5 THREE YEAR OLDS TO CONTEST THE “WILD FOOT BONANZA ” STAKES

 

 

Welcome to Jamaica for todays 10th race feature, The Wild Foot Bonanza Stakes. Today’s event will take place under sunny skies and a firm turf course. The event is scheduled for 6 1/2 furlongs. A total purse of $45,000 will be up for grabs. We seem to have some up and coming 3 year olds in todays feature, so lets get started. Here’s todays field of 5, starting from post position 1 and working towards the outer rail.

 

 

The program oddsmaker has listed ANY CHANCE as the morning line favirote at 2-1. However all the entries/odds are very near as the co-longshots are listed at a 4-1. With that said, we’ll take a closer look at each horse:

 

The #1 horse PEDRO’S FELLA breaks from the rail and has beckoned the duties of J.Manriquez to sit in the saddle. PEDRO’S FELLA, trained by turbo12 , has a lifetime record of 2 wins and a place in 5 starts. PEDRO’S FELLA last start was a disappointing one. In the North Devil Stakes, contested at 7 1/2 furlongs, the then 2yr old finished last in a field of 8. PEDRO’S previous race before that showed alot of potential. In the Nijinsky Allen Stakes, he rallied to miss by a quarter length, earning a speed figure of 81. But PEDRO’S FELLA has major possibilities and one of the questions may be answerd today. PEDRO’S FELLA test the green stuff for the first time in his career today. He is a strapping son of Langfuhr out of a Saint Ballado mare. If he can run on what he was bred for, he can easily be taking pictures afterwards. His biggest question mark of the day may be his cutback to 6 1/2 furlongs. In PEDRO’S first 4 races he closed over 10 lenghts from the top of the stretch to the wire;often times passing many horses. Todays race maybe a little quicker for him and he will have to sit close to the pace to have more of an effective drive. Trainer turbo12 hopes that the change in surface will overcome that fear. If PEDRO’S FELLA is to win today, he will have to prove that he can lay closer to the pace and run according to what his breeding suggests. If he can, this horse may be on his way to better things in the future.

 

The number 2 horse,SPRITE REMIX is listed at 4-1 and summons the duties of the #2 jock at the meet in M.Chreky. SPRITE REMIX has a career mark of 2 wins in 8 starts and has showed 1 time. Although only an allowance race, SPRITE REMIX comes off a nice victory in his last start. Running on turf, for only the third time,he led wire to wire in an allowance nw2l condition at 7 1/2 furlongs. After struggling a bit for 2 races on dirt, trainer lgbost has had the colt on the grass for the last two. The handsome son of Speightstown by the mare out of Nothin Leika Dane, SRPITE looks to keep his grass efforts going forward.In his 2 out of 3 prior starts SPRITE sat right off the early pacesetters and regressed with some of the other rabbits. However, in his last he learned how to take the lead himself, settle and have enough in the tank for the stretch run. lgbost2y said that he has worked hard on teaching SPRITE to relax on the front end. Acoording to lgbost2y, “His sire had a similar disposition. They like their head and they’re going to fight you for it. With time, they aren’t as apt to fight . He’ll learn to control his speed.” So SPRITE REMIX could be dangerous today if he settles nicely and the cutback in distance to his more preferred distance, should be the key for this colt.

 

The number 3 horse in the field is a muscular son of Tale Of The Cat. TALE OF A KING, will be ridden today by T.Ryerson. TALE OF A KING’s  1 for 4 lifetime record doesn’t seem scary to most, but read in between the lines and u can see why trainer joplin has chosen this race. TALE OF A KING come off a dismal effort last out. The good news is, it is a complete toss out. Running as a 2yr old, in a field of 20, TALE never got anything his way. Off at odds of 10-1 he stumbled at the start and finished last in the field. Trainer JOPLIN says ” 2 seconds after the gate opened, i knew we were done. He broke from the 11 post and almost went down, there was nothing we could do from there on in. Smartly, the jockey just hand rode him most of the way.” AHH, but that was dirt and todays is turf. 2 races ago TALE broke poorly again, but started charging late and narrowly missed by 2 1/4 finishing 3rd in The Skillfully Jam Memorial Stakes. 3 races back, when he broke his maiden, he ran by 12 other horses to break his maiden and win by 3 1/4 lengths. TALE is another colt today that cannot afford to break poorly or sit to far back. Today 6 1/2 furlongs maybe a tad shorter than TALE looks to go..But, JOPLIN has prepared him well. Joplin states “He’s been layed off for 5 weeks now. We gave him some sharp gate works to improve his early footing and trying to teach him not to get to far back.” Todays race will show if JOPLIN’S methods have worked for him.

 

The number 4 horse is PRO VI X and is trained by BOHEMIA. The 3 yr old is listed at 3-1 in the morning line. Pro VI X may be the key horse in the race, and  heres why. PRO V, a well bred son of Theatrical out of an El Prado mare wasted  no time in the msw ranks running on dirt. In his first 2 starts, PRO finished 2nd twice in high company msw’s. His first 2 attempts, PRO had the lead at the top of the stretch but got caught nearing the wire. However in his last, he also seemed to rate better. Breaking 12th in a field of 14, PRO VI X made steady progress throughout and at the top of the stretch was 3rd. He then seemed to put it into another gear and blew by the then leaders to draw away to a 1 length victory. Trainer BOHEMIA says of the victory “when we worked him, we tried very hard to get him to relax out of the gate. Our excersise rider was  told to wrap him up tightly out of the gate so that he can learn who’s the boss. But of course race conditions are different. We explained to the race jock that we need to try to see if the a.m. works would pay off.” Well it seems it may. PRO VI x brings a couple of question marks today. Firstly, can the colt go forward into stakes after only breaking his maiden. Secondly, which tactics will be employed today? If PRO V rates again this time, how will he then handle the rush from other likely closers in the race? If more speed is used up front like his older style, will he be able to stay in front. The colt’s other asset is this. He jumped 16 speed point ratings in his last with an impressive rating of 86 (high enough to beat most in the race). But will the upward trend continue or may he revert back to older tactics facing more seasoned horses.

 

The number 5 horse today is the morning line favirote. ANY CHANCE, a Sept yearling seller for 800 bp’s, is a son of the legendary Saddlers wells out of a  Seattle Slew mare.This colt has 2 wins in 4 lifetime starts.

In his latest effort as a 2 year old, ANY CHANCE battled through some swift fractions and tired to be 4th. @ races ago, ANY CHANCE tried dirt for the first time in the Cat Bill Bonanza Stakes. Well he may have run better on concrete that day. Trainer BULDDGOG states “ahh, its one of those things ya know? You dont want to go to long sometimes as a trainer and never give the horse a chance on the dirt…You don’t want to say down the road, what if?. So from that perspective, along with his bloodlines we are happy to say we got that out of the way early. We expect big things from him here on out.” Well today is the chance to start that. ANY CHANCE, broke his maiden first crack with a 6 furlong msw victory. Trainer BULDDOG was iffy as to where to put him next. The race jock implied to BULDDOG after stepping off the scales “see u in the Brother Nijinsky Challenge.”  BULLDOG weighed his decision and decided to go there.. In that race after only breaking his maiden, ANY CHANCE coasted to a wire to wire victory to win by 2 lengths. His pace of this race will be a big determining factor in todays outcome.

 

 

FINAL ANALYSIS-  Todays race comes primarily down to pace. Can ANY CHANCE go wire to wire or will he be pressured early by PRO V IX. Will PEDROS FELLA start his run early enough to close at the 6f distance. Will Tale Of The King bounce back off his last effort and close fast enough to catch the 2 front running horses. Or will SPRITE REMIX keep his winning ways going forward.. Only time will tell, but make sure to have a Pina Colada or 2 down in the Islands of Jamaica…Good Luck to all!!!!!!!