Loooong shots

One of the things I like about pulling the results charts each day for certain tracks is that sometimes you see things that you'd never see if you're just watching the tote board or skimming the quick results.  Today was one of those days.

I don't know that I've ever seen so many horses go off at odds of greater than 100/1 as I saw today at Gulfstream.  Sure, once and a while you see a horse or two at odds that high, but check out some of today's starters and their odds (and resulting finish):

1^st: Logan Square (158/1, 4^th)
2^nd: Fivenineteen (175/1, 7^th)
2^nd: Clever Chris (148/1, 9^th)
5^th: Razputin (185/1, 6^th)
5^th: Guiding Spirit (247/1, 11^th)
5^th: Ehlinger (224/1, 12^th)
7^th: Mae Ruler (125/1, 3^rd)
8^th: Fightingforfreedom (105/1, 5^th)    

Eight horses at odds of over 100/1, with seven of those more than 125/1.

Similar to almost all huge long shots, none of these horses put up much of a fight on the track.  Mae Ruler and Logan Square were able to find their way into the tri and super, respectively, but the rest finished well up the track.

A big part of this phenomenon is a result of the large fields at Gulfstream right now.  A lot of races are featuring eleven and twelve horse fields, especially on the grass.  But it's still a bit strange to see that many horses eclipsing the century mark on the odds board.  As a comparison, Thursday's card had one horse go off at more than 100/1, while Monday saw three horses reach that mark.

A couple of additional interesting facts from the list above:

• Every single one of those horses made their last start at Calder.  I don't really think that means anything against Calder since shippers from that track also won three races on the day.
• The 1^st race also had a horse at 94/1 that finished last (8^th).
• The 2^nd race also included horses at 76/1, 74/1, 56/1 and 53/1.  The 56/1 shot finished in the show spot.