Secretariat, Jr., Nats, and not quite a Race o’

• The list of things better than my Race o’ picks yesterday is long — endless, practically.  Saturday at Ten (whom we noted has a touch of bridesmaid-itis) reprised his good but not enough effort of many other races to be third, beaten a length for the money and a neck for place.  The other three we flagged — Corundum, Quality Harbor, and Schlossed — filled out the rear of the field.  The good news is that we correctly identified Dogwoods Lance as a false favorite; he finished seventh as the lukewarm choice…
• Wasn’t too upset about the disaster of our selections, however.  We were at the Nationals game yesterday, exulting in a walk-off victory courtesy of a ninth inning homer from the wildly overpaid Jayson Werth.  One of the recurring stories during this breakout year has been how the Nats have brought left and right, Democrat and Republican, together.  To which I reply: who cares?  I’m more interested in how the Nats have brought joy to the usher who high-fives us after wins; to the upper-deck bartender who always has a smile (and an uncanny memory for what my wife drinks); to the guy in our ticket group who sold peanuts at Griffith Stadium for the old Nats in the 50s; or to the guy who sat near us who explained once, “I told everyone after the Senators left that I would root for the Orioles, but that once Washington got a team again, that would be my team.”  He only had to wait 33 years to get his team back, and eight more for it create a moment like last night’s  Game’s beginning found the crowd cautious, holding its breath; after two straight disastrous defeats, it seemed as if we were all waiting for the other shoe to drop.  It never did.  Game’s end found 44,000 people not quite ready for endings; they stayed and chanted, and then just stayed, as if by staying they could make the moment last, expand, become game five.  This, ultimately, isn’t a tale about left and right, D and R.  It is, in fact, a tale about almost everything but left and right.  That, in this political town, is what makes it so good.
• If you were prescient enough to know that the ghost of Secretariat was going to enter the body of bottom-level maiden two year-old List Ticket in yesterday’s second, well done!  The juvenile, making her second start after losing by 20 lengths and earning no Beyer at all in her bow, ran away and hid from her foes yesterday, winning by 27 1/2 lengths in a time that was two full seconds faster than bottom-level older maiden fillies later on the card.  She paid $40.60 to her relatively few backers.  If you waited long enough after List Ticket crossed the line, you eventually discovered that Flattering ran second and High Flying Roller was third…
• No Race o’ today, but a few plays we’d consider.  I’d probably take 9-2 on Koh I Noor in the first.  Nothing wrong with his debut effort on the lawn, and his breeding suggests he’ll like the dirt.  If he moves forward — not an unreasonable thought — he’ll have a big shot here… I’d give consideration to Teton Jackson and Untamed at their a.m. odds of 5-1 and 6-1 in the maiden special event in the fifth.  The former, debuting, was a $150,000 auction purchase and a half-sibling to turf graded stakes winner Silent Roar (who beat Kip DeVille in his graded victory).  The latter’s debut was a serviceable effort on synthetic at Presque Isle; the son of Leroidesanimaux certainly has every right to take to the green stuff… And I’d give a long look at Lemon Juice at his morning line of 4-1 in the sixth.  This guy, a two-time stake winner at two, has plenty of back class to compete with these $15,000 claimers.  The race is a hybrid condition — three year-olds, or older horses that have never won three — and in conditions like that, three year-olds who have won more than the lifetime condition often have an advantage.  And one last thing: trainer Dane Kobiskie saw fit to claim the horse back after his last, after having lost him via the claimbox in July.

Good luck!