GR Simsters Championship – Juvy Turf

Some of the residency’s best and brightest, including Pub Crawl, are headed off to New York on a quest for Breeders’ Bowl glory, but nine talented colts (including two currently ranked in the top 25 of this division and another two in the top 50), one promising first time starter, and a filly are set to clash for local bragging rights here in the $250,000 GR Simster Juvy Turf. The fall chill is starting to settle in, but the skies are brilliantly blue, with hardly a cloud in the sky, and the leaves are hitting their peak of autumnal glory. All in all, you couldn’t ask for better weather for the residency’s biggest day.

Kody Baby(IRE) was just shy of the necessary points to draw into the main event. Like top 2yo turfer Pub Crawl, the Babe is a son of El Prado, and the rest of his pedigree doesn’t come any better, with Nijinsky II x Northern Dancer on the back end. Lots of crossing to Northern Dancer throughout, but the Verona homebred is a good example of what happens when inbreeding works. The compact muscular grey has been in the money all three starts, winning two. Stretched out to a mile, he made every pole a winning one in capturing the Tex Ransom Bonanza (84 SF). However, his margin diminished drastically in the final furlong, so there was a bit of a question mark on that performance. The question mark deepened when he tired to third, after an easy early lead, in the Only Moe Stakes (85 SF), last time out, although that may be due more to Speightful’s impressive performance than any real distance limitations. A slightly better performance in that race would have been enough to punch his BB ticket, but instead, he’s here, seeking the consolation prize. Other than Righteousness, and perhaps Triton, there really isn’t any other early speed in the race, so the pace scenario should play to his strength. If Sherman can keep the headstrong colt from getting too rank in the early going, the rest of the field may never catch him. Skills in Magic has already proven his ability to rise to the occasion in a major GR Simster event, when he captured a Smackdown race back in July. That race probably cost him the points needed to make the BB, so it came at a price. The tall son of Denon followed up that impressive win with a victory over 1 1/16 miles, but he chose to flatten out at precisely the wrong time in the GSR Diamond last time out. Still, the homebred colt could easily add another GR Simster trophy to peeps9’s collection. His biggest weakness is that this colt absolutely lags at the back of the pack, so if Kody Baby gets loose early, Magic may simply have too much to overcome, although Margolf may have something in his bag of tricks to get the longstriding colt there in time. This guy offers a real nice payout at 5/1 for hunch bettors – I mean, how can you not bet a horse named Skills in Magic on Halloween weekend?

While the Babe and Magic are the proven contenders, it’s hard to get past Speightful when looking at the past performances. That gaudy 90 SF, earned while AJ Brown had the colt geared down in a two length romp over the Babe, is hard to get past. That race was five weeks ago, which should be sufficient time for reman1200 to have his charge primed for another big outing. While his sire, Speightstown, was a champion dirt sprinter, this stellar representative from his first crop is proving to be a fine turf router. The energetic colt won at first asking, but that was more a sign of his talent than his sprint ability. After closing late, but finishing out of the money, in two graded turf sprints, he showed improved effort with more distance on the dirt, but that last race was lights out. Currently ranked 44th, he gives every indication that he’ll keep moving up the ranks. A repeat of his last race on Saturday, and everyone else will be fighting for second money. It’s a sign of the depth of this field that Speightful is listed at only 5/1. If you think he won’t bounce, you have to pile on.

Another colt who has been making some noise in the turf ranks is Dancing Master(IRE), currently ranked 46th in his division. The lightly raced colt has only three starts under his belt, but he has acted like a seasoned pro in each of those races. The elegant dark bay won at first asking, then when stretched out to a mile, has made a pair of eye-catching moves to grab second in a pair of stakes. I’d really like to see what he can do for yunkai once the distances go to 10 furlongs and beyond, but for this weekend, we’re stuck at a flat mile. The Peintre Celebre is starting to build a pretty nice case for his own celebrity, and a win here would certainly go a long way in that direction. His speed figures are a bit lighter than the other three main contenders, but it won’t take much to get him there.

Three other turfers have just a maiden win on their ledger so far, but have shown ability and potential, even if they are not quite yet at the same stage as some of the other contenders. Lender1 sends out Righteousness, a muscular, aggressive son of Touch Gold. He broke his maiden in his fourth start, going wire to wire in a 7 ½ furlong event. He won’t get an easy lead here with the Babe in the race, and he’ll need to build off of that win to threaten here, but that’s the joy of 2yos – they’re capable of putting it all together and showing exactly that type of improvement on any given Saturday. And, if the Babe doesn’t break well, this could be a golden opportunity for this guy to strike Simster gold. Triton(IRE) looked impressive in his debut, when he broke sharp and never looked back, steadily widening his lead throughout the race, and ending up with an 81 SF for 7 furlongs. The Niarchos homebred has a solid pedigree, by Galileo x Peintre Celebre. In his second start, I’m not sure what went wrong – whether he had trouble at the gate, got discouraged when he didn’t make the lead early, or simply wasn’t ready for stakes company. The leggy colt ended up fifth of sixth, with a speed figure much slower than he posted in his debut, and never really fired. He’s had six weeks to regroup, and clearly, his connections hope that the real king of the sea shows up here. Saintly271 has Roddick Mountain. The smallish, agile colt followed up two dull efforts on the main track with a hard fought win in his first turf outing, battling through the stretch to get up by a head after running 13th most of the way. The speed figure was a bit slow compared to several of the other contenders (74 SF), but I suspect that the additional distance will help this guy. The pace scenario may not be overly favorable, but he’s yet another entry in this field capable of the win if he brings his “A” game.

Late Action makes his turf and routing debut here. It’s a lot to ask of a young colt, but simsters2 appears to have a pretty nice colt on his hands. In three starts sprinting on the dirt, the son of freshman sire Action This Day sports a pair of victories, and has given every indication that he wants to go a mile or more. Not as sure about the surface switch, but Storm Bird, his DS, has been both turf and dirt, as has Kris S., Action’s sire. Hard to predict how he’ll do, but he offers a decent risk/reward at 12/1. Erlkonig is another colt with limited experience on the turf, and frankly it is a bit of a surprise to see him here, rather than in the dirt, but his connections they’ve got a better shot in that race with Alpha Ninja Pirate. In his lone start on the lawn, the Forest Wildcat juvenile was third, with a 71 SF for the 6 furlongs. The extra distance should help here, as he had a nice move in a 7 furlong stakes last time out before just getting outfinished by a colt coming from further back, so he could surprise for tmachine.

Pilgrim7 has aggressively placed his colt National Defense in his debut, taking on a bunch of top level turfers. The colt’s pedigree seems to be more dirt classic oriented (Lemon Drop Kid x Monarchos), but you never know until you get them out on the track. The tall, imposing juvenile has a steady string of solid works, and at 12/1, if you’re high on him, you’ll get a decent payout. A tall task, but National Defense may just be up to the task.

Rounding out the field is the lone filly in the group, lopic34’s Proclaimation. The Alderaan filly has yet to hit the board in three starts, and was a distance sixth in her lone turf try, earning a 64 SF. She does close ground in the stretch, so look for her to get better at three, but a win here just doesn’t seem likely. Good luck to all!