Hilario Estrella & Adieu My Friend at 24-1. Congrats! Click Image to Watch.
Estrella wins final two races Saturday night with wide rallies in wet stuff
by George
Jockey Hilario Estrella came flying home aboard Adieu My Friend in Saturday night’s seventh race at ASD to nail heavy favourite Flying Bob John late and trigger a huge Pick-4 payoff. It was Estrella’s first win at the meet from 28 mounts.
Conditioned by Kris Weiss for owner Ressa Harris, Adieu My Friend paid $50.00, $25.30 and $11.50 across the board and topped some monster exotic payoffs despite the fact that even-money favourite Flying Bob John finished second.
A $2 Exactor paid $280.20, a $2 Quinella returned $102.00 and a $2 Triactor with Irish Grand (10-1) finishing third paid $9,148.30. Big Bad Barry (8-1) finished fourth to complete a $2 Superfecta that paid $14,311.60. Nobody had 3/3 in the Pick-3, which returned $25.80 to anyone who had 2/3 winners.
The winners of the first three legs of the 15% Pick-4 were relatively logical with Maltese Pins ($8.50) taking the fourth race, heavy favourite Well Ya Never Know ($3.70) winning the fifth and Seventeenmiledrive ($10.10) scoring in the sixth, but when Adieu My Friend ($50.00) won the seventh race there was only one winning Pick-4 ticket that paid a whopping $14,450.50! Watch the replay below.
And just for good measure, Estrella also won the eighth race aboard Heavenly Lioness ($12.30), his 29th mount. Estrella hasn’t had much to ride since arriving at the Downs late, but he always seems to have a smile on his face. It was nice to see him break through with a few winners.
Light rains throughout the evening had the track favouring outside ralliers up until the last two races, when the trend of tiring front runners was accentuated even further by Estrella’s horses rallying widest after being well back early.
On Friday night five of the seven races run at regular distances were won by speed horses, while the 1 ¼-mile Marathon Series race went to Thunderclap Newman ($18.10) with a wide rally under Tyrone Nelson from the back of the pack. The recent claim by trainer Tom Gardipy Jr. for the partnership of Lynn and Marie White and Bill Bochinski looks like he will be a force in the final two legs of the Marathon Series.
Adolfo Morales won three races on Friday night and added another victory on Saturday evening to lead all jockeys over the weekend. Jennifer Reid won three races and doubles went to Paul Nolan and the aforementioned Estrella. Nolan maintains a slight edge 50-48 over Morales in the chase for the riding title. Jennifer Reid is third in the standings with 41 wins followed by the injured Chris Husbands with 33 wins and Tyrone Nelson with 30 victories.
Trainer doubles on the weekend went to Ardell Sayler, Tanya Lindsay and Roger Hansen. Sayler currently has a double-digit lead in the standings 37-26 over Shelley Brown. Chad Torevell, Jared Brown and Irene Britton are currently tied for third in the standings with 19 wins each.
High percentage trainers with more than 20 starts are led by Jim Meyaard (48% win clip), Rob Atras (45%), Tanya Lindsay (31%), Marvin Buffalo (30%) and Jared Brown (29%).
Tough to leave these guys (and gal) off your tickets.
Next Post Time for Live Racing: 7 p.m. Wednesday, August 14, 2013