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Jim Price

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Sports

Get A Hunch, Bet A Bunch

Until proven otherwise, eight days of racing have demonstrated that horses that have shown speed at Emerald Downs are likely to win here. Thus, the pick of All Fire in today's first. In the fifth race, B.D. Cube (5th) deserves another chance. Jacob Brown stands out in the feature, but at a short price, it's fair to wonder why he has shown so much improvement on wet tracks. There are many unknowns in the eighth. Trying drawing a line through Bear Bunny, who seems to be a trap horse. Saturday's footing was sloppy and, true to form, Wake Up Sassy Boy and Sassy Wake, full brother and sister, came home winners. Our Dave's victory in the eighth turned a losing day into a winner.
Sports

Get A Hunch, Bet A Bunch

Sometimes it's hard to cover all your tracks. A one-two finish by longshots Touchment and Seven Exits in Saturday's last race flattered the handicapping, but wounded the pocketbook because there were no exacta bets to support the trifecta picks. The bottom line? Skunked for the day. The message? It's often harder to manage money than pick winners. Offspring of Clever Wake almost always handle mud, so Wake Up Sassy Boy and Sassy Wake deserve strong looks in today's third and seventh races. Our Dave might be a lock in the nightcap.
Sports

Get A Hunch, Bet A Bunch

With 20 winners in the season's first 44 races, it could be time to boast. But, in truth, such a high percentage of wins should have produced a greater rate of return. Although short fields have been a factor, money management, as usual, is the greater issue. It's always better policy, particularly with real money, to wager more money on fewer horses. Fresh snow should support the early season bias toward speed. However, Sister Charlene, who only wins wire-to-wire, faces other front-runners in the feature. Shad Roe Dee just looks like the best horse in the sixth race. The eighth is a grab bag with a potential for nice payoffs no matter which horses come in.
Sports

Get A Hunch, Bet A Bunch

Sound the horses for courses alert! Benton City Baron, Two An Oh and Sir Tiger K. all have superior form over the course in the sixth race. Mister Bynauer in the fourth has all of his career wins at this track. In the eighth, Babyeyes and Im Freeze Dried have more wins at Playfair than their opponents do anywhere.
Sports

Get A Hunch, Bet A Bunch

There's nothing like being skunked to remind horseplayers that the money can flow both directions. Failing to bet on the two winners and picking some of the wrong horses first proved costly Friday. Three straight winning second choices set the stage for the season's first significant losses.
Sports

Get A Hunch, Bet A Bunch

One week does not a season make, but a profitable beginning, which included 11 wins and five seconds from 23 races, keeps the bill collectors and doubt at bay. Remember that fit horses win races and that recent form from tougher tracks compares favorably with moderately good lines from lesser meets. When in doubt, check the Beyer ratings at the distance. In today's feature, 1993 juvenile stakes-winner Mountain Merit, perhaps a horse for the course, comes back as a beaten favorite. In the fifth race, Tension Mounts tries to break his maiden off splendid works. A Golden Gate Fields simulcast provides an eighth race.
Sports

Get A Hunch, Bet A Bunch

Today's feature matches a very good group of fillies and mares. Most of them have winning form from 1996. Those who don't have won at Playfair in the past. Beyer ratings point to Sister Charlene, but Comealilbitcloser has run with better in Calgary and Sassy Wake performed decently in Northern California.
Sports

Get A Hunch, Bet A Bunch

Call it beginner's luck, if you must, but it may have been sheer guesswork. Five winners and two seconds led to a very profitable opening day. Scores included the daily double, a nice quinella and a $77.80 exacta. You could have picked the same winners. They included three dead-fit runners from other tracks and a pair of horses for the course. Today's card includes a Santa Anita stakes and twin-trifecta races jammed with contenders. Don't be stunned if Rc Midnite Cruiser wakes up in the seventh.
Sports

Get A Hunch, Bet A Bunch

It's opening day, a month past the original date, but, for members of the Eastern Washington racing community, late certainly is preferable to never. Considering it has been 13 months since horses raced in Spokane, many horses have run little or not at all in 13 months. Therefore, in the opening days of Playfair's 60th meet, look for horses with recent form. They are bound to be more fit.
Sports

Get A Hunch, Bet A Bunch

For the fifth or sixth time in the last three weeks, the bankroll was exercised a lot on closing day, without producing much change. On the other hand, finishing a buck to the good after the $40 bet reared at the start and the $100 good thing floundered for the first quarter mile gives cause to be thankful. One thing's sure. Guessing the bias of a wet track 36 to 48 hours in advance is risky business. See Sunday's caveat vis a vis Frost Tothe Peach and Jackie's Tasso.
Sports

Get A Hunch, Bet A Bunch

And here it is getaway day. Get a hunch and bet a bunch. Assume the track will run the way it has most of the weekend, dooming most frontrunners and favoring middle closers or speed horses that don't have to have the lead. Try to cash one last good bet. Try to pick the horse to win that bet. Ah, the possibilities. Good luck. Here are today's selections: THIRD: $30 to win on EMMETTS LEATHERS and $10 quinella pairing him with RUNAWAY MACK. FOURTH: $40 to win on CALSPUR. Split winnings between SALSIS in fifth race and MANTIS in eighth.
Sports

Get A Hunch, Bet A Bunch

There have been few more popular Spokane horse races over the years than the annual renewals of the Inland Empire Marathon. Some years, major stakes horses run and often prove that class will tell. Occasionally, a long-winded plater knocks off a classier rival. Then there are unclassified runners such as mud-loving Frost Gothe Peach, that keep improving until no one knows how good they are. On that basis, he should win. Should track conditions discriminate against his pacesetting style, Jackie's Tasso has trained all fall to win this race.
Sports

Get A Hunch, Bet Bunch

Under present weather conditions, track bias can be perplexing. The underlying message is "Go with the flow." Friday, with the slop scraped away, speed died. That was not a good development for this corner, which favored several frontrunners. If the forecast develops, we'll be back to slop. If not, stick with closers, particularly those with tactical speed, until you see differently. In the Lilac Lady Handicap, Sassy Wake looked like an excellent play on a speed track. However, she doesn't have to be in front, she still might do. Here are today's selections: FIRST: Wheel the field to RED ECHOHAWK in the second race twice.
Sports

Get A Hunch, Bet A Bunch

How do you excuse a $179 typing mistake, especially when it's your own? Because we can't parlay backwards, even in our dreams, listing INSTEAD OF CAL, rather than PRAIRIE WALKER, both winners, was, well, costly. If your bill collectors don't accept good intentions, Get A Hunch's shouldn't either, although the dough would have nearly made us even. Still, with four days left and plenty of bankroll, let's shoot for a profitable season. With slop, speed should win the route races and true mud-lovers should shine. In the simulcast, Comininalittlehot, a Playfair stakes sprinter last fall, has a shot.
Sports

Get A Hunch, Bet A Bunch

So much money, so little time. After a few days with lots of action, but not much gain or loss, Saturday and Sunday promised several opportunities to bet on some Get-A-Hunch favorites. Roaming Robert, in the fourth race, is overdue. Salsis (fifth) and Close Coverage (seventh) are back with their own kind. Prairie Walker, if he handles the going, is an up-and-comer at eight furlongs or more in the eighth. At this late date, be bold or grow mold.
Sports

Get A Hunch, Bet A Bunch

Betting on horses can be a little like hunting. You try to stay in the game until you bag the trophy that leaves you with something to brag about, something to save, something to spend and enough ammunition to try again. So it was with Solar Country, a near miss at 18-1 on Monday. Although the $20 win bet could have made it a good season, the $10 quinella solved the problems of the day. One painful loss doesn't change the fact that front-runners win many distance races on wet tracks.
Sports

Get A Hunch, Bet A Bunch

What do people who handicap in advance get when they pick for the wrong kind of mud? Anguish, consternation and holes in their wallets. When you pick'em on the spot, read the track. If speed stays in every race, don't stubbornly back horses that come from far off the pace, unless they are superior in the going. If top frontrunners collapse, don't fight the inevitable. Although the bolder, late-season Get A Hunch can't reverse its bets, you can. Prompted by the forecast, the following wagers assume slop. Here are today's selections: FIRST: $10 daily double pairing CHIVALRY ISNOTDEAD with TENSED JOHNNY. $2 doubles teaming PROUD JUSTY and MISTER ALIEN with him.
Sports

Get A Hunch, Bet A Bunch

Unlike last week's Spokane Derby, today's Spokane Futurity poses dilemmas. Will Toughy's Gold take an easy lead? Will Investin In Festin go the added distance? Will Chirrup's August victory at one mile give him a substantial edge? Will the track condition, likely to be muddy, influence the outcome? The All West Futurity and the Juvenile His Stakes have made it clear that Invest In Festin, who wants to be a middle closer, prefers a race with legitimate pace. If Red Silver Hope or Bold Oak goes on the engine, he'll have it. Should he falter, Chirrup should pick up the pieces.
Sports

Get A Hunch, Bet A Bunch

If it were clear whether the wet track will be watery or tiring, this might be an easy day. Runnin Tee Jay and Early Shove are excellent mudders. Frost gothe Peach isn't bad. However, uncertainty breeds caution just when the diminishing number of race days and the near-mint condition of the bankroll call out for bravery. For the moment, we'll have some of each, but if it rains before sundown, you know what to do. Here are today's selections: FIRST: $5 daily doubles from MIA DAR and ROSIE MAGUMBO and $2 doubles pairing the other four with her.
Sports

Get A Hunch, Bet A Bunch

Let's be honest. With utmost respect for Inlovewiththesport we'd all be proud to have him in our barn Super Ciel appears to be a different kind of horse in today's Spokane Derby. Inlovewiththesport has won six straight races and stakes at the distance. He's done all he's been asked to do. However, unlike Super Ciel, he hasn't run third in a $50,000 added stakes nor been the chalk for a hundred grand. Drawn on the inside, Super Ciel should be able to take the lead when he pleases, unlike the Playfair Mile when most of his older rivals were on the engine. Just Another Buzz and the intriguing, barely tested Rolling Eyes rate a look, too, but, hey, if you like a horse, you've got to back him.
Sports

Get A Hunch, Bet A Bunch

Should Bricks'n Sticks, among the 14 nominees, have gone postward in Sunday's Spokane Derby, trainer Brook Mobley might have been accused of chasing an empty wagon. He elected, however, to snuggle this very credible filly into today's feature for non-winners of three races. It doesn't take a Daily Racing Form to see that this eight-furlong contest holds more promise than nine furlongs trying to outrun Super Ciel, Inlovewiththesport and Just Another Buzz. Bricks'n Sticks made a nice move in the Playfair Breeders' Cup, so the distance is no problem.
Sports

Get A Hunch, Bet A Bunch

As the season begins to wane, owners hoping to turn a profit or pay their bills will drop some horses down in class. Some drops put horses where they belong. Others suggest physical problems. Can the Seahawks win Sunday if John Friesz, who has a sore shoulder, starts at quarterback? Will Thai Knight, once full of promise, win the third race on a drop from $8,000 claiming to $2,500? Royal Lioness (4th) and Pasky's Randy (7th) are back with their own sort. Can they dry the tears left on the bankroll by Whisper O Smoke's last-step loss on Monday? Here are today's selections. FIRST: $5 doubles pairing NOBLE REIGN and BILLY CLUB with MISSJETLILL and ALLIVHAVONZTHERADIO and $2 doubles with BEAR BUNNY plus TENSED JOHNNY with second-race duo ($24).
Sports

Get A Hunch, Bet A Bunch

Southern Gamble and Nightly Habit may be using today's feature as a prep for the Lilac Lady Handicap, but Sweetheart Handicap winner G J's Playgirl has brightened the workout tab after a brief rest for repairs. Several entrants in the eighth race, only slightly easier and a little more distance, may have similar ambitions. Although On Board's supersharp, Skylark Lane, a recent good winner, may be coming into her own.
Sports

Get A Hunch, Bet A Bunch

Now that the filly Red Silver Hope has fallen by the wayside, Toughy's Gold has a clear field toward the Playfair Challenge Series bonus of $100,000. Trainer Dick Wright may be the greatest obstacle in his path. The former riding champion, who has developed the knack of picking off Spokane stakes races, will send out the improving Chirrup in the Juvenile His Stakes today. Toughy's Gold will want the racetrack, but Wildside Willy may argue the point. That would benefit Chirrup and Invest In Festin. Neither will be far away.
Sports

Get A Hunch, Bet A Bunch

Thanks to the Breeders' Cup program, there's plenty of racing today, most of it very high quality.Anyone who doesn't like Cigar, doesn't know a good smoke or a good horse. The Mile, fortified with top sprinters from England and France, may be the most bettable race. And, who knows which D. Wayne Lukas filly will win? The Juvenile Fillies Stakes highlights Playfair's supporting card. They say All West Futurity winner Red Silver Hope can't warm up her stablemate, Tough Tara. There's plenty of speed. So, if you don't like the price on Tough Tara, try Order Up Molly, who may be a good one. Here are today's picks: SECOND: $5 quinella box of NOT SURPRISING, HEVER GOLF ROSE and OUR EMBLEM ($15). FIFTH: $20 to win on DILIGENCE. $5 quinellas pairing him with HONOUR AND GLORY and APPEALING SKIER.