook’s chances, making him 5-to-1, and Really Uptown left the gate at 9-to-2.

During the running of the race, Roman Counsel shot from the stalls and quickly established a one-length lead on three horses: Sterling Outlook, #7 Southern Saint and The Skinny Man, who ran together into the turn. Meanwhile, jockey Victor Espinosa was content to sit four-lengths off the pace with Really Uptown.

But midway on the turn, Espinosa made a three-wide move with Really Uptown to get within a length of Roman Counsel who was game. He inched into that one’s lead, then Really Uptown got up in the final stride to beat his stablemate.

I bet $150 on first timers #1 Icey Temper at 13/1 and $150 on #5 Siete Machos at 19/1. Also, I had a $400 bet on Really Uptown for which I got back $2,250 resulting in a $1,550 profit.

© Copyright Maiden King, 2009. Written exclusively for  maidenking.wordpress.com. Not to be duplicated or reprinted.

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