Archive for September 2013

Illinois Racing Disaster Kit

What follows is not a rigorous report on the Illinois Racing Board’s yearly Dates Hearing on Tuesday September 24.  What follows is more reactionary; we’ll leave the rigorous reporting to the Daily Racing Form. To summarize: the Illinois Racing Board passed four schedules, with the best case scenario essentially mirroring this year’s schedule.  However, two... Read more »
By Paul Mazur,
September 25, 2013 at 8:01 pm
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The Pizza Man Gets the Dough in the Illinois Owners

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS — The last stakes of the 2013 Arlington Park season, the $65,000 Charles Springer Memorial Illinois Owners Stake, was contested on a crisp afternoon. From the first flash opening, THE PIZZA MAN was made a strong favorite in the wagering, the price below even odds until the post parade.  And THE PIZZA MAN... Read more »
By Paul Mazur,
September 21, 2013 at 5:47 pm
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Illinois Owners' Stakes Preview

Sometimes the conditions of a race (printed at the top of a program or past performance sheet, or in a condition book) look like strange jibber-jabber. This week’s stakes at Arlington Park is a good example. Here’s how the conditions read: Purse $65,000. For Three-Year-Olds And Upward, Where At Least 51% Of The Horses’ Recorded... Read more »
By Paul Mazur,
September 18, 2013 at 7:42 pm
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I'm Already Sexy Struts Home a Pucker Up Winner

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS — A field of eight was behind the gate in the $175,000 G3 Pucker Up on a seasonable late-summer September afternoon.  To the wagering and attending crowd, it was a familiar bunch of three-year-old fillies that saw the starter. Six of the eight runners exited the Hatoof Stakes on Arlington Million Day, a... Read more »
By Paul Mazur,
September 14, 2013 at 7:00 pm
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Pucker Up Stakes Preview

Wander around Chicago and its suburbs long enough and you’ll find something with the namesake of Dan and Ada Rice. The combination of their first names is sometimes used as well, Danada.  The Rices donated to a number of philanthropic causes, and their house in Wheaton remains in operation. Danada House in Wheaton. The Rices... Read more »
By Paul Mazur,
September 11, 2013 at 9:59 pm
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Arlington-Washington Futurity Day Stakes Recap

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS — The northwest suburban oval staged its traditional features for two-year-old horses on a warm, humid early-September afternoon.  Both races, the Arlington-Washington Futurity and Arlington-Washington Lassie, were contested at one mile around one turn on the polytrack. Arlington-Washington Futurity: All About SOLITARY RANGER The first was the open company Futurity, a Grade 3... Read more »
By Paul Mazur,
September 8, 2013 at 10:33 am
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Arlington-Washington Futurity Day Preview

I’ve always had a soft spot for the two races, both for two-year-olds, that Arlington Park has as a double feature this Saturday. The first time I attended Arlington Park was Arlington-Washington Futurity Day, 2008. Two years later, when the Futurity and Lassie occupied a common day (they didn’t in 2008), I was back at... Read more »
By Paul Mazur,
September 4, 2013 at 9:19 pm
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Betting (and Not Betting) Your Opinions

Commenter “Turnbackthealarm” hoped that I played the WILLCOX INN/GALLANT EAGLE exacta in Saturday’s G3 Washington Park Handicap. The short answer, as given in the comments to the prior post, was that I strictly played GALLANT EAGLE to show. The longer answer, which includes a good bit of wagering and gambling mentality, follows.  It’s a nuts-and-bolts... Read more »
By Paul Mazur,
September 1, 2013 at 5:43 pm
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