Spotlight Race-Tasmania
Montana was the location for last week’s Spotlight race, a claiming race. In this race, I tried to beat the favorite, as I felt he would be rusty off a long 3 month break. This turned out to be the right decision as my second selection, English Noir, came from off the pace to win the race, benefiting from the drop in distance to pay $7.90 for the win.
My top pick of All Eyez On Me put in another fine effort at 7-1 and got me a boxed exacta that paid a very nice $50.40. Finishing third was Lichtenberg, who I passed upon as I felt his racing schedule was a bit too aggressive. Those who opted to go with him and connected on the trifecta took home $347.90
I took a bit of a gamble with Jens Lemon Tyme as my third choice who tried the grass for the first time and failed miserably. He was still running around the track when they turned the lights off.
The Spotlight 5,000 watt bulb will be illuminating the Tasmania raceway this weekend and a field of 3 year old fillies and mares will compete on the dirt track in a maiden special weight event. This is the eleventh race on the card and will be raced at a distance of a mile and three sixteenths.
1. Yenzi 12-1
Shows some early speed but has been unable to make it go the distance. Comes off best speed of 73 and has raced on this track once before, finishing in mid-field. Tough to get excited about.
2. Grandmas Hand 4-1
Has two races with speeds in mid-70’s This grass bred horse tries luck on dirt for first time and after finishing out of money on grass may find dirt more appealing. With strong grass breeding, not sure that will be the case, but it has happened before.
3. High Water Mark 9-5
Surprised to see this one entered with two fourth place finishes over this track, both on grass, with speeds excelling from 78 to 85. She has a very strong grass roots in her breeding and gets Tazdevil to ride once again. If she can bring these speed numbers to her dirt effort, she’ll could be the first to the wire.
4. Clarinase 5-1
Tried to wire field on dirt two back and was run down in the stretch run, settling for third and career best speed of 77. Gal likes to run up front but jockey Lawless will need to find a way to get this gal to stay there.
5. Buck That Sheet 7-1
Debuted at beginning of March in long turf event as 5-2 favorite and failed to deliver. Followed this with a dirt effort late March at a mile and was routed. Came back to grass with better effort and speed of 79. Back to dirt for this race and hard to tell what went wrong in late March. Can’t see things getting worse that that effort, but it is hard to judge how well she can actually do on dirt.
6. Space Marker 26-1
Ran mile in debut race on turf last month which turned out to be a bust. Switches over to dirt with hopes of improvement. I think this one may actually improve, but I don’t think it will be to the level that will be enough to win this race.
7. Les Squint 4-1
Made switch back to dirt after a trio of races on the grass where she wasn’t producing results. The switch looks successful as she has hit the board with a second and third and speeds of 83 and 88. Could have best shot with nice odds.
8. Little Egypt 8-1
Switched barns in February and responded with an improved speed of 74 when asked to go mile and finishing third. She was beat by just over 2 strides and briefly took lead heading into stretch. Going a bit further in distance and I’m not sure if she’s ready for that yet.
Quite a few horses in this field switching over from the grass with hopes of finding the dirt a better place to run on. Les Squint has good numbers on the dirt and looks the best to me.
Grandmas Hand gets top jockey Harzheim, maybe his win percentage of 26% can do something for this dirt converter.
High Water Mark has good speeds on the turf and if that carries over, she’ll be a contender in this race.