The Miner John Special Stakes
Welcome to Upstate New York for this weekend’s Stakes feature, The Miner John Special Stakes. This race for Horses four and up will be run at 14 furlongs on a firm turf course and carry a purse of $65,000. Only four trainers entered today’s feature with Seat Back Forward listed as the slight Morning Line favorite.
1) HUNGRY TRICK 6/5 27 8/2/4 $218,204
This eleven year old started his race career as a nine year old, in a winning debut effort for current trainer dlp on the main track. He stayed on the main track and had to wait seven more starts to notch his second win. Shortly after that the son of Bitter Rain was Pointed towards the turf where he has done rather well, winning five of his first seven starts over the lawn including two stakes. To date he has won three stakes races including his last race which was at 12 furlongs in a late closing effort, where he posted a very nice 98Sp. That number could very well get the job done today. There is no doubt the favorite is going to get loose on the lead, as long as jockey Z.Ayya can keep the top one measured it should be a fantastic finish between the two. Could go either way.
2) GLASGOW KISS (IRE) 6/1 41 18/2/3 $132,584
This 5yo son of Marienbard (IRE) has spent most of his career in the claiming and Starter game with a great deal of success as the 18 for 41 lifetime with 132K spells out. Trainer rigel collared him for $4,000 last fall and has since been to the winners circle three times in six attempts. Today however he tries stakes for just the second time in his three year race career and the first time since he was two. Although his last race was a nice closing victory at 12 panels with allowance company, the top two in here are much better and he shouldn’t pose much of a threat. A very nice $4000 claim non the less and stakes placed would look good on the resume. G.Purcell gets the ride today.
3) A NOTCH ABOVE 9/2 24 3/6/4 $69,535
Nicely bred 4yo son of Forty Niner has been a bit of an under acheiver. Showed a tendency of grabbing the lead early in career only to want to get caught late in races. It appears maybe the trainer pegasus tried to work that out of this horse and bring him from off the pace and he has done that at times but not with the consistency you would hope with one that is so well bred. He tries stakes for the third straight time and fourth in his career for which he has nothing to show. Hard not to like on paper, hard to bet with paper. Will have to show more but is capable at anytime. Is in the capable hands of C.Orza to try and right the ship.
4) SEAT BACK FORWARD 1/1 47 13/10/8 1,105,032
Our favorite breaks from the outside which is going to pose no problem at all. The 6yo son of Silver Buck is going straight to the lead. As the lone speed in the race he is going to be all by himself for a great deal of this race. Trainer studkenny2 has picked a nice spot for this horse who has well over a Million in earnings. The lone threat I see here is the inside horse who will be running late. Don’t be surprised to see this horse open up as much as twenty lenghts on the second place horse in this field. The question is can he hang on? Well I like the choice of jockeys in S.Noles to get the whole job done today and this one will be my top choice.
Picks 4/1/3