A “SPICEY” Race in Spain
Ida Ore Stakes Grade III
One Mile on Firm Turf
$125,000
Fillies and mares, 3 years old and up
After standing in early morning fog along the rail with out stopwatch and whispering among the stalls with stable hands, owners and trainers, we are getting set to run down the Ida Ore Stakes Race. The weatherman is cooperating so it should be a beautiful weekend in lovely Spain and we should have a fast turf track. We’ve got a nicely matched field so this should be fun. Let’s take a look:
1- LEMONS D’OR SON ODDS OWNER WIN% JOCKEY WIN% TOP SPEED AVG SPEED RANK 12/1 strongone 14.0% C.Puschel 15% 100.4 93.1 412
This Lemon Drop Kid filly has been struggling a bit lately, even finishing 6th in a NW2S Allowance last outing after stumbling out of the gate when she was bumped. She was running great back in January and February and trainer Strongone has had a hard time recapturing that magic where she was in the money four in a row. She likes to come from way back and with the favorite probably jumping out to a big lead, that may be a problem, especially with this inside post. She will most likely have a lot of traffic to navigate when she is ready to get to the front.
| 2 – LAGUARDIA | ODDS | OWNER | WIN% | JOCKEY | WIN% | TOP SPEED | AVG SPEED | RANK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9/2 | usoz | 15.9% | R.Usoz | 13% | 106.7 | 100.3 | 55 |
With a name like LaGuardia, you would expect this four year old filly to jet out to the lead and she probably won’t disappoint you here. The Sadler’s Wells offspring likes the front end and also likes to keep busy as this will be her 17th stakes appearance this year alone. She has already earned more than $232,000 in 2005 and would like to add to that total. Trainer Usoz knows that his filly likes to run and has kept her in good health all year. She hasn’t been to the winners circle since April 23rd but her past two races have looked like she is ready to throw a streak together again. She will easily grab the rail from this post and it appears that the trainer will have the jockey’s ear as they are one and the same.
| 3 – MY VICTORIA MANTA | ODDS | OWNER | WIN% | JOCKEY | WIN% | TOP SPEED | AVG SPEED | RANK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7/2 | network6 | 33.8% | M.Zeus | 22% | 107.2 | 102.9 | 34 |
The only five year old in the race is ready to show the youngsters a thing or two. This Arazi mare stumbled a bit in her last outing at nine furlongs but has moved back to a mile where she had previously won six stakes races in a row. She is six of eight this year and has only finished lower than fourth two times in 28 races. She’s got a closing kick that just won’t quit and will be stalking Spicegirl down the stretch. With just under half a million dollars in earnings, she certainly knows how to get it done. Speaking of getting it done, trainer Network6 has an unbelievable 34% win percentage, and 80% ITM as well with this stable. Quite a feat! Add to that the tracks best jockey and you can see why she is one of the two favorites.
| 4 – CANONICAL VIEW | ODDS | OWNER | WIN% | JOCKEY | WIN% | TOP SPEED | AVG SPEED | RANK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14/1 | kurvin | 7.5% | N.Ashton | 6% | 99.2 | 94.6 | 1271 |
With only 10 races under her belt, this Distant View four year old filly is still looking for that first race with a 100 Speed Figure. She will need to find it in a hurry if she wants to compete with this Graded company. She may be a bit over her head but has shown plenty of heart in all of her races. One thing about horse racing, you never know when it might be your day. A curious choice in jockeys here as Ashton doesn’t usually do well on front runners.
| 5 – GOLD FOREST | ODDS | OWNER | WIN% | JOCKEY | WIN% | TOP SPEED | AVG SPEED | RANK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7/2 | ladysierra | 20.0% | S.Ballesteros | 10% | 105.4 | 100.2 | 59 |
Lovely four year old chestnut filly Gold Forest is a Touch Gold offspring that has touched a bit of her own gold. Trainer Ladysierra, lovely in her own right has kept this filly at a champion pace since the beginning of April. Curiously enough, in her last seven races she has ping-ponged between first and second every time. This outing is scheduled to be a second place finish but I’m sure that Ladysierra wouldn’t mind if she messed up the streak and finished first this week. She doesn’t have some of the gaudy numbers of some of her challengers but has stood up to everything thrown at her this year. She could surprise. Jockey Ballesteros is having an up and down rookie season but has been better of late.
| 6 – HEY BEZZA | ODDS | OWNER | WIN% | JOCKEY | WIN% | TOP SPEED | AVG SPEED | RANK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13/1 | bezza14 | 15.4% | G.Carter | 14% | 100.54 | 96.2 | 90 |
She looked good by winning in a tune-up allowance in her last outing after being injured in the QUEEN ASCOT GI in the middle of September. This four year old Mujahid offspring has nine wins in her 27 races but only two of those were in Stakes company. She has only been in triple digit speed figures once since her three year old season and most likely will need to do that here if she hopes to finish in the top three. She is well rested looks good in workouts this week. Jockey Carter’s 15 years experience will help this girl out a lot as will this post position. She could be the upset longshot.
| 7 – SPICEGIRL | ODDS | OWNER | WIN% | JOCKEY | WIN% | TOP SPEED | AVG SPEED | RANK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5/2 | tresstable | 23.1% | T.Monk | 20% | 108.3 | 101.8 | 14 |
Adding some “Spice” to the race is this beautiful grey filly by Southern Halo who has proven to be a nice turf sire. This little lady has really blossomed this year winning five of only seven races and has a streak of four stakes wins in a row including the GSR MARES GI three back where she came from the 12th post and dispatched Hey Bezza who is also in this race with ease, by six lengths. She likes to hang near the front but has been known to either take the lead or run from the back as well. She should be tough to beat here as loves the mile and is on top of her game. She would have rather drawn inside but Monk’s capable hand on the reins should still get her to the front in a hurry.
| 8 – CAPTIVE HEART | ODDS | OWNER | WIN% | JOCKEY | WIN% | TOP SPEED | AVG SPEED | RANK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5/1 | mariana2 | 19.4% | C.West | 11% | 109.6 | 99.6 | 539 |
This lightly raced four year old filly by Runaway Groom out of Waxed Slew didn’t run at all this year until August after an eight month layoff. She has only run 13 races overall but has finished in the money in 11 of them. This will only be her third stakes race and she finished third in the other two although they were over a year ago. She had a streak last year that would have competed with any of this crowd but it remains to be seen if the layoff has taken away her edge or rested her up for bigger things. The last place she wanted to be was on the outside next to Spicegirl and she will have to overcome that position in the race.
Morning Line = 7-3-5-2
Yoss Tipsheet = 5-7-8-2
Paz Picks = 7-5-3-2
This should be a fun race as there are several horses that have a legitimate chance to win. I like LAGUARDIA to finish fourth by a whisker to MY VICTORIA MANTA. GOLD FOREST and SPICEGIRL could go shoulder to shoulder throughout the race but the GIRL has a little too much here. She wins by a length.
Good luck to all runners!
Paz