There is NOTHING Easy About 2 Year Old Races!

The Arizona Shoot-Out Special Stakes
Grade III
Four and a Half Furlongs on Fast Dirt
$125,000
Fillies and mares, 2 years old

Okay, so in my preview I may have made a couple of jokes about a certain young filly’s name. I may have stated that even though she had won two in a row, she didn’t exactly do it in good form as she got slower in a shorter race the second time. And even though I named more than half of the race’s horses in my picks I still didn’t mention the eventual winner. THAT is exactly why I LOVE to write up the two year olds! You NEVER know what is going to happen. And that is EXACTLY what happened in the Grade III Arizona Shoot Out Special Stakes which is a name of a race that is longer than the four and a half furlongs that these fillies ran. Because LODE OF THE DANCE made me eat crow my very first two year old write up of the year!

In actuality, the only horse of the five I mentioned to be in contention for the race that finished in the top three was VENGEFUL PRAYER , who looked as if she had it won but seemingly backed up at the finish to barely hold on for second over EPIC DUEL. Winner LODE OF THE DANCE had a strong finish to move from seventh to the win for her third consecutive trip to the winners circle. She also moved into the number one ranking amongst two year old dirt sprinters. Her trainer, HornFrog3 has quite the little filly on his hands and has to be excited about her future prospects. The Forty Niner offspring out of WiinningFication has won at three different sprint lengths and it will be interesting to see what distance she tries next.

I plan on being at that next race with a veritable picnic along with me of “egg on my face” while I am “eating crow” with a side of “humble pie.” See you at the smorgasbord!

Good luck to all runners!

PazJazz