Free Selection For Monday 12/28

Today's freebie comes in the 8th race, The Eddie Logan Stakes. We are making a win bet on number 1, Alfarabi here.


8th Race #1-Alfarabi

Free Selection For Sunday 12/27

Over to the 5th race at Santa Anita today for the daily free selection. This is a one mile turf event, optional claiming $32,000. A very wide open race here and we will take a shot with #8, Big Wig. This is his second start off of a year long layoff and he ran decent in his comebacker on December 4th. We will use him in the exotics along with a small win bet.


Santa Anita 5th Race: #8 Big Wig

Santa Anita Free Selection For 12/26

Today is opening day at Santa Anita and we hope to see some more competitive fields over here. Today's free selection comes in the 8th race on the program, the La Brea Stakes.

Going with the number 4 in here, Amazed By Grace with Go Go. Let's just hope that we get the 6-1 price that she is on the morning line.

Santa Anita Race 8-#4 Amazed By Grace

Hollywood Park Free Selection For 12/20

Today, we go to the fifth race over at Hollywood Park which closes after today for the holiday break. This is an optional claimer for fillies 3 and up going 6 furlongs on the turf.

Our selection here is the number 5 horse, A Jealous Woman. She broke her maiden last time out over the same layout after a four month layoff. Joe Talamo stays with her for this one and she has been training well for this, her first start against winners. Bill Spawr is hot right now with a 32% win rate from 19 starters. Let's see if we can end the meet with another winner.

Hollywood Park Race 5-Number 4 A Jealous Woman

Hollywood Park Free Selection For 12/19

Today's free selection goes in the 4th race, The Stuka Stakes for two year olds sprinting on the cushion track. I think the sharpest horse in here could be the number 5 horse, Cardiff Giant. Let's take a shot with Periban here as he is having a good meet and retains Santiago-Reyes to ride this one.

Hollywood Park 4th Race: #5 Cardiff Giant

Hollywood Park Free Selection For 12/18

Today's free selection comes in the fourth race, a nonwinners of one for fillies 3 years old and up. We are going to stick with the combo of Baffert-Garcia and go with the number 4 horse, Toro Bonito. She has been off since February of 09 but has been training well for this comeback. She is 4-1 on the morning line and looks spotted for the win today.

Hollywood Park Race 4- #4 Toro Bonito

Hollywood Park Free Selection For 12/17

Today's free pick comes in the fourth race, a group of 2 year-old maidens going 1 1/16 miles over the cushion. A full field of seven goes here..well seven is a big field right now in Southern California..

Our pick is number 3, Broken Tango, a second-time starter from Bob Baffert. Has one route under his belt and Baffert has Martin Garcia riding here. They have hit with a 37% win rate over the last 60 starts when teamed up. Should get some value in a wide open race.


Race 4-#3 Broken Tango

Hollywood Park Free Selection For 12/10/09

We finally broke through yesterday with Quoted in the sixth race paying $11.00 to win. Let's try to make it two in a row today with another nice priced horse.

Today's third race has only six entrants, and I will take a stand against the morning line favorites here. These are two-year olds going two turns, and I like the #1 horse, Ballerina Angel. I see this filly up close early or maybe even leading as she exits a couple of sprint preps for this race. Let's see if we can steal one here.

Hollywood Race #3-Ballerina Angel

Hollywood Park Free Selection For 12/9/09

Sunday's selection just missed so we forge ahead today and hope we get into the winner's circle..

Today's free selection comes in the sixth race. This is a turf sprint for maidens and our pick in here is #7 Quoted. This horse is sharp right now and was just claimed by Doug O'Neill on Thanksgiving day. This guy should have what it takes against these to graduate today.

Hollywood 6th Race-#7 Quoted

Hollywood Park Free Selection For 12/6/09

We will go over to Hollywood's sixth race today, a one mile event over the turf course. Very wide open race here which should offer some value.

Our free selection today is the number 4, Art Currency. This one is trained by Mike Mitchell and gets Joel Rosario to ride today at what should be a fair price. There should be enough early speed in here to set up this colt's late run. Let's see if we can break into the winner's circle today as we have been coming close but no cigar with our free selections.


Hollywood-6th Race- #4 Art Currency

Hollywood Park Free Selection For 12/4/09

Over to the 3rd race, the Winter Stakes for fillies 3 and up. Going to take a shot in here with #4 Reba Is Tops. She has the perfect running style for this race as there is alot of early speed in here. Let's hope she can sit just off the pace and pounce late to get up for the win.


Hollywood Race 3-#4 Reba Is Tops

Hollywood Park Free Selection For 12/3

Today's 5th race looks to offer some value and we are going with #7 Dreamalong here. The Julio Canani barn is red hot right now and this girl has had a nice prep race and two strong works after a short layoff.


Hollywood 5th race: #7-Dreamalong

Hollywood Park Free Selection For Sunday 11/29

Today, the Grass Festival continues over at Hollywood Park and we go to the 5th race, The Miesque Stakes for our free selection.

We are going to take a shot with the 2 horse, Camille C. She is sharp at the moment and tries turf for the first time, but we think she is a good fit in here, and at 12-1 on the morning line, she may offer some value in the exotics as well. We also get the hot-riding Joe Talamo with her.

5th Race-Hollywood...#2 Camille C.

Hollywood Park Free Selection For 11/26/09

We got scratched yesterday and will try again with a play in the 5th race today. Going to use the number 4 horse, Fitzmo. This horse returns from a long layoff and is showing some sharp workouts. Garrett Gomez will ride and should have him in the perfect spot stalking just behind the speed here.

Don't forget about the early post time today..Happy Thanksgiving!


Hollywood 5th Race-#4 Fitzmo

Hollywood Park Free Selection For 11/25

Today we go to the sixth race, a maiden race for 2 year old fillies going one mile on the grass. We are going with number 2, On The Cover. She makes her second career start here and has two works, one of them at 7 furlongs since her debut on November 1st. Joel Rosario rides today and this filly should make a good showing of herself.


Hollywood 6th Race-#2 On The Cover

Handicapping: Trip Notes And Track Bias

One of the ways you can get a jump on the competition (the other bettors at the track and simulcast locations), is to keep accurate, detailed records of the things that you see during the running of the races.

We call these "Trip Notes" and what they consist of are notations that you can make during or after the race. These notations can be made when you see a horse experience some kind of trouble during the running of the race or at the start. Look for things especially that are not too obvious as the most obvious incidents will be also be noted by your competition, the other astute handicappers in the crowd. One of the things I like to look for are a bad start, then the horse makes a strong middle move during the race on the backstretch and gets into contention, then falls back late. If this horse comes back within a 14 day period, I give it a strong chance next time out.

Also, look for horses in a sprint race that make a fast move of any kind during the middle of the race, especially those races which are the first or second races after a layoff. When they are stretched out next time to a route race and have proven that they can win routing, they deserve a second look. This signifies that the horse is fit and competitive and is ready to win if the trainer is smart enough to place him at the right class level and distance next time out.

Another way to gain an advantage over the crowd is to take note of track bias when it occurs. You can take a look at the charts for each day or watch the replays and take note of any trend toward a certain running style as far as the winners are concerned. If all or most of the winners for that day led or were very close to the pace, the track may have been favoring speed. This is true especially if there were a couple of long shot winners that day that got loose on the lead and were aided by the bias. You can also note where on the track the winners were running; inside or outside. If a horse was making a strong move but came very wide into the stretch against a bias that favored inside early speed, he may be worth an extra look next time out. You can develop a nice "Horses to Watch" list from this method that works well and gives you an advantage when looking at their upcoming races.

You should still apply your other handicapping principles to the races when these horses return, but these two methods will help you uncover some nice winners that the crowd may overlook because they did not do the extra work of taking trip notes and checking for biases.

Churchill Free Selection For Thursday June 18th

We keep getting scratched with our free selection here. Happened again yesterday at Monmouth. Our free pick for today goes at Churchill in the 8th race and it is number 4-Morakami who is listed at 5-1 on the morning line. Let's hope this one goes today.


8th Race Churchill Downs-Number 4 Morakami

Free Selection For Wednesday June 17th

We will head over to Monmouth today with our freebie. In the 8th race, we will take a shot with number 7, Aspiring Nick. He is working sharp for this, his second race off a layoff since October and we think he will be right there today.

Monmouth-Race 8-#7 Aspiring Nick

Philly Park 9th Race Monday

Today's free pick is in the ninth race over at Philadelphia Park. We are going with number five- Cardashi.

Our last free selection, Kiddari, was scratched out on Friday at Churchill but came back the next day to win at $10.00. Hope you were able to catch that one. I was busy competing in a qualifier for the DRF NHC here in Vegas..

Philadelphia Park 9th Race: #5 Cardashi

Thanks for reading.

Churchill Downs Free Selection

Our pick yesterday was scratched so we will forge ahead today by turning to the 9th at Churchill. We are going with Kiddari, number 8, who is listed at 6-1 on the morning line.


Churchill 9th Race: #8 Kiddari

Belmont Park Free Selection For June 11th

Over at Belmont in the 8th race, we have one going today. Our pick is number three, Dr. Smarty Jack. We like Christophe Clement's ability to place his maiden winners and there should be some value here. Also like Rajiv Maragh returning to ride this one. Should be live today.

Belmont 8th Race: Dr. Smarty Jack

2009 Belmont Stakes

We have almost reached the end of the Triple Crown series for 2009 with the Belmont Stakes to be run this Saturday. With all of the drama of whether Rachel Alexandra was going to run or not behind us now, we can concentrate on trying to find the winner of the race.

I will probably go with Chocolate Candy, the fifth place finisher in the Derby. He has a good turn of foot and will make his move on the turn for home, and with Garrett Gomez riding, I feel good about his chances. He is fresh since he has not run since the Derby, been working very good over the Belmont surface and I think his running style will fit like a glove in this race.

Mine That Bird will be far back early and unless he gets going sooner than he did in the Derby, I think his chances are compromised. Although Calvin Borel has been riding up a storm lately, he better time his move just right or the horse will come up short.

Charitable Man will be able to make the lead and if he gets away with slow fractions, he could wire the field. He should have company on the front end though and I am hoping for a decent pace for Chocolate Candy to run at.

Maybe an exacta key with Chocolate Candy over Mine That Bird and Charitable Man will do the trick..

Zenyatta, Rachel And Mine That Bird

Racing needs all the help it can get in the popularity department. Right now, we have three horses with intriguing stories in the making. I'm talking about Zenyatta, Mine That Bird and Rachel Alexandra.

Mine That Bird's victory in this years' Kentucky Derby is proof that three year olds can improve drastically at any time, especially this time of year. His path to the Derby was less than glamorous and out of the mainstream. He came into the Derby from Sunland Park after being in Canada where he was that country's two year old of the year. Maybe the condition of the Churchill Downs track that day helped him to make that explosive run, maybe it was Calvin Borel, the path that he took along the rail or maybe it was a combination of the three. He then validated his performance by finishing a closing second to Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness Stakes two weeks later.

Speaking of Rachel, she is now undefeated in five starts, beating the colts in the Preakness very handily. We are still waiting to see if she will be given the ultimate test, the mile and a half Belmont Stakes where she will face Mine That Bird again along with some new faces from the three year old division who were not there in Baltimore last week. She is a very special horse and racing is blessed for having her around right now.

Last, but not least is Zenyatta. She is my favorite runner to watch right now, Yesterday's Milady Handicap at Hollywood Park was her latest conquest, coming after seven months off. The way she puts her head down and spreads her ears out while mowing down the competition is poetry in motion. She has done that in every one of her races and I cannot see her ever getting beat. I think that she can finish her career undefeated as long as she's healthy. She just has a desire to win like I have never seen before. How about a showdown in the Ladies Classic this fall at Santa Anita between Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta?

Racing could really use it.

Hollywood Park Free Selection

Today we are going with one in the sixth race. The horse is number 3, Wineshine. Aaron Gryder takes the call for Craig Lewis who recently claimed this horse. Lewis does well first after the claim and has a high win percentage when using Gryder.


Race 6- #3 Wineshine

Santa Anita Saturday April 11th-Free Selection

Today, our free selection comes in the 7th at Santa Anita, the La Puente stakes. Our horse here is #3 Leedstheway, with Joe Talamo up. This one is listed at 8-1 on the morning line and should get a ground saving trip, hopefully with something left turning for home. The favorite, Battle Of Hastings will break from the 11 post, seems to have to be near or on the lead and should have to race wide throughout the mile over the turf. Joe Talamo has really come into his own of late and also has shown that he can be patient with a horse and make that one big move at the right time.

That is the essence of turf racing and jockeys are a big factor when handicapping turf routes.


7th Race: #3 Leedstheway

Vegas Turf And Sports-Free Selection, Monday Feburary 16th

I have to apologize here for the lack of updated information on our website currently. The webmaster has had some issues updating the site and there is no end in site for this problem.

I am preparing for the Horseplayer World Series coming up in a few days here in Las Vegas at the Orleans Hotel. Here is a free selection going today at Santa Anita:

7th Race Number 5-Gallant Son

After this week, we should be posting some free selections here on the blog. Check back starting the week of Feburary 23rd. Our NBA totals have been strong lately going 19-8 in the last two weeks. Our members have been cleaning up..Feel free to visit the site and patronize our sponsors in the mean time.

Thanks for reading..

Joey D

Super Bowl 2009

Our team has varied opinions on today's Super Bowl, and I will share what the consensus says here today..

We are taking the points and the Arizona Cardinals. The Cards should keep it close enough and cover, but will probably get beat straight up by the Steelers. We look for a high scoring, fun to watch game today with the Steelers coming out at the other end as world champs. Of course, you must obviously get seven points if you are taking Arizona, and it is available with just a little shopping around. Some books have moved it down to 6.5 but there are some sevens still around.

Cardinals plus the 7, and enjoy the game.

Thanks for reading....

Free Selection From Vegas Turf And Sports

We will release one of our Southern California race picks here today; in the final race today over at Santa Anita, the eighth race, we are going with number 4, Wolfgang. This one is listed at 10-1 on the morning line and looks like a strong contender in this event.

Please go to www.vegasturfandsports.com and check out all of our services.


Thanks for reading..

Free Selections From Vegas Turf And Sports

We will release a couple of freebies here today for our regular readers and here they are:

Santa Anita 7th Race: Number 2 -Squallcreek

NFL Playoff Game: San Diego-Pittsburgh -Under 37.5

Our NFL members went 2 for 2 yesterday as we had both dogs.

Our Souther California racing members had a nice winner in the feature yesterday as our Play Of The Day, Cowboy Cal won and paid $7.60. Our other selection, Outlaw Yodeler, won and paid $9.20..not a bad day at all!!

Visit us at www.vegasturfandsports.com to see how you can become involved. We have services starting at $20.00.

Thanks for reading....

Free Selection For Sunday January 4th

We would like to wish everybody a Happy New Year from the staff over here and we will begin 2009 with a free selection over at Santa Anita. Go to www.vegasturfandsports.com to sign up to receive all of our selections every day.

In the eighth race, we are going with the number 2 horse, Nikki'sgoldensteed. This horse is adding blinkers back on today and may get an easy lead with Mike Smith aboard and be able to take this one gate to wire.

Thanks for reading..