Riders Down by John McEvoy

Author:John McEvoy [McEvoy, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-61595-135-2
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Published: 2011-01-13T05:00:00+00:00

On board his return flight to Chicago the next morning, Matt reviewed what he’d learned the previous night while watching two significant races with The Fount, who had first concentrated on the Dell Park Derby and Lord’s Heir.

“Take a close look as they come out of the gate,” The Fount said. “Lord’s Heir breaks inward just enough to lose about two lengths. The jock, Randy Morrison, is pulling hard on the left rein, just for an instant, just enough to get the horse off course. This horse runs his best races on the lead. But after this kind of start, he can’t get to the front like he usually does.”

The Fount was silent as he and Matt watched the field go around the first turn and then down the backstretch, Lord’s Heir buried in the middle of the pack and stuck down on the rail. “Okay,” The Fount said, “now they’re going into the far turn and Morrison’s still got him down inside with nowhere to go. He’s waiting for an opening—or, he seems to be waiting for an opening. Look right there! The opening comes when the five horse drifts out, but Morrison doesn’t go through. He pulls Lord’s Heir to the right and goes around two horses instead of zipping up the rail when it was clear. It looks like a bad decision, and it was. When Lord’s Heir finally gets rolling in the stretch, he’s got too much ground to make up. He doesn’t hit the board, although he only misses third by a length. The winner pays $48.40. Payoff on the National Pick Four is $460,000 for $1. Two winning tickets.”

The Fount hit the mute button and turned to Matt. He said, “Randy Morrison is one of the top five riders in the country. He’s been ranked up that high for several years and for good reason. He’s terrific. I’ve watched him in hundreds and hundreds of races. And he just doesn’t make mistakes like that. What he has done here is very cleverly, very subtly, stiff his horse. Lord’s Heir didn’t lose that race. Randy Morrison lost it for him.”

The Fount extracted the tape from the VCR and inserted another. Before hitting the play button, he went to the refrigerator and got a quart of Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia. Matt declined his offer to share the ice cream. The Fount began polishing it off out of the container, accompanying the ice cream with a plate of chocolate chip cookies. “Haven’t eaten in a while,” he explained. Between bites he started the videotape and resumed his lecture.

“Now here’s the Gorham Stakes from New York two weeks ago. Another heavy favorite—Sena Sena. He’s ridden by another top jock, David Guerin. On paper, Sena Sena stands out in this field. Pure class. He’d won his last five in a row. Horse is a stone cold closer—usually comes from way back with a big rush in the stretch and wins going away. Not many sprinters run like that, but he does, and he’s a big crowd favorite because of it, as you know.

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