Thursday July 18 Del Mar Picks

Hello everyone,

WOW! Opening Day at Del Mar keeps getting better every year!

Even though this time there was no breaking record attendance (only 43,030 this year, compared with more than 47,000), the crowd bet much more money than last year  ($14.2 million); this year $4,395,549 were placed on bets...

 people were part of this crazy, fun and very crowed place. More than $14.2  million were bet yesterday, one million more than last year.

 The first race was won by jockey Joel Rosario, who also won 3 more races during the day.

   On the winning standings, the rest of the racecard was very spread: jockeys Martin Pedroza, Gary Stevens, Rafael Bejarano, Corey nakatani, Julien Leparoux and Edwin Maldonado got one under their belts, giving bettors a couple of nice surprises on the payouts.

   As usual, before the races started, the fun had already started, beautiful hats everywhere; drinks, lots of drinks also going around the fan's hands... just your usual Del Mar party scene.

   This year security was a little bit more tight, dogs were sniffing the area before the gates open and there were lots of undercover agents around the track, but fortunately the only bad things that happened were drunk people getting on fights and things getting lost (money included).

   Overall, it was a great Opening Day, but now is time to look ahead this season, so here are your picks for today's 8 races:

Race 1:  TIZ MOLLY, HIDINGINPLAINSIGHT... include TASTY TREAT in your 'fectas.

Race 2: HALPONDOROSA, SHE'S ALL YOURS... include FREQUENT FAME in your 'fectas.

Race 3:  LITTLE UNUSUAL, REAL BRIGHT BOOTS... include FRANNIE'SSPIRITTOO in your 'fectas.

Race 4: ROWDY GAL, J AND S EXPRESS... keep an eye on JOYCE ON ME.

Race 5: CONKATE, BELLE DE LUNE... include ZIA, ZIA, ZIA in your 'fectas.

Race 6:  FOOTGARD, CHATTER UP... include ANYTHINGTOGETEVEN in your 'fectas.

Race 7: EXECUTIVEPRIVILEDGE, GYPSY ROBIN... include RENNESGOTZIP in your 'fectas.

Race 8 TE RAPA, TAMARACK SMARTY... include ROMEO ROYALE in your 'fectas.

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Happy Betting everyone!