Looking at the past performances for Saturday, December 7 (according to Bluto,
the 78th anniversary of the day the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor) at AQ. This
will be an annual visit with three friends to the Equestris Restaurant, where
the food has at times been so mediocre I have contemplated calling New Park
Pizza in Ozone Park to see if they would deliver a pizza to my table. This will
be maybe my fifth live visit to a racetrack in 2019, and to put this in
perspective, I used to go live to the downstate tracks between 4-5 days per
week.

There is plenty of stakes racing action, and good luck trying to determine
which turf runners will like what is sure to be a rock hard surface.

The runner that attracted my attention is Majestic Affair in Race 3.
Summarizing, on 10/24/18, the then 6YO gelding was claimed by trainer John
Ortiz from Brad Cox for 80K. On 3/24/19, Robertino Diodoro claimed MA for 62K
at OP. MA won his next start at CD after a three month layoff for a claiming
price of 40k, and Diodoro took him to the Spa where he did not beat a horse in
a 62.5 claimer. He was claimed from that Spa race by Rudy Rodriquez. MA's DRF
comment for that Spa race was "faltered".

MA came back 5 weeks later for RudyRod in a 50K optional claimer at the Spa. MA
beat one runner and was vanned off. Next raced at Belmont on 10/2, showed
speed, "weakened", and beat one runner for 32K. Next race, Aqueduct, 25K
claimers, beat one runner, DRF comment "tired".

MA is running for 20K on Saturday. I've been around racing long enough to have
seen horses like this somehow regain their confidence and return to form,
usually when dropped to a level or shipped to a circuit where they will be
facing runners every bit as sore as they are. I have also been around racing
long enough to comment that Majestic Affair's recent form raises as many red
flags as one might see at the May Day Parade.

Majestic Affair won 11 of 30 lifetime starts and banked nearly $615,000. He was
only beaten 5 or so lengths by BC Sprint champ Mitole as recently as 9 months
ago. I hope this guy ends up in a comfortable aftercare scenario, and
(selfishly, I guess) hope he scratches out of this race.

Also in the same race (on a brighter note), one of the most cleverly named
runners at NYRA, or anywhere for that matter: They Shot Sonny, by Giant's
Causeway.