Thinking it too long between fall junkets to Del Mar, the NSAA decided to try something new to fill the gap-- a four day March junket to Santa Anita for the Big Cap. But in hindsight, this hardly rose to junket status. It was more like a flash reunion as (a) most participants didn’t travel much and (b) six of the eleven attendees held their participation to one day only. Only the Commish arrived from more than 100 miles away and the non Big Cap days were attended by only five guys, Joey, Doo, Commish and Boomer (all four days) and Bif for two. Then on Saturday night, for various reasons, the big banquet planned at the Clearman Boat never materialized.

What were the problems? Perhaps the combination of long drives in heavy LA traffic coupled with, shall we say, less than “extremely sick” horseplayers were the two factors.

So it was short on time, yes, but long on fun especially for four of our happy punters. All four went home in the black led by top handicapper Bill Doo who annexed the 6th race trifecta for a cool $344, followed by Joey solving the 9th race trifecta for a nice $202 and Waz bagging the same race’s exacta for $113. These amounts aren’t earth shaking for high rollers, but for $2 bettors they can quickly make your day. Also coming home with a profit for his trouble was Mason who ferreted out a non-winner of two (Denman’s Call) to beat a Breeders Cup Sprint runner-up (Masochistic) in the Grade I Triple Bend Stakes, for a hefty $35.40 payday. He also picked off several other winners earlier on while screaming from the back row incessantly.

Those coming home even included Bif (did he make a single bet?) and Bruce. In the loss column were the sad sacks, Billy D, Boomer, Commish and Neil. There was no word on how Dave made out but it may make it over to us eventually. And finally, if I blew anybody's W/L status, email it over and I'll fix it.