Favored Slither, Xtremely Gold Duel in the Slop
Grade III
A mile and three quarters
Sloppy Dirt
$125,000
All horses, 4 years old and up
PP Horse ID Horse Owner Jockey Odds
1 RECKLESS topicount3 S Camp 11/1
2 SLITHER peeps6 N Bedford 2/1
3 LEMIEUX AGAIN mrfu Y Feese 9/2
4 SOME CAT acarigua5 W Williams 12/1
5 FAN RUSTY alamshar85 N Davis 26/1
6 QUEST FOR RAIN deathstar B Morris 25/1
7 KIELBASA KING horsechic7 R Johnston 10/1
8 MEGGIDO(GB) rvd K Salisbury 11/1
9 XTREMELY GOLD grracers J Piotrowski 7/2
10 GALAPAGOS industrial Q Miller 7/1
A field of ten will contest the Grade III IMedic.com, the first of four graded stakes on the rich Pennsylvania card. The track has come up sloppy for the mile and three quarter event. It’s hard to evaluate the potential effect of the track condition since only two contestants have won over the off going and a few have never tried it. Here’s the field from the rail outward.
Topicount3 sends out her homebred Reckless in search of graded glory. The handsome, late running gray was second last time out in a Tennessee stake at two miles on the dirt. In that event, jockey Isdell surprised everyone by sending the son of Wild Again immediately to the front. Reckless and Isdell opened up a huge lead and the pair were eight lengths in front turning for home. But the speed tactics had taken their toll. The five year old shortened stride noticeably and was unable to switch leads. Graded winner Kris Noia took advantage of Reckless’ fate and rushed past him at the eighth pole en route to a four and three quarter lengths victory. A return to his usual late running strategy, or better rating on the front end, could result in a sharply improved effort.
Favored (2-1) Slither is a graded stakes winning millionaire. Peeps6 owns, trains and bred the flashy Deputy Minister chestnut. Although Slither seems most comfortable in the nine to ten furlong range, he did race very well in his last two starts at twelve panels. Two back Slither chased upset minded King’s Robbery(ire) home in Equinics’ Grade I Garrison. And last time out, in an Illinois Grade III, he closed strongly from far back to garner the show. Fast, fit, talented. Major player.
Lemieux Again is an interesting horse. The son of Storm Cat missed two years of racing while his connections were on a religious retreat and mission in equatorial Africa. Mrfu turned his stock out for the duration of his mission. The time off didn’t hurt Lemieux Again. Quite the contrary. After a pair of nothing efforts as a juvy, he came back as a real racehorse at age five. Following a rust removing fifth, the now six year old reeled off three straight victories. As for the race at hand, L A could not be sharper. Two back he ran a bang up second behind the white hot Barb’s Adventure in an Irish Grade II stake. And last time out, also in Ireland, he crushed a good field in the fourteen furlong The Secret North Stake. Best effort puts him in picture.
Talented Queensland based conditioner Acarigua5 sends out his graded placed mare Some Cat. The obscurely bred (Awesome Cat x Storm A Head x Antheus) five year old has raced almost exclusively on the grass. Two starts back she finished second in the Grade III Shawnee River Handicap and posted a solid 100 speed figure over the yielding turf. Last time out her event was rained off the grass and she sloshed home a soggy sixth of fourteen. If she can transfer her grass talent to the main course, she has an outside chance.
Fan Rusty is an appropriately named colt since he hasn’t raced for several months. Unless he’s grown wings during the layoff, things look bleak for the son of Eastover Court. The steel gray seven year old with the distinctive Birdcatcher ticking has had no success beyond the 1X level and looks like he prefers much shorter distances. Trainer Alamshar85 is getting a little too ambitious here, methinks.
Next comes another longshot. Quest For Rain is a graded placed son of Rainbow Quest and the well bred but poorly performed Ninth Project (Explodent x Mr. Prospector). Deathstar’s four year old homebred needed twelve starts to break his maiden and has been in for a tag. His best races have come at the conditioned allowance level and he’ll need a big step forward in order to threaten this group.
Kielbasa King is an intriguing possibility. The four year old son of Polish Precedent is already in his fourth barn after having been sold twice and claimed once. Trainer Horsechic7 seems to have found the key to this one. Since claiming him for $20,000, she has coaxed a 3-3-3 record from him in only eleven starts. In fact, Kielbasa King is in career best form having just won a pair of allowances easily. This will be a huge test of class. But I cannot count him out entirely because, based on those last two glittery wins, his upper limit has not yet been reached.
Meggido(gb) was a very fine runner in his prime. The six year old stakes winner by Kayf Tara(gb) has racked up eight career wins and earned in excess of $600,000. He has hit the board in three of his last four including a solid second at fourteen furlongs in a Rhode Island stake two back. But Rvd’s old warrior hasn’t won for a long time and his recent speed figures place him a notch below the better ones in here. Has won twice and hit the board in five of seven attempts on off tracks. Your call.
Gate nine will welcome the ultra classy Xtremely Gold. This five year old mare by Touch Gold is rapidly approaching two million dollars in career earnings. Since joining the GRracers barn three starts back, Xtremely Gold has been very carefully managed. Following a solid second in an experimental turf marathon, she was victorious in Equinics’ Grade I Angel Cordero Jr. Then came another Grade I victory in California. Both Grade I scores were at fourteen furlongs on the dirt and both were accomplished in her usual deep closing style. Handles the slop just fine and her best effort puts her in the winners circle.
Trainer Industrial waited until Wednesday afternoon to drop Galapagos‘ name into the entry box. The veteran marathoner will be making his twenty-fourth consecutive stakes appearance on Saturday. He has won seven of those stakes including the Bright Brush in Athens two starts back. A nose loss to multimillionaire Galloping Ghost in the Nashua Cup last year is all that separates the big Lear Fan stallion from a Grade I win. Mid pack stalking Galapagos still puts up some big numbers at times and looms a very serious threat in here.