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Casper's Preakness Preview

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CASPERWAIT$

Drama Moobs Your Mom
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The year was 1978. Hungry Hungry Hippos was all the rage, everyone's favorite humble basketball player Kobe Bryant was born and the last Triple Crown winner Affirmed won the Preakness. In honor of this accomplishment and that wonderful year, I have paired a 1978 movie with every horse in Saturday's Preakness.

Dynamic Impact (12-1)
The Deer Hunter: Much like this film, Dynamic Impact started his career off slow (lost first 3 races as a two year old) but has made an impressive go at it as of late winning two of his last three starts. Like the cast of this movie (Christopher Walken Robert De Niro Meryl Streep) Dynamic Impact will have staying power and at 12-1 this horse can be an interesting play in exotic betting.

General A Rod (15-1)
Foul Play: Although this horse didnt impress in the Derby finishing 11th he has a new jockey with Javier Castellano. That change will be significant as Castellano has won the Preakness riding Bernardini in 2006. Like the movie, General could be considered a mystery in this race with an undertone of comedic value. If he can get near the lead at the offset, we can see a laugher in the making. If this horse is going to win, its going to happen early and going away.


California Chrome (3-5)
Jaws 2: Will Chrome be one of the few horses that runs as well as his first big performance or will we see a bust in the making? He has a cough which the media is trying to make into a big deal (it isn't) and his slow finish time at the Derby has raised eyebrows of a few. the only real obstacle is his short rest time bewteen races. Chrome is used to a month between races, not two weeks. I feel this horse hasn't "jumped the shark" yet and could make chum out of this field.

Ring Weekend (20-1)
Dawn Of the Dead: This horse has been a Florida staple this year winning the Tampa Bay Derby but losing as the favorite at the Calder Derby. Like this zombie classic, this horse has been dead to early bettors and will have to move faster than a zombie out of the gate if he has any shot of being in the mix.

Bayern (10-1)
Grease: Bob Baffert is going light to the Preakness with only one entry and feels this speed horse has as good a shot as any. Rosie Napravnik is a Pimilico fixture and could use her familiarity to the track as an advantage. Like the movie, Bayern could draw female bettors with a female jockey aboard. This horse is "grease lightning" but needs to prove he can sustain that energy throughout a 1 3/16 mile.

Ria Antonia (30-1)
Halloween: Late to the party, this longshot is looking to capture her first win as a three year old in the Preakness. While many people see this horse as a trick to bet considering her 6th place finish at the Oaks, the switch in jockey to Calvin Borel may be a treat to bettors. Borel is not adverse to winning big races with longshots. Ria Antonia hasnt faced this group of horses before so the unfamiliarity may actually work to her advantage. She's not scared by her competition.

Kid Cruz (20-1)
Up In Smoke: Kid Cruz won his last race at Pimlico. To win this race, this field needs to comes out of the gate fast so he can come from behind and dust them down the stretch. Like Cheech and Chong, Kid Cruz is a high flying low rider that can make bettors smile when all is said and done.

Social Inclusion (5-1)
Animal House: Speed horse who comes to the party early. The question is whether he has the staying power to keep the pace down the stretch. A 3rd place in the Wood Memorial and best beyer speed of 108 will get bettors attention. This horse will factor and possibly upset a lot of the betting elite as he makes a mess of the parade when all is said and done.

Pablo Del Monte (20-1)
I Spit On Your Grave: Trainer Wesley Ward held out this horse from the Derby to focus efforts on this race. Not a fan of dirt, Pablo Del Monte's success has come on synthetic tracks. Always 2 steps behind his competition (2 third place finishes in 4 stakes races) Pablo will have to rise up to her enemies and find that eternal voice to slay them down the stretch. the problem is he is an early speed horse and that will be a tough task to accomplish.

Ride On Curlin (10-1)
Superman: Much like the Superman saga, we have a 4th different jockey riding him in his last 4 races. Also like the Superman movies, we always go in expecting some high flying action but leave a bit dissapointed by the result. What can make this trip any different? A small field of horses makes it easier for this horse to stay out of traffic which is its kryptonite. Off the pace or in the lead, the key for this horse is to see daylight throughout his ride.


My personal opinion is its going to take a wilted effort by Chrome and a spirited effort by anybody else to beat the heavy favorite. After his Derby performance, I am hard pressed to see California Chrome having trouble in this smaller field and shorter race. That said, anything can happen and I am looking to make a couple of $$. After hitting the $340 exacta at the Derby, I am going with another 4 horse $5 exacta box ($60 investment).

Predicted Final Finish:

3: California Chrome
6: Ria Antonia
10: Ride On Curlin
5: Bayern

(3,5,6,10) Exacta Box
 
I'm going to bet on a catastrophic pace collapse and say the #7 Kid Cruz gets up at 20/1 ML. You gotta expect a hot pace in this race, and California Chrome will not get an easy lead, especially with that Baffert horse in there.
 
"Jaws 2: Will Chrome be one of the few horses that runs as well as his first big performance or will we see a bust in the making?"

He ran huge in the SA Derby and was never asked (not to mention the previous race). So Kentucky wasn't his first big performance at all.
His speed when rating is ridiculous so not having the lead won't be a problem (he didn't have the lead in SA Derby or KY Derby and rated well). As long as Victor isn't too hungover the class of horses here is dogshit. In any other year these would be Overnight Stakes runners. The 3-year-old crop outside of Chrome is just bad. No value at all in this race. Everyone who missed the 17 running 2nd in the Derby will think they have an edge now and go 3-ALL (and 3-ALL-ALL) which will kill the pool even if a huge shot runs 2nd.

Fiver, I don't think the Baffert horse is right physically. Rosie is the 7th or so choice for Baffert and gets the mount. Garcia, Stevens, Bejarano, Smith and even Nakatani and Talamo turning down a Preakness mount is pretty telling. Horse will just walk around the track. Hammer the 3 with 1,7,8,9 Superfecta and Buy the Pick4 closing with a single to Chrome - they'll bring some bombs in the preceding races.
 
"Jaws 2: Will Chrome be one of the few horses that runs as well as his first big performance or will we see a bust in the making?"

He ran huge in the SA Derby and was never asked (not to mention the previous race). So Kentucky wasn't his first big performance at all.
His speed when rating is ridiculous so not having the lead won't be a problem (he didn't have the lead in SA Derby or KY Derby and rated well). As long as Victor isn't too hungover the class of horses here is dogshit. In any other year these would be Overnight Stakes runners. The 3-year-old crop outside of Chrome is just bad. No value at all in this race. Everyone who missed the 17 running 2nd in the Derby will think they have an edge now and go 3-ALL (and 3-ALL-ALL) which will kill the pool even if a huge shot runs 2nd.

Fiver, I don't think the Baffert horse is right physically. Rosie is the 7th or so choice for Baffert and gets the mount. Garcia, Stevens, Bejarano, Smith and even Nakatani and Talamo turning down a Preakness mount is pretty telling. Horse will just walk around the track. Hammer the 3 with 1,7,8,9 Superfecta and Buy the Pick4 closing with a single to Chrome - they'll bring some bombs in the preceding races.


Had 3 of the 4 top finishers. Still lost a couple of $ but worth the shot.

Maxx, I hope you didn't get to hammered pal.

Your 4 horses behind the favorite got destroyed
 
I got Chrome at 70-1 to win the Derby in January so I can't be mad over losing a few bucks on supers. Pimlico was super chalky all day but the pick5 paid huge considering the only shots were 5-1 and 7-1. The pick4 wasn't even bad considering the prices in there. I didn't like Curlin at all and was super wrong there, he ran a pretty big race. They'll pull off some nonsense in the Belmont and we'll be back to the same position of waiting for a TC winner. Other than Barbaro though, Chrome is the best horse in a long time, and if NY wasn't so corrupt he would win the Belmont for fun...problem is Belmont/NY is corrupt and he will end up scratching like I'll Have Another or somehow breaking down like Big Brown...

Had 3 of the 4 top finishers. Still lost a couple of $ but worth the shot.

Maxx, I hope you didn't get to hammered pal.

Your 4 horses behind the favorite got destroyed
 
I got Chrome at 70-1 to win the Derby in January so I can't be mad over losing a few bucks on supers. Pimlico was super chalky all day but the pick5 paid huge considering the only shots were 5-1 and 7-1. The pick4 wasn't even bad considering the prices in there. I didn't like Curlin at all and was super wrong there, he ran a pretty big race. They'll pull off some nonsense in the Belmont and we'll be back to the same position of waiting for a TC winner. Other than Barbaro though, Chrome is the best horse in a long time, and if NY wasn't so corrupt he would win the Belmont for fun...problem is Belmont/NY is corrupt and he will end up scratching like I'll Have Another or somehow breaking down like Big Brown...

I agree with you in the sense Chrome is the best horse in years.

The only thing is as good as Chrome ran in the Preakness, if he runs that same way at the Belmont he can get eaten up down the stretch. I'm curious what the opening line will be.

Bayern is doo doo.