Day 35 - HASKELL DAY - July 31, 2011

Here is the preliminary look at the HASKELL card. I will be back throughout the day as long as I can find space in the press box. Most days there are only 2 writers, me and a DRF guy, but I am sure it will be a zoo on Sunday. I don't know the pecking order and the protocol, so who knows what will happen.

Pick 5: 2 with 1,3,7 with 2,8,10 with 2,8,9 with 3,8.

Place Pick 6: this is a huge ticket that I will let you trim as you please, but the payoffs have been enormous the past several days, so I may really go after it today. (2),5,9 with 2,3,4,7 with 2,8 with 1,(3),7 with 2,8,10 with 2,8,9.

The Day Before the Haskell.

Before Saturday's third race Shackleford schooled in the paddock at Monmouth. He looked very much on the muscle, putting on quite a show for the crowd that gathered. There were television crews preparing for tomorrow's national broadcast on ABC and lots of photographers. The owners of Shackleford were quite happy with what they saw; buzzing with eachother and on their cell phones.

Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey and Janine Edwards, both members of the ABC team spent a lot of time talking with Trainer Dale Romans as they watched Shackleford prance around the saddling area.

I will be heading to Monmouth early tomorrow to go the stable area first, in hopes of seeing some of the other Haskell starters. High on my list is Bob Baffert and his runner, Coil.

See you there. I will try and TWEET @AndyScoggin and post photos from The Haskell.

Day 34 - Saturday, July 30, 2011

Here is a detailed analysis of the Pick 5.

RACE 6: The Pick 5 starts with an overnight stake for turf sprinters. 1) Tiger Cat Lilly - trained by Michael Pino who is winning at 60% with his Mth shippers. Great win in NW1 off layoff. 2) Holding For Kitten - ran two big races including a stake before shipping to the Royal Ascot meeting for Wesley Ward, who is winning at 42% at Mth. 5) Cascadilla Falls - Last two races were super for Bill Mott, super fast filly.

RACE 7: MSW where I am completely unimpressed with most of them. A bunch of horses who have shown that they don't want to win and now some of them are being switched turf to dirt, out of desperation. I will let them beat me. Two horses come out of a very fast sprint at Mth on July 10. I think they both could beat this group. 8) Solid Guy - Sacco put blinkers on and 9) Alke John - trained by Broome who is 25% with 2nd start Mdn.

RACE 8: A very tough open claimer on the turf. I will use 5 horses. 1) Virsito - nice race last out at Bel for Goldberg, who could have a big day today. 3) High Aspirations - throw out that last race, the two prior races are good enough to win here. 4) Tangled Tango - First off the claim. He is in great form now. 7) Shipwreckstreasure - has the speed in here. 10) Empty Handed - Don't know what happened last race, but the one before will win here.

RACE 9: NJ bred starter allowance where again I don't like the usual suspects and I will go with the two outsiders. 9) Developing Story - Wesley Ward, her Beyers are way better than the rest. Is dirt her best surface? 8) - Splendored Thing - His two past Jersey bred races could win here. 2) Double Desert - is the best of the regulars.

RACE 10: I will single the 4) Nefertini. I saw her first time win and the 61 Beyer does not fit the impressiveness of her race. She destroyed that race with a tremendous burst of speed and then coasted home for the final sixteenth. This could be a good one for Goldberg. She was bet down to 8-5 at Prx.Place Pick 6: 3,4,9 with 1,6 with 1,2,5 with 1,8 with 4,7 with 9 for $36. GOOD LUCK!

UPDATE-7:20pm- Races came off of the turf and our plays were scratched!

Let me know if you are going to the HASKELL, so we can meet up. Leave a comment here or TWEET me @AndyScoggin.

Day 33 - Saturday, July 30, 2011

I only have the Place Pick 6 today, as I have been really busy with all the Haskell goings on. Let's expand the size of the play, just to shake things up: 1,5 with 1,9,12, (14AE) with 2,3 with 4,8,10 with 1,5,8 with 4, that's $54. Highlighted horses could be singles if you want.

Haskell Press Conference Day - Thursday, July 28, 2011

Here are photos from Haskell Press Conference Day.

5-2 Morning line favorite and Preakness winner, Shackleford, in his Monmouth stall late this morning after eating his lunch. Trainer Dale Romans said, "We’ll just let him run, and if he goes to the lead fine, and if somebody wants to gun, we’ll just sit right off of them."


That's my post position draw sheet filled out with Brad Thomas' morning line odds. Bob Baffert's Coil is the second choice at 3-1. Baffert is 4 for 4 with his Haskell entrants since winning with Point Given in 2001. He gave Coil the following evaluation, "He's trained really well, I think he's going to run a big race, and we're going to find out how good he is. Does he want to go a mile and an eighth or is it too far for him?"

I got to eat lunch with Ray Kerrison, the veteran racing reporter for the NY Post, and his wife. We talked about Monmouth and Saratoga and I asked him who is his favorite horse of all time? Kerrison said that it is 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew because he had a unique spirit and energy.

Who is going to get the $600,000 winner's share of the purse and the Haskell trophy? There is a lot of speed in the race and that should set up for a closer, but Shackleford turned away all challenges in the Preakness. Monmouth is a track he should like and he is well rested. However, it is hard to go against Baffert in the Haskell. Pants On Fire has home field advantage and could offer good betting value if near his 4-1 ML odds.

Best of all, I already got my Haskell Hat, actually I got two of them. Is there anything to the resemblance between the hat logo and the silks of last year's winner Lookin At Lucky and this year's Mike Pegram owned Coil? Hmmm.


All in all it was a great day at the track for AndyScoggin.

Haskell Week

It is Haskell Invitational week at Monmouth. The Haskell will be run on Sunday, July 31, as part of a 14 race card that includes 8 stakes races. The late Pick 4 on races 11-14 has a $250,000 guarantee and the Pick 5 has a $100,ooo minimum pool.
HorseRacingNation.com has all the Haskell coverage that you will need. Today a Haskell v. Travers debate was posted. I wrote the Haskell point of view, so join in and give our NJ race all the support it deserves. HorseRacingNation.com

Thursday at noon I will be live TWEETING @AndyScoggin from the Haskell Press Conference. Find out the post position draw as it happens and then any interesting comments from the connections of the entrants.Sunday will be a great day of racing and you get you Haskell Hat with paid grandstand admission. Let me know if you will be at the track, so we can meet up!

Day 30 - Monday is Friday, July 22, 2011

Day 30 AGAIN - Monday is Friday!

There have been scratches since Friday, so I will make some changes also. In the Place Pick 6: 2,4,5 with 1,5,7 with 1 with 1,6 with 3,6,8 with 1 for $27.

Here is a modified Pick 5 play.