July 24 Saratoga ROI Wagers go here . . .

[JolyB]

Originally Posted by cal828

I kept thinking the weight of all those non-stop superlatives was a little too much. How many times have we seen the unbeatable get beaten?

Know what you mean Cal. That was a lot of weight for Malathaat to carry in terms of expectations. For all of that, I thought she ran an excellent race, only to lose by a long neck after being under pressure from Clariere early and vainly trying to fight off the late surge of Maracuja late. I think that Santana ought to share his fee with Irad for the assist in softening up Malathaat.

There is no such thing as a free square.

[RUFFIAN]

The Graveyard of Favorites added another stunning chapter to its legacy as Beach Haven Thoroughbreds' Maracuja took the lead in the final strides and handed 1-5 favorite Malathaat her first loss by capturing the $500,000 Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) for 3-year-old fillies July 24 at Saratoga Race Course.

Maracuja was last in the field of four for a brief time on the backstretch as Clairiere pressed the front-running Malathaat, who edged away from that rival at the top of the stretch. But in the final furlong, Maracuja, a daughter of Honor Code , found her best stride to notch a narrow victory.

Maracuja, gr/ro, 3/f
Honor Code — Patti's Regal Song, by Unbridled's Song

Owner: Beach Haven Thoroughbreds LLC
Breeder: River Bend Farm Inc., Austin Musselman & Janie Musselman (KY)
Trainer: Rob Atras
Jockey: Ricardo Santana, Jr.
Information provided by Equibase

[DonGuido]

Originally Posted by Real Quiet

For you Ruff that was a rather Pathetique wager.

For Ruff, more like Purrrthetique

[JolyB]

Heard a wonderful comment on Talking Horses this morning that was attributed to the late Harvey Pack. He said that Saratoga is not really the graveyard of favorites, it is the graveyard of bad handicappers.

Given that very few horseplayers are able to consistently overcome the takeout year after year, that probably includes most of us.

[DonGuido]

Originally Posted by JolyB

Heard a wonderful comment on Talking Horses this morning that was attributed to the late Harvey Pack. He said that Saratoga is not really the graveyard of favorites, it is the graveyard of bad handicappers.

Given that very few horseplayers are able to consistently overcome the takeout year after year, that probably includes most of us.

You'll see by the points scores that it was much more of a typical, tough day at The Spa than last week. Pretty good day for some on wagers but our points scores echo Harvey Pack's statement.

[cal828]

I just wish that takeout was a problem for me. When you lose most of the time like I do, the takeout is 100%.

On another subject, that loss yesterday by Malathaat reminded me of American Pharoah's race where Frosted took it too him early and cost him the loss. We get so impressed with them sometimes we forget they are not machines. The talking heads get it right more times than not, but they were laying it on so thick yesterday, the chance that Malathaat would lose just seemed to be palpable, but I have no doubt that she will be back and prevail hopefully in a much bigger field when the race dynamics are not against her. It was a great race though that we won't soon forget.