This Is It!!!!

By ITCH

We’re down to brass tacks here at the Spa of the Appalachians as this week’s feature, the $35,000 SENIOR JO STAKES, is the last in this renewal of the West Virginia Stakes Competition.

Ts1442 scored the greatest coup in the history of this contest last week in the Fat Free Denny Handicap, when he swept first and second places with ROYAL FORTY INDY and DIAMOND HEAD.

Those eight points vaulted him into first place, one point in front of a shocked Wassie, who was honing in on his third straight trainer’s championship in these here hilly parts.

Two weeks ago, it was NOELLE’S OREO G who almost put this contest away for Wassie, opening up almost a 10-length lead at one point in the Gold at Last Memorial before being run down in the final strides by the classy TEXAS PRIDE from the No. 2 Sim barn Texasace.

If Wassie is going to defend his championship, he’ll need to hit the board with Noelle’s Oreo G here, who is entered against the boys on short rest off a gutwrenching run. If she can do it, I think there will always be a special place in the Wassie barns for this Forty Niner filly.

In reviewing the past performances for this race, it becomes evident that the field is loaded with dead-end closers, which was looking good for Noelle’s Oreo G, who we would have to presume is gunning for the lead again.

On the other hand, there are a lot of trainers in here who could give a darn about our little contest, so let’s just get to the rundown in qualifying order, shall we?

No. 1 with 38 points is HARPERS FOLLY out of the wisjoel barn. Right away, we know that this race has not come up tough at all with the top qualifier ranked only 220 in the division. This 4yo son of Gone West is a deep closer who hangs most of his hat class-wise on a stakes victory going 9 furlongs, Saturday’s distance, six races back. He earned a solid 103 speed fig that day, and returned to triple digits after two slower races last out when taking an allowance, but that stake he won that day had only six horses in it. In othe words, I am not ready to concede this race to HARPERS FOLLY just yet here, although wisjoel is doing respectable work so far this year with four wins at a 12.5 percent win clip. There ain’t a whole lot of speed to run at here and he’s one of many closers.

No 2 with 35 points is REAL FRUIT out of the tarski barn. Here is another closer, co-favored at 9-2 with Harpers Folly. This 4yo son of Real Quiet won a stake last out at this exact distance with a fat 110 speed fig, so if he feels like running back to that, watch out. Congrats to Tarski for making the Milestone 100-win club recently, totaling now at 101 wins. This is a razor-sharp horse starting at perhaps his best distance. Fairly lightly raced, making only his 20th career start here. That win last out was more recent than Harpers Folly’s stake win, and it was against a full field . Very similar horses at the exact same price; I will go on the record and say I definitely prefer Real Fruit.

No. 3 is HUSTLIN HOOSIER out of the kk1039 barn. This barn never has entered the WV Stakes Competition, but you would think from his career pp’s that he might have because he ran in two big stake races here last year. In fact, Hustlin Hoosier ran in the biggest WV race of the year, the Grade 2 Mountainous Derby. He was a well-beaten 12th in that Grade 2 race, but did quite a bit better in his other local stake, when he was second in the non-graded Broad Brother Challenge going almost today’s distance, at 9.5. This is another confirmed closer, which should suit his jock, Jocko Maloney, who likes to sleep through the early stages of his races and would have tried to rate Seattle Slew. This one is shortening up and is not in quite the current form as the top 2. The last four straight speed figs have been below 100, which ain’t gonna cut the mustard here. Needs an improved effort, which could well be expected considering the WARM nature of the barn. Five wins and three stake wins in 25 starts is getting her done, all right.

Moving right along to qualifer No. 4, which is MR. NINER AGAIN out of the bigmoose stable. This 5yo son of Forty Niner is proving to be quite a head-scratcher, as he’s run six straight dull efforts after looking top notch about halfway through last year, when he was first and second in consecutive stakes. Then, he got clocked in one of those big field owner-restricted stakes, and hasn’t been the same since. Bigmoose may want those two starts in graded company while in bad form back, as those tough races have seemed to help diminish this horse’s confidence. He’s turned it around before, and this ain’t the tuffest of spots in the world.

Qualifying fifth is INTIMIDATING for lenny13. This barn is running nice and hot so far in ’06, taking down six races so far out of 25 starts, and four of those in allowance company. So, this is a winning outfit looking for its first stake win of the year. Can this 4yo son of Deputy Minister get the job done? Heck of a good chance, it looks like to this reporter. Parked right outside of Noelle’s Oreo G, this one is gonna probably let Wassie know right away what kind of shape he is in for a three peat. In handicapping the race, it did not look like much speed in here for Noelle’s to fight with until we got to this one. Intimidating led the Grade 3 Saints Handicap to the head of the lane last out before fading to finish fourth, which would tend to figure him in front of Noelle’s Oreo G on the front, being as she led a female group going farther. This horse looks like the controlling speed and is strictly the one to beat at 5-1.

Qualifying sixth is DISCO SNOW out of the runfaster stable. So far, this Sim trainer does need ’em to run faster this year, only scoring once in 17 starts. Charlier is dissing this one at 25-1, even with that 101 speed fig last out earned at a flat mile in n1s allowance company. This is a lightly-raced horse who could be improving, but it’s quite a jump in class he’s taking here Saturday. Two of his career wins have been at the distance, however. We’ve seen some sharp allowance runners graduate to stakes marbles at Old Waterford several times this year. That’s the Swiss Trick runfaster is going for here.

The aforementioned Noelle’s Oreo G qualifies seventh. What a race she ran last out, and Wassie says she’s sharp here. Can she beat Intimidating out of the gate? If not, can she keep running if she has to chase him? We’ll see. Only a threepeat on the line for her trainer.

Next we have TOM’S SHINING STAR, the first qualifer of three entries for Ts1442 out of his south40 barn. Hard to blame Tom for emptying the cannons this week, as he tries to take down his first ever Spa championship. This is a good old horse who can run all day, but the last time he hit the board in a stake, it was going two miles, and it’s hard to imagine him getting it going fast enough to reach the leader by the time nine furlongs go by Saturday.

The second part of the entry qualifies next. That’s TOM’S CRISPY CRUNCH(IRE), who is getting some crazy respect from Drunken Morning Line Oddsmaker Charlie Hoops at 8-1 despite missing the board in five straight stakes races. I can’t see it, but then again, I don’t have a belly full of rotgut whiskey, either. Plus, the rider is only 2 percent. His best career race was right here at the Spa with a 117 speed fig when second in a contest race way back when, but that was way back when.

Next is PERSIAN ATTIC out of the equine4u barn. This one could be a part of the early pace, but we’re not backing him beyond that, especially considering the barn is 0-43 this year. I didn’t know you had to feed Sim horses.

CLASSIC SIDE(IRE) is the third part of the Ts1442 entry. He makes his first career stake start in his 41st career trip to the post, jumping from the claiming ranks and from 7 to 9 furlongs. Charlie says only 12-1. I don’t know. I think Charlie must be a Ts1442 fan or something.

Contest player Stretch takes a shot here with a longshot entry. Neither THUNDER or DISPENSATION have a stakes point yet. Thunder has been showing speed going longer in allowance company on the grass, as has Dispensation. With respect to our friend Stretch, neither appears too likely.

In conclusion, I think I’ll make a place bet on Intimidating.

GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY!!!!!