Horse Betting Online – Tie A Yellow Ribbon
‘Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree’ was a number one hit song in April of 1973 but online betting speculators must now focus on real racing in Southern California as the Oak Tree stand is set to kick off.
Senator Ken Maddy will be honored on opening day, as a race in his name will be spotlighted. Maddy, of course, was a longtime friend of horseracing and $100,000 will be on the line in the about 6 and a half furlong fray on the hillside grass course but we’ll get into the contenders a bit later in this column.
One of the best things a horseplayer can have is the ability to put a race, or a race meeting behind you and move on. That is what must occur before the Oak Tree meet that starts on September 30 and one must forget about everything that happened at the recently concluded Fairplex meeting.
Okay, last year the Oak Tree meeting was held at Hollywood Park but there may be a trend about trainers that can be utilized as some barns just point to certain times of the years.
Last season, Peter Miller owned Oak Tree. He won with 14 of his 35 starters and only 8 starters ran out of the online casino websites money.
Eoin Harty won with 9 of his 20 starters and Tom Proctor was 4 for 15 and 6 others ran in the money.
Of course, there is nothing written in stone, but knowing what happened last meeting can’t be totally ignored.
As far as the meeting as a whole is concerned it’s the only time on the Southern California circuit that two consecutive conventional dirt tracks will be utilized.
Switching race meetings can offer unique betting opportunities for those that can project likely change. Take the move from Saratoga to Belmont. One cannot just assume that because a horse thrived in the upstate confines of New York, he'll be ready to roll again when he's back at Belmont. The same can be said of the beach crowd when they are forced to deal with traffic and smog again at the Fairplex meeting. And when they move to Oak Tree, that meeting will take on a world of its own.
As for the Maddy on Friday, a short and sweet sportsbook promo 6-pack will pit skills so let’s look at them from the rail out.
Waveline will take the same path she did last year into this race as she has finished 5th in her prior Maddy start now twice. Last season she was a clever 2nd in the Maddy, but that was going 6 furlongs on grass at Hollywood Park.
Unzip Me is out to defend her Maddy crown. She won her prep before the Maddy last year with a 96 Beyer and just posted a winning 97 figure taking the Daisycutter at Del Mar in August.
Broken Dreams could get away on the board as she is facing the same three that just beat her while Tanda is a double winner on the tricky hillside course here and is coming off a Grade 3 victory.
Separate Forest was a late third in her last, a $200,000 turf stakes in Philly. She has won thrice including a Grade 3 since being claimed by Doug O’Neill in her 2011 debut.
On the outside starts Givine, who was third in the Daisycutter and recently third again in a $95K Del Mar stakes on the Polytrack.
We’ve never been a big fan of the rail on this course so toss Waveline. Unzip Me is the one to beat but online players could do worse than take a shot at the speed of the race, Separate Forest, who beat Unzip Me on this course in April.
Back with Patrick Valenzuela, Forest just might forget to stop again.
The big guns will be out in full force this weekend at Oak Tree as three Grade 1s, all with $250,000 purses, will be on the menu.
The best juveniles in the West will square off in the Norfolk at a mile and a sixteenth, older runners will pit skills in the Goodwood going a sixteenth farther and distaffers will fight in the Lady’s Secret Stakes.
Juvenile fillies will take center stage on the first Sunday of the meet in the Oak Leaf Stakes and speedballs will rev their collective engines the following week in the Grade 1 Ancient Title Stakes at 6 furlongs.
State-breds will be in the spotlight closing weekend at Oak Tree as a total of 5 Cal-bred Stakes will be run starting with the two Juveniles divisions, followed by the Sprint and the Distaff sprinting on the hillside and finally the best Cal-breds in the state will square off in the Cal Cup Classic and 9 furlongs on turf.
A word to the wise must be stated regarding the Cal Cup. Year in and year out these races come up very tough and a win in one division can make a year for a smaller type barn. Never discount the chances of Northern California runners as they have popped at prices consistently on Cal Cup Day.
