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The best claiming angle, part II
By Tom Tolmich Well, last Saturday at Aqueduct in the final race I spied the classic candidate for an angle I had written earlier about. His name was No Bad Habits, and he was 20-1! Up to the final race at Aqueduct I had hit a few, lost a few. I didn't have a lot of cash and on paper No Bad Habits looked -- well -- bad. He finished a badly beaten 10th and was claimed out of the dismal race. Moreover his jockey was Diane Nelson, who rarely wins on anything, let alone a $25,000 claimer. In his favor was the fact that he was a beaten favorite and had a bullet 6-furlong work. And he was claimed for $25,000, rested and came back at a higher tag. Not giving the exotics much thought, I wagered a pitiful $5 to win and place, and sat down. During the running of the race, Nelson had No Bad Habits way off the early pace, and he looked doomed. Great, I thought, what stupid bet! Giving him up for dead, I turned my thoughts to other tracks. Suddenly, I heard the announcer say something about No Bad Habits this or that and lo and behold he won going away. I sat stunned for a moment. Then I saw he was 20-1, and some other bombs had also found their way home. In all, I collected $153. But the exacta was $600, and the trifecta paid $5,800. I realize that many people have written about angles in handicapping horses, but let's face it -- it's tough to stick with them. We are human and easily swayed by outside factors. A friend touts another horse, or whatever. But after watching that race, I know what I will do when confronted with this move. Incidentally, the same thing happened two weeks back at Gulfstream. The horse was claimed, had a layoff line, worked, then stepped up. Except it was his old trainer: The reclaimer! Sometimes you get nice surprises like that. He was 6-1. |