Good Monday morning to all the Degens out there. Hope your weekend went well. There wasn’t a ton of horse racing news over the weekend outside of the Saudi Cup and we will talk about that in just a moment. Max Homa missed a 3-foot putt to win the Genesis Invitational but managed to fight that off and beat Tony Finau on the second playoff hole. In NASCAR, Ben Rhodes won again in the Gander Truck Series, while the rookie debut for Ty Gibbs, Joe Gibbs’ grandson, proved to be a winning one in the Xfinity Series. Christopher Bell closed out the weekend with a great win in the Cup Series. The NHL had a bad evening Saturday night as the ice was in such poor condition that they had to delay the game in the 1st period and restart the game after midnight.
The Saudi Cup had all sorts of story lines over the weekend. From travel issues causing Rispoli and Johnny V to miss out, to Mishriff upsetting Knicks Go and Charlatan to win the world’s richest race. After the race, Mike Smith and David Egan, who rode Charlatan and Mishriff respectively, were issued fines and suspensions for violating the whip rules. I’m sure the owners will take a look at paying those fines as they saved far more money than they would cost them.
Saffie Joseph Jr. struck an upset with Queen Nekia in the Royal Delta Stakes at Gulfstream. Corey Lanarie guided her on the fence to light up the tote board with a $60.60 return on a $2 win bet. Although not showing a ton since a Charles Town stakes in August, Saffie had her ready to fire off of a layoff since November proving again that he is one of the best in the business in South Florida.
Hopefully the weather will cooperate a little more this week and we won’t have so many cancelations. Oaklawn looks to have their hands full trying to get that track back to a safe level. We’ve got action all week on the StableDuel app so head on over and get in on the action. See you next week.
