Listen to Gove tries to make it 5 in a row in Ostend’s North Jo Ann Challenge
Some horses take a couple of races to put all the right pieces together. Owner repository’s Listen to Gove decided to take a couple of years. After losing 9 maiden specials during her 2003 and 2004 campaigns, the light grey filly finally broke her maiden in her 10th try. Her first race back as as a winner aside (where she finished 8th), this Mutakddim x Relaunch filly has been lights-out, winning 4 in a row and rewarding her backers kindly at odds of 5/1, 7/1, 19/1, and, in her most recent start after a 5 month layoff, 10/1. Had someone taken $2 and bet on her when she won at 5/1 and rolled the winnings over each time, they would already be sitting at a cool $15,000 with a few bucks to spare. Oddsmakers have paid no attention to history, however, and made her the co-longshot in this field at 13/1 (meaning another rollover victory this weekend would increase that $2 investment to over $198,000)! This race is an intriguing one for her to attempt stakes-company for the first time. For starters, she is rolling back to 6 furlongs, a distance she has never tried. Although her front running style implies the distance will be no problem, she will be challenged heavily for the lead by kdiv’s Not Bad For A Girl, a solid stakes performer at this distance who proved she could compete against older stakes fillies last out, and itsalock’s grade winning mare I Can Hear You. The biggest threat to her win streak, however, is posed by tips Arts In The Valley, whose style and recent form may prove to be too much for the Gove. All in all, it should be a great race for spectators and could prove to be a profitable race once again for backers of Listen To Gove!