It Takes Two To Tango
Often enough, November and December find Breeders’ Bowl winners tucked away in the safety and comfort of their trainer’s barn, end-of-the-year titles secured and with little to gain and everything to lose by risking a defeat before the end of the year. More than ever, that would have been the scenario most expected to see this year, with Call of The Wild a near certain divisional champ after an overwhelming 2 ¾ length victory in the Breeders’ Bowl Classic, but such is not the case. Instead, trainer gipper8 sends his charge to the post today for a rematch with Wonderboy Cougar, who followed him home in the Classic, and thirteen others. Lets take a look at the field:
Grade I
A mile and one quarter
Fast Dirt
$1,000,000
All horses, 3 years old and up
| PP | Horse ID | Horse | Owner | Jockey | Odds | Comments |
| 1 | STORMZAPPER | 15/1 | Since bursting onto the national scene with a shocking triumph in the G2 Bertrando Handicap earlier this year at 46/1, this well bred colt has struggled to find that form again, losing six straight starts, including his last, a restricted allowance race over 7 furlongs. He’s found a tough field here, and barring a miracle, he’s not likely to make an impact in this event. | |||
| 2 | SOLAR SONG | 8/1 | This one is a mystery: he won a G1 race with a 112 speed figure over 9.5 furlongs last time out, but found himself consistently following home the big-name three year olds earlier this summer. He has beaten older horses before, but never has he seen horses of this caliber, and one has to fear that he’ll regress off of the huge effort last time out. He’s worth paying attention to, and he should be coming late, but my money would be on the older horses to be able to kick away in the last quarter mile. | |||
| 3 | PARKER | 13/1 | This son of the turf stallion Sadler’s Wells is very much at home on the dirt, where he won the prestigious G1 Gotta Fix The Sprinklers Classic in Arizona five races back. Since then, his late run has left him just a little short of the winners circle against top notch company; his only win came in a small ungraded stakes two back, and the 86 last time out is inexplicably poor. He’d need a huge run to put himself in the mix for small money, and looks to be unable to compete for the win. | |||
| 4 | WONDERBOY COUGAR(IRE) | 5/1 | Trainer karlch has kept his stable star on a very short leash this year; he’s made only seven starts this year and returns to Delaware looking to improve on his 2nd place finish last year, when he was racing at 75/1. You won’t get such generous odds on him this time; he is the 2nd choice in the race and possibly the most likely winner. He has the distinct advantage in this race of being by far the classiest pace influence, and he may be able to relax early on the lead. Should this situation play out, he could coast home as his rival could be left with too much to do through the stretch. | |||
| 5 | CALL OF THE WILD II | 9/2 | Its hard to argue with a horse that’s won the Sand Castle Classic and Breeders’ Bowl Classic in the same year, as well as a pair of G1 contests between those two big ones, but the speed figures here indicate that he’ll need a huge run to duplicate that victory over Wonderboy Cougar. The early zip that he showed in the Classic, if he’s able to replicate it, may be his saving grace, because he won’t be able to spot his rival too much ground if he hopes to be able to make it up. He’s done enough to lock up divisional honors, but he may not be able to do enough in this race to win it. Don’t bet on anyone except Wonderboy Cougar pulling that trick off, however. | |||
| 6 | TWO TO TANGO | 17/1 | Despite the odds, this veteran campaigner is an honest hard-knocker who is coming in to this the right way. He’ll be close to the pace early, and if he gets a little bit of luck and the big ones don’t fire, he could be a long priced shocker, despite jumping way up in class. | |||
| 7 | BUDDHA’S UNDIES | 23/1 | Only a hard-charging 2nd in the G2 Clerk Of Scales Stakes shows the sort of quality necessary to compete in graded events against his own age group, but last time out, he was smashed by Solar Song. This is not a good place to turn around his form, facing the best dirt horses currently running. At this point in his career, allowance races would seem to be the place for this one. | |||
| 8 | GROSSLY WAVER | 17/1 | Another old campaigner showing a distinct lack of proven stakes form, though at least in this one’s case, he’s been winning while racing at an appropriate level. Steps into stakes competition for the first time, and while he’s unlikely to have much success this time out at such a level, you can’t fault a one-time shot in the dark when there’s so much to gain. | |||
| 9 | YEAR OF THE VOTE | 8/1 | Having spent the year coming heart-breakingly close to thrusting himself out of the 2nd tier of older horses and squarely into the top few, a trio of G2 wins nonetheless have propelled him to the 6th ranking in the Dirt Classic division, and he ran rather accurately in the Breeders’ Bowl Classic, finishing 7th. Its hard to imagine him finally getting over the hump here, but he’ll give it an honest effort and should have a strong say in the minor awards. | |||
| 10 | CORZAFFAIR(IRE) | 18/1 | Having already voiced my concern over the top three year olds in the field being capable of tackling older males of this caliber, the same goes doubly for this filly. While certainly a major player in her division, it would take a wonder-filly to step up and make these older horses even take a deep breath, much less defeat them, and this filly, no matter how solid, is not a wonder-filly. There’s not a trainer around that wouldn’t kill for a filly that could run 3rd in the Bluegrass Oaks, but trainer corzak may find his filly needing a long break sooner rather than later after 16 runs in top competition this year. Speed influence, so the only impact she may have on this race is to make it easier for some of the deep closers to overhaul Wonderboy Cougar, if she can stick with that one early. | |||
| 11 | OBISPO TOWN | 9/1 | A 4th place finish in the Breeders’ Bowl Classic on the heels of the brilliant effort that saw him surge through the stretch to land the G1 Jockey Guild Gold Cup sets this colt up as one of several horses that will look to test Call Of The Wild and Wonderboy Cougar over the next several months for dominance of the handicap division. You can’t fault a pedigree like this or a past performance line like he’s put together, except to note that, until he proves otherwise, one has to give Call of The Wild and Wonderboy Cougar the benefit of the doubt. A good horse whose just waiting for an opportunity, and if the big guns get tripped up, look for this one to be right on their heels waiting for his opportunity. | |||
| 12 | SLEW O’TROUBLE | 14/1 | Aptly named, this colt will likely find himself in a slew of trouble when, after stalking what promises to be a hot pace, Wonderboy Cougar tires of the company and spurts away from this one. There is a short list of horses who have a prayer of sticking with a horse of that caliber when he decides to run, and this colt, while a classy and competent runner in his own right, isn’t on that very exclusive list. | |||
| 13 | ZARCILLO | 11/1 | The speed numbers are there; the graded stakes form is not. He was 13th in his only recent try in graded company, and he’s a three year old. I have a hard time seeing how this one will stick with the top few today, but if he can develop through the transition from age three to four, he could emerge as a player on the fringes of the handicap division early next year. | |||
| 14 | PATU PICIN | 7/1 | This one is in almost an identical situation to Zarcillo, except for the fact that, at age 5, it may not be as much of a surprise to see him jump up and run a big race today. Have the be bothered by the 6th place finish in his only recent graded stakes try though, and I think its unlikely but not impossible that this one will be around with much to say at the finish. |