Shanahan,

Rebel Music, a $16.80 winner to end the day at Woodbine!! Hope he made it a great day.

I saw a tweet the other day and I thought of you. It said 60 days until horses arrive at Oaklawn! It has been quite a year for me to travel and meet so many people and Rebel Day and esp. Ark Derby Day were fantastic!

As for Rafael, there is a couple at Fairmount on Saturday's that literally bet him every single race and I've paid fairly close attention to his mounts when I am there on Saturday's and Sunday's. While he has skyrocketed up the standings, esp lately as more barns seek his services, he has also been getting hammered at the windows after some big prices won early after his arrival. Look at Friday's charts as an example of the heavy wagering. Two Sunday's ago, he was the favorite in the betting in every race at some point in the wagering, opening as the fav in early wagering in nearly every race. As for yesterday's near four win day for him (DQ cost him one), I declared before Race 11 after close inspection to everyone within hearing distance that he could not lose the race and further declared "bet the world on him!" I ran to the window and of course you know what happened......SHUT OUT! Because it wasn't a stakes race, I hadn't studied it closely until minutes before!

RAMS won as you likely saw. Congrats to SoCalMan???? As for the Irish, I didn't watch them closely any longer around the time I began following racing in 2000. I really quit watching when I completely realized Lou Holtz isn't running out on the field in South Bend ever again........I was holding out hope for many years but not to be.......

Last, I feel the need to point out as your Birds chase a wild card spot, you really posted you would play "Geaux Mets" at Belmont in Race 9???? Some of your friends in the STL might not ever welcome you home if they knew........ Maybe the horse's poor performance is a harbinger of things to come for the many Mets fans on the board:
[i]
[b]Chart reads: "GEAUX METS off the inside, fell far back after leaving the half mile pole, galloped down the lane put to a protective hold, meeting the requirement for the final minor slice!"[/b][/i] (To Be clear, he finished LAST running like Bartolo Colon around the bases!)

Hope to see you at Oaklawn in '17!