Nattily Attired, But Not Well Armed

The old boy, Evening Attire, ventured down I-95 to Philadelphia Park to nab his first stakes victory outside of New York, The Greenwood Cup Handicap. After stalking very reasonable fractions through the first mile, Evening Attire started making his towards the front, making the lead at the top of the stretch and pulling away with every stride to an 8 length victory. Sent off as the co-2nd choice, he paid $6.40 to win and $3.20 to place, for a tournament score of $9.60.

That moved our total in the Breeders' Cup Fantasy Challenge to $106.80, good enough for a lead of $13.40.

We weren't quite as fortunate in Saturday's 2nd leg, the San Diego Handicap, as Well Armed proved to be well rested after his journey to Dubai. After contesting early fractions of :23.29 and :46.89, the Tiznow gelding still had plenty in the tank to hold off Surf Cat and the fast closing Mostacolli Mort. Sent off at 9.70-to-1, the late running Mort was the play here, based on a combination of lingering doubts about speed holding at Del Mar, the poor record of US horses in their first outing after Dubai, and the ability of Tyler Baze to sit a good trip with this late runner. Had they gone another furlong, or even another 1/16th, we might be celebrating another score. As it is, we were fortunate that our closest competitors were looking for value in the San Diego as well, as none of them had Well Armed or Surf Cat.

All told, we stretched our lead a little by hitting 1 of 2 on a chalky day. Stay tuned as we continue our march towards the National Handicapping Championship.