Tuesday recap from Georgian Downs and Grand River

It was a great night for racing at the track just off of the 400 on Tuesday and on a night in which favorites dominated the program (the chalk won seven of the 12 races and ten of 12 winners paid $8.40 or less), the first race was certainly an exception. Canaco Run debuted off of the claim for Bert Smith's Almost Doesnt Count Stable and trainer Dave Menary and won in a lifetime best of 1:54.2 at 6-1. Not to take anything away from the effort, but it was one that was greatly aided by the race's collapsing pace scenario that featured a :55.0 first half and a much slower :59.0 second lap. As a result of favored entrymates, Blue Suede Shoes and D I Hanover finishing out of the money, the $2 triactor paid $2504.60. The lucky bettor that had the lone $0.20 super ticket got $1717.97 for his/her investment.

The night's most impressive winner was the newcomer Rose Run Ivan. He won the 6th with condescending ease in a lifetime best (1:56.4, :28.4 kicker while wrapped-up) for new owner/trainer Tony O'Sullivan and his partners Lukas Frankowski, Darby J Oram and John D Rice. Nice find, boys!

Simon Allard had a five-win performance, three for his brother Rene and two for Shawn Robinson, while Scott Coulter won the card's 3rd and 4th races. It was nice to see Dan Clements have his picture taken after winning the finale with the class-dropping Stonebridge Leader. Clements is back from Florida for the Summer and will no doubt win his share of races at Georgian and on the Sires Stakes Tour.

I have to conclude the Georgian recap by telling you that the Pick Four Analysis in the last night's Georgian version of THE PETE SHEETS successfully outlined the winning ticket for both the early and late Pick Four. The only problem is that my sample tickets would've had you spend $261.20 to win $153.87! Damn chalks! The good news was that (as a partial result of coverage they received in THE PETE SHEETS' Pick Four Analysis) both the early and late Pick Four pools of last night were above April's average, especially the former. Last night's intake of $6,257 represented a 45% increase from the $4,289 average pool of last month. The total handle was a five-week high of $238,532. Great numbers, Great Canadian!

Last night's numbers at Grand River were vastly improved at Grand River as well and I can't help but think that THE PETE SHEETS were a contributing factor. (I had 17 email requests for last night's Grand River edition of THE PETE SHEETS and who knows how many other customers had forwarded copies or read the posted version on the harnessdriver.com message board) Though nothing to write home about, last night's Pick Four pool reached a seasonal high of $2,265, as did the overall handle, which was $164,823. I'm confident that as THE PETE SHEETS' coverage of Grand River's very good product gets more exposure, those numbers will improve each and every week.

THE PETE SHEETS had winners in four of the six races that were identified as being beatable including Tres Noel ($3.00), who was identified as the night's Most Probable Winner. The 10th race was the one in which followers of THE PETE SHEETS would've shown the most profit. Not only did THE PETE SHEETS identify Jtlady Strong as being a very beatable favorite (finished 5th at 7-5) but THE PETE SHEETS also had the winner of the race, Suzys Solitaire. Though he was "live" he certainly wasn't a "Live Longshot". When I labelled him as such, I thought he'd pay much more than $7.60, but after the Georgian Pick Four disasters, I'm not complaining! It's too bad the night's other Live Longshot, Zacs Princess, had such a compromising trip or else she'd have won, too. Still, if you had bet $2 to Win, Place and Show on her you would've won $17.10 when she finished a very good 2nd in the 4th (which, as always, was the start of the Pick Four, which THE PETE SHEETS' Pick Four Analysis missed last night).

Mark MacDonald had a drive in every race and once again stole the show, winning six and finishing 2nd on three occasions. As of today, his numbers at Grand River are very good (45-17-9-5, $68,325, .526, 37.8%), almost as good as THE PETE SHEETS' numbers at the Elora track (now that's humour, Ladies and Germs!).

Keep that feedback coming! Send your feedback via email to thepetesheets@hotmail.com and be sure to spread the word to others! I have meetings with several prospective sponsors next week and the more interest the project is shown to be generating, the greater the likelihood that they'll be supportive of it.

My apologies for there not being a Flamboro version of THE PETE SHEETS for today. Those interested in tonight's Western Fair version can request a copy by sending an email to thepetesheets@hotmail.com. In the week's ahead, our web site will be complete and downloadable versions of THE PETE SHEETS will be available at the click of a mouse!

Here's a listing of the versions THE PETE SHEETS that I'm working on for the rest of the week:

Thursday - Woodbine (available Thursday afternoon)
Friday - Flamboro/Western Fair/Woodbine (available Friday afternoon)
Saturday (afternoon) - Flamboro (available Saturday morning)
Saturday (evening) - Georgian Downs/Woodbine (available Saturday afternoon)

When you send your requests to thepetesheets@hotmail.com, be sure to specify the track(s) and date(s) that you're interested in.

Time for a nap...