2012/2013 Gulfstream Park: Claiming Crown/Opening Day

It's the beginning of December and opening day at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida. A ten race card in on tap for the first day of the meet, including the 2012 Claiming Crown.

Gulfstream Park Scratches & Changes - Saturday, December 1st

Conditions are perfect at Gulfstream today; the main track is FAST and the turf course is FIRM.

• 7-Divine Luck takes the meet opener at Gulfstream Park with a strong final kick in the lane. The Queen's 1-Dawn Glory (GB) had a good trip but could only muster a second place finish.
• A big run by 5-Bold Dance at odds of 8/1 to take the second in fine fashion. 12-Drenched set the pace but had to work hard from a wide post to secure the lead and really hit the wall inside the final furlong. 4-Callmeback wasn't able to get the lead like I hoped and faded in the stretch.
  
  The early Double pays a solid $34.80 for $1.
• The lay-off was no problem for the chalk in the 3rd as 1-Undrafted gets a perfect stalking trip right off of 3-Alpha Slew and powers home to win easily in his turf debut for Wesley Ward and Johnny V.
  
  The Early Pick 3 comes back at $187.79.
• A huge run by 13-Brother Bird to win the Iron Horse from the 13-hole in the starting gate. I'm interested to see the Trakus ground loss data from this race.
  
  The Early $0.50 Pick 4 comes back at $603.05.
• Looks like it's going to be a big day for the Ramseys and Mike Maker; 13-Bernie the Maestro's win in Race 6 gives them back-to-back Claiming Crown scores.
• Trakus tweeted some ground loss data on Brother Bird's win in Race 5:

How good was Brother Bird? Covered 48 ft > Jazzit to win Claiming Crown Iron Horse @gulfstreampark. First ever win for gate 13 at distance

— Trakus (@TrakusRacing) December 1, 2012

• Very impressive win by the on-form 6-Starship Truffles in the Glass Slipper; she got into a speed duel in-between two pacesetters and then pulled away and used her superior stamina to crush the field at 5/1. Sweet race for a nice looking Marty Wolfson trainee. (And I finally cashed a winner on today's card! Been a struggle so far today.)
• Smooth (and patient) ride by Alan Garcia on 7-Starsilhoutte to win the Tiara with a big late run down the middle of the Gulfstream Park turf course. 6/1 on the winner.
• 2/1 second choice 1-Nikki's Sandcastle wins a head-bob finish with 3-Major Marvel to win the Emerald at 1 1/16 miles on inner turf.
• Heading into the final race on the card, here are the $0.50 Pick 5 Will Pays:
  
  1: $2,089.10
  2: $1,360.90
  3: Scratch
  4: $32,173.60
  5: $53,622.70
  6: $5,189.20
  7: $80,434.10
  8: $20,108.50
  9: $4,124.80
  10: $1,787.40
  11: $10,724.50
  12: $19,618.00
  
  If you are alive in the Pick 5, you're in line for some serious iron if you cash out.
• 4-Parent's Honor wins the Claiming Crown Jewel at odds of 16/1 giving Ken & Sarah Ramsey four winners on the card. The win by the #4 keys a $32k $16k payout in the $0.50 Pick 5. [Apparently, those Will Pays above are to $1 which is just... horrible. Show the Will Pays to the minimum bet!
• The $0.50 Pick 4 came back at $1,767.20; that seems a bit light when you consider that the four winners paid $12.20, $15.40, $6.80 and $34.40. In fact, that seems incredibly light.