Posted on
12/7/2007 5:18:29 PM
Horse Racing Betting - Louisiana Champion’s Day Classic
By D.S. Williamson
On Louisiana Champion’s Day this figures to be the most watched and wagered on race. There is an obvious stand-out in this race, Costa Rising, who figures to get all of the play. When I say all of the play, I mean ALL of the play. Costa should be going off at 1 to 2 in this race, and, I have to admit, it took me some time to find a legitimate contender to Costa Rising in this spot.
Louisiana Champion’s Day Classic
$150,000
1 1/8 Miles on the Dirt - - Fairgrounds Racetrack
I did, however, because I refuse to wager on horses at odds of less than 6 to 5. I can’t do it. Even when they look like the only real horse in the race.
I settled on Southern Invasion in this race. Costa Rising only beat him by 2 ½ lengths the last time these two met and Southern Invasion has room to improve. He’s a 4-year old trained by Keith Burgeois and ridden by Larry Melancon. Both guys know the Fairgrounds as good as anybody. The knock, of course, is that the running lane says that Southern Invasion was no-match in his last race versus Costa Rising, but, hey, this is horse racing, right? You have to go for the price horse or else your bank-roll will explode into nothing like a frog full of Alka-Seltzer.
Who will finish in the tri? Why not Hallway? The knock against Hallway is that he is slow and will be behind the pack by about 14 lengths. By slow, I mean that he might get beat by $25,000 claimers out here at Hollywood Park. But, you know what? The horse comes out of the Steve Asmussen barn and Steve wouldn’t have this guy in here unless he thought he could pick up a nice check.
1. Southern Invasion
2. Costa Rising
3. Hallway
Grade III Native Diver Handicap
$100,000
1 1/8 Miles Cushion Track - - Hollywood Park
Great betting horse race as there are no less than five horses in here with a legitimate shot to win this. I settled on the Bobby Frankel horse, Rackateer. My thinking is that Ravel, out of Fusaichi Pegasus, and coming out of the Todd Pletcher barn, will get most of the play in this one. Ravel has the makings of an absolute bad-ass, but Pletcher won’t turn the screws on this guy until the spring. So, if you’re going to beat him, then this is the race to do it.
Rackateer beat Awesome Gem in his last race and lost to Fairbanks in the race before. He’s a four-year old who hasn’t quite put everything together yet, but Frankel hasn’t lost faith as Bobby could have put a number of horses in this one but chose to go with Hello Sunday and Rackateer. Don’t be surprised if Bobby sends Hello Sunday early to tackle Ravel and to set things up for Rackateer.
Rackateer will be closing, but that’s okay on this cushion track where there is a lot of other speed.
For the exact, I’m going to by-pass Ravel again and go with Ispingo. This guy goes turf to cushion for trainer Craig Dollase and has been training like a monster on the Hollywood cushion surface. I always like to take a shot with these turf horses who try the cushion or artificial. Ispingo will be up close to the pace and is a logical choice in the Exacta Box with Rackateer.
Ravel gets the third spot. His talent is unquestioned but at low odds against this group, I can’t endorse.
1. Rackateer
2. Ispingo
3. Ravel
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