HORSEMEN 51, JOCKEYS 44, plus a Friday tip

JRV gets some air (Adam Coglianese/NYRA)

It was the best of games, it was the worst of games.

Let’s get the negatives out of the way (because that’s how we do here at the Unbearable Lightness of Betting Blog).

In 40 minutes of basketball, there were two six minute stretches that featured no scoring at all.

At times, the action on the court resembled Hot Potato more than it did Basketball.

Several nice set-ups were ruined by an inability to put the ball in the hole. Seriously, I used to see better finishing at the end of the 3 mile + “Fat Man’s” jumper at Fair Hill Races.

But there were also A LOT of positives.

There was a lot of legitimate star power in the room. At times, the jocks went with the four Kentucky Derby backcourt of John Velazquez and Kent Desormeaux. Derby winning trainer Todd Pletcher logged some serious minutes for the horsemen side. Throw in another three Derbies for the jocks’ coach Angel Cordero. And two more for spectators Edgar Prado and H. Graham Motion.

Jeffrey Sanchez was legitmately excellent in what was a literal small forward role. He had a deft touch with the ball, especially around the basket. My unoffical stats got him with 14 points at well over 50% shooting. He also knocked down his free throws. Clearly the man was a terror growing up on the courts of San Juan.

And last but not least, it was all for a great cause, the NY Race Track Chaplaincy Program.

The game started off slow, with each side feeling each other out and looking a little uncertain, One of the scoreless stretches came right off the bat, the equivalent of a first half in :54 going a mile. Things started to pick up late in the quarter. Kent Desormeaux attempted to go coast to coast after a sweet steal, but failed to convert on the layup. In terms of pure effort, major props go to Desormeaux, who also drew a nice cheer for soaring out of bounds to save a possession (later in the game he also took a hard charge from P.J. Campo. Bad blood?). On the horsemen side, I feel I need to single out Todd Pletcher’s play in the first. He had good, intense body language, and his competitive energy helped lead his team to a 11-9 lead after one.

I thought the horsemen would seize an advantage when John Panagot, an assistant to Graham Motion, re-entered the game in the second. Panagot looked comfortable out there, swept up the boards like a young Rodman (the man, not the horse) and made all the right cuts. However, the jockeys quickly found his weakness, at least on this night: his free throw shooting. The Hackapanagot strategy paid dividends, as the former College of Charleston player went 0 for 6 from the stripe. By his last throw he looked like he didn’t want to be there, a wobbly-legged, blindfolded Shaquille O’Neal. Still, the trainers held sway at the half 30-26.

One of the stars of the second and third quarters, #41, had the distinct look of a ringer. Announcer Mitch Levites continually referred to him as “The Jockey Who Wouldn’t Stop Growing.” As far as I can tell, The Jockey Who Wouldn’t Stop Growing is a son of Elliot Walden’s, who inherited both his height and his love of the game. The Jockey Who Wouldn’t Stop Growing helped keep things close for a while. The third started as another scoreless battle of attrition, but as time rolled on, the trainers started to grind things out as the jocks were struggling off the bridle. I had the score 39-31 after three.

But the jocks weren’t quite done yet. In a short but impressive sequence, Pedro Cotto came off the bench and sparkled at both ends of the floor, doing his best J.J. Barea (what is it with these diminutive guys from Puerto Rico?). Coach Kiaran McLaughlin called a time out and soon after the horsemen righted the ship. I noted a decisive drive to the hoop by Pletch with 3:53 left that resulted in his going to the line where he hit ’em both. I wrote “Game Over” on my scratch pad ($1, Gregg Easterbrook).

Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite game over yet. The last couple of minutes took longer than the third quarter. I’d like to tell you that this was strategic, that the jockey’s were fouling and the trainer’s just trying to kill the clock. But the fact was, BOTH sides were fouling. It was just that kind of game. The final score was 51-44. Nowhere near a track record.

A few final stats:

The game MVP was Jack Heissenbuttel, an assitant to Ralph Nicks. Why haven’t I mentioned him to this point? I think I thought he was somebody else. He may or may not have banked a three and knocked over a girl. I’m not too sure. Damnit Jim, I’m a blogger not a reporter.

I had the trainers with a rebounding edge of approximately 47-11.

I had the jockeys besting the horsemen 39-6 in steals.

Missed shots for each team? I stopped counting at 50.

A bad pic of a nice moment, the handhake line after the game

BANKROLL PLAY OF THE DAY:

Race 2: $25 win and place on #8 REACH A DECISION.

This Juddmonte runner ran a sneaky good debut I thought, in a race where I wouldn’t have minded if he’d done no running at all, given that was a dirt sprint and her’s bred to route on turf. Looks way live to me and should be an OK price.

MEET TO DATE RESULTS +205 (Made $47.50 on FRANKEL and $27.50 on WINTER MEMORIES on Wednesday, no bet yesterday)