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Petrino would appreciate approach Saturday, Jul 26, 2008 By Harry King LITTLE ROCK - A stickler for preparation and detail, Bobby Petrino would appreciate the mental note that helped Phil Cleek win a handicapping contest. Last month, more than 100 horseplayers showed up at Oaklawn Park to match wits and guile with a nice pot and a trip to Las Vegas at the end of the rainbow. The participants were required to make wagers of $2 win and $2 place on 15 races per day, including a half-dozen contests selected by track personnel. After the first day, Cleek's $60 worth of tickets had yielded $85 and he was barely in the top 10. On the second day, Father's Day, the mandatory races included the second at Louisiana Downs and the sixth at Belmont Park. The win mutuels were $58.20 and $27.40 and Cleek nailed both. At Louisiana, the winner was Lukey's Legacy, trained by Michelle Lovell, who has done most of her work in Texas since taking out a license in 2004. Wherever she has been, she has won with almost 20 percent of her starters - a solid number - and this year, she is full-time at Louisiana Downs. On Saturday of the tournament, Cleek noted that Lovell won with a first-time starter and was second with another horse. So, he told himself to pay attention to anything she saddled. Lukey's Legacy was one of his top three selections in the race, but nothing in the past performances screamed "must-play." "What made him a must-play," Cleek said, was the success of the previous two runners from Lovell's barn. He also noted the presence of Larry Taylor, who had left Texas for Louisiana and who was familiar with Lovell's runners. "I like him as a longshot rider," Cleek said, and the public tends to dismiss riders who are not at the top of the jockey standings. Besides, the favorite was 3-5 and nobody is going to make up ground with a winner that returns $3.20 for $2. When Lukey's Legacy hit the wire a head in front, Cleek did his best Darth Vader with emphasis and said, "Luke, I am your father." Cognizant of the criticism Kent Desormeaux had received for his ride on Big Brown in the Belmont a week earlier, Cleek circled Desormeaux's mounts in New York, figuring the jockey would be working on vindication. He came up with a runner - "I can't remember his name but I know he was the 7 horse " - who was 4-1 on the morning line, but the odds climbed to 12-1 when low-percentage rider Rudy Rodriguez replaced Desormeaux. The horse won easily. Employed by the Little Rock School District, the 46-year-old Cleek got hooked on Oaklawn about 30 years ago the first time he heard Terry Wallace's enthusiastic description on radio. He won the first two tournaments Oaklawn scheduled back in 1996 and he was fifth last year in an NTRA qualifying tournament at Lone Star Park. That day, he was trying to protect his third-place standing against those in hot pursuit when a couple of people outside the top 10 hit a 13-1 shot and pushed him back to fifth. Any football coach who played safe with the lead in the fourth quarter and got burned can empathize. The NTRA tournament in Vegas will be Cleek's first. Although the purse is $1 million, with about $500,000 to the winner, Cleek will approach it the same way as any other tournament. He'll spend about three hours hunkered down with the basics of handicapping - "the pen and pencil approach," he calls it - and he'll leave time for a good night's rest. The competition includes the second weekend of Oaklawn's 2009 season and Cleek just might uncover a local longshot. ------- Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media's Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com. |
