Louisiana Downs week in review (August 29th-September 1st)

Louisiana Downs week in review (August 29-September 1)

by Jarrod Horak (Harrah’s Louisiana Downs Track Handicapper/TV Host)

We were on a Friday-Monday Labor Day schedule this week. I got a couple of best bets home in an uneventful first three days of the week, then I caught fire with 4 on-top winners (race 3, 4, 7, and a couple of trifectas (race 2, 6) on Labor Day Monday.

August 29th

A trio of wire jobs on the main and 1 on the turf, but both surfaces played fair throughout the day. Turf rail at 20 feet this week.

Royal Madame (race 2) stole her 2nd straight turf victory over Tortuga Flats, and her connections came up to me and gave me a good ribbing for not picking her…LOL! Expect more of the same if they keep letting her go early.

Donnie Meche continues to tear up the grass course, and he put June Afternoon (race 4) in the perfect spot before pouncing on fav Mane Man in the lane.
Taylor’slilbrother came out of the clouds to win the 8th going away under PVal. Classic Mirage and Poppy’s Li’l Girl both turned in winning performances in the grassy 9th, with the former rallying strongly through traffic and the latter closing outside of pacesetter Sefas Belle (drifted out stretch).

A pair of wins for John Jacinto and Francisco Torres. Bret Calhoun saddled back-to-back winners on the card (race 5-6).

August 30th
Both surfaces played fair once again.

Mr. Turf (Donnie Meche) did it again, this time guiding a pair of grass winners home. The first was a much needed win for trainer Steve Wren (Farmington), and the other a $22.60 upset in the 7th (Jasons Jaxon). Suzy Zip has been razor sharp on the grass course here, and she was wining her 3rd turf race of the meet in today’s off the pace tally in the Elge Raspberry Stakes for the the productive Torres/Sam David Jr. team.

Hat trick for the aforementioned Donnie Meche, and ‘Cisco Torres matched him on this day. The recently hot C.Gonzalez/D.Loy teamed up for a pair of wins on the card.

August 31st

Both surfaces played fair once again.

Vintage PVal in the 2nd, as he won the break with Heelbolt and had enough left to hold off four others. Mike Burgess is a profitable turf trainer, and his Dutchess of Nistel pulled off a sharp wire job under Carlos Gonzalez to the tune of $29.00. Another perfect turf rider by Donnie Meche, as he got my bet-down best bet Serrano ($5.20) home.

Hat trick (2nd straight day) for Donnie Meche. Two more wins for C.Gonzalez as well.

September 1st

Main track played fair as Hurricane Gustav slowly crept into town (windy, scattered showers). Turf course played fair as well.

Classy Gentleman paid a generous $11.60 in the grassy 3rd. He was exiting the productive Zigaree/Bertsgoldenmissile maiden event on June 15th. Zigaree came back to win a grass sprint stake here, and Bert was an easy winner of today’s 8th. Leading trainer Jorge Lara has Mr. Grumpy Stripes on top of his game, and he was a sharp bet-down winner of a $10k claimer (race 4). Back-to-back smart wins by Tamo Tiger. He learned to rate in main track sprint maiden victory on August 1st, and he finished fast in today’s flat mile turf victory.

Francisco Torres booted home multiple winners for the 3rd time this week, and his 7 wins co-topped the week with Donnie Meche. Leading rider Don Simington struggled once again for most of the week, but he brought home Sunday’s finale and followed that up with two more wins on Labor Day. Two wins for leading trainer Jorge Lara.