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HANDICAPPING INSIGHTS OCTOBER 16, 2009 by Dick Powell Keeneland opened its Fall meet last Friday with rainy weather. But, despite the dreary, overcast weather, their races were viewed brighter than ever. Keeneland's website -- www.keeneland.com -- had upgraded its live video stream to High Definition quality and it is amazing to watch. If you have a cable modem or digital subscriber line (DSL), your connection to the site should be more than fast enough to take full advantage of it. Once you click on their main website, click on the "racing" pulldown on the left hand side of the page. From there, go down to "video and photo" and click. Now, click on "live racing coverage" to watch the live feed from Keeneland in High Definition. Racing in High Definition is spectacular to watch. The picture, even transmitted over the Internet, is sharp as could be and the viewer that you watch it in is much bigger than usual. Besides the video clarity and vibrancy of the colors, you have the chicklets of the Trakus system at the bottom of the screen. For trip handicappers, you can now sit at a computer and watch races on your computer with a better picture than you would see on a monitor at a simulcast site. Very few guest sites are equipped to display racing in High Definition, but for the tracks that are broadcasting in it, the Internet is a cost-effective way of getting a High Definition picture to their customers. It might not be too far down the line that satellite technology is replaced by the Internet and instead of going to a simulcast site and watching a race on a television monitor you could be watching on a large computer monitor. Churchill Downs became the first U.S. track to offer simulcasting in High Definition during its Fall meet in 2008, and reportedly plans to broadcast the Fair Grounds meet in High Definition as well. These tracks are to be congratulated for making the investment to upgrade their video presentation. *** With the rain on opening day, all the turf races were taken off and switched to the Polytrack main track. Usually this means that horses with early speed do well but that was not the case on Friday. One handicapping angle that a few of us have discovered is to just bet the horses that are shipping in off races at Presque Isle Downs. It's an amazing phenomenon but these horses are overlooked in the wagering and win at an alarming rate. It only took 30 minutes before a Presque Isle shipper won the second race when EL INDY (A.P. Indy) won at 7-1 odds. The very next race, Presque Isle shippers ran first, second, third and fourth when DANA'S BELL (Explicit) won a six-furlong $25,000 claimer. The no-brainer trifecta paid $1,506 and the 10-cent superfecta paid $341.05. Don't think it's just claiming horses from Presque Isle who are winning at Keeneland. On Saturday, INFORMED DECISION (Monarchos) won the Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes (G2) off a win in the Presque Isle Masters (G3) last time out. That race was followed by a win by DIAMONDRELLA (GB) (Rock of Gibraltar [Ire]) in the First Lady S. (G1). She had finished sixth in the Presque Isle Masters. To top it off, Presque Isle shipper NOBLE'S PROMISE (Cuvee) won the Breeders' Futurity (G1) off a win in the Fitz Dixon Jr. Memorial Juvenile S. there. So if you had followed this angle, or happened to be from Erie, Pennsylvania, a $232.80 Pick 3 was there for the taking. *** After winning the Alcibiades S. (G1) on Friday aboard NEGLIGEE (Northern Afleet), Rajiv Maragh came back on Saturday to win another Grade 1 with Diamondrella in the First Lady. In Sunday's Spinster S. (G1), it looked like Maragh was going to do it again when he took the lead aboard the Juddmonte-owned Proviso (GB) (Dansili [GB]) in the final furlong and looked home free. Unfortunately, it looked like Proviso might have shied away from the video board on her left as she approached the final 100 yards and she took a hard right, forcing Kent Desormeaux to slam on the brakes aboard MUSHKA (Empire Maker) to avoid a collision. The stewards took a long look and rightfully disqualified Proviso and placed her second. Luckily for Juddmonte, all was not lost since they stand Empire Maker, the sire of Mushka. It was very similar to Europe when Coolmore loses a big race, it's usually to a horse that is sired by one of their stallions. For Maragh, the disqualification of Proviso cost him three Grade 1s in three days. *** ZENYATTA (Street Cry [Ire]) was in action on Saturday at Oak Tree in the Lady's Secret S. (G1) and she was at her nutty best. Still a handful before the race, she ran closer to a slow pace than normal then, unleashed an awesome run around the far turn where she went inside and outside of horses, and cruised home to an easy 1 1/4-length victory. Her final time for the 1 1/16 miles was 1:42.89, which was very good considering how slow the early pace was. With SEA THE STARS (Cape Cross [Ire]) retiring this week, the hope is that Zenyatta will take on the boys in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) and lend some badly-needed excitement to this year's renewal. GITANO HERNANDO's (GB) (Hernando [Fr]) win in the Goodwood S. (G1) showed two things. Number one, Kieren Fallon is one of the world's greatest jockeys as he had his mount between horses in traffic for most of the way but ran to daylight when a seam opened up at the top of the stretch. Second, it showed a huge weakness in the handicap division as a Euro shipper who had never won a group stakes in England was able to come over here and win a Grade 1.
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