Looking For More Smackdown Success
Last year’s Smackdown between eventual Equinics champion GR Simsters and the veteran DelPenn group was one of the highlights of the year for both residencies. It featured 16 owner-restricted races, a type of race that can be anything from a glorified MSW to a graded quality event. I won’t render judgment upon the quality of last year’s Smackdown races other than to say that 60 of the horses from it went on to win graded races. In addition, last year’s Smackdown included eventual 2005 Breeders Bowl winners Casterly Rock and Swift Kick, along with 2006 classic winner Whip Smart.
The Smackdown II figures to be bigger, better, and badder than last year’s rendition, as there will be three residencies competing in 20 races. The defending champion GR Simsters will defend their Smackdown crown against third place Equinics finishers the KYHorsemen and Equinics host residency the very gracious Pastures of Green. It should be an extremely contentious, entertaining, and exciting event!
The race in question for this specific article is the 6f dirt race for older horses. Last year’s edition was for 3yo’s only and was arguably the most chock full of talent race on the entire Smackdown card, with eventual 2005 Breeders Bowl Sprint champion Casterly Rock winning with a 111 SF, eventual 2006 Sand Castle Golden Sprint winner Looking For More running second, and multiple graded winner Final Thoughts finishing third. The latter two of that trip is back to contend this year’s Smackdown race, with Teejay’s awesome Looking For More going for five straight wins!
Let’s get straight to the race, with a breakdown of each residency’s runners:
GR Simsters Squadron
Ace-in-the-Hole: The top runner status for the defending champions has to go to Teejay’s fabulous colt Looking For More. He won the 2005 GR Simsters Dirt Sprint Championship and has been arguable the top Sim dirt sprinter in 2006, with four wins from six starts including two G1 wins and a G3 win. The early favorite for the 2006 Breeders Bowl Sprint crown is the clear-cut horse to beat in this race!
Lennbrenner’s Shot: The often critized, often celebrated Lennbrenner Empire sounds out Final Thoughts, looking for his first win in thirteen starts. He won two graded races last year, and has shown good form this year with top three finishes in a G1 and a G2. His astute trainer fired him in a turf race last time out in hopes of waking him up for this race with the turf-to-dirt switch. It just might work, and it would surprise no one if this horse found his way into the top three.
Speed Demon: Speed speed speed, that’s what people love to see, and they’re assured speed from my entry into this race, Grand Thievery. Sometime you don’t know what you’ve got until you really push it to the limits, and that was the case with this speedball. After performing well in a slew of allowances, I fired him in a stakes last time out and he responded with vigor, opening up a five length lead in the stretch and holding on to win his first stakes with a 109 SF. A win might be a bit much to ask, but it’s not a stretch to think this horse can open up early and hang on for a piece of the pie!
Will Glory Be His? The fourth of the GR Simsters horses is Todder’s Blazing Glory. A fitting name for a horse owned by someone spellbound by the idea of glory and honor, this colt has really come on of late. Two races back he surprised everyone with a great 2nd in a G2 with a career best 107 SF, and last time out he ran a decent 100 SF in a listed stakes, finishing less than three lengths behind the victor. On his best day he could certainly challenge here for some points!
Desperate Times…Desperate Measures: Desperado, a fairly new addition to the GR Simsters, brings his dual-surface stakes winner and multiple graded dirt winner Like The Rain to the Smackdown. While he has slowed down a bit, this extremely talented animal still has some shells left to fire, as he shows two 100+ SF’s in his last five races. With earnings in excess of $900,000, a top two showing would put this warrior over a million!
KYHorsemen Brigade
Let’s Go Kamping: The KYHorsemen have brought a very strong group to this race, led by Ledwith’s multiple graded stakes winner Kampfen II K’s. This extremely impressive stalker has won three of his last five races including a career best 111 SF last time out to win a G3. Superbly managed by his trainer, this colt is primed for a top shelf rest of the year and could certainly kick it off with a Smackdown victory.
Big Bluffer: Hot2Trot sends out another with a great chance in his closing colt Mine Bluff. A winner of more than $600,000, he is coming off a very impressive two-length romp in an open stakes with a 109 SF. Expect him to settle at the back of the pack with Looking For More, and it might be the two of them flying to the front together in the final furlong!
Flavor-of-the-Month: Do you like sherbet? Foxon does, and his colt Sherbet Dip has been a stakes winning machine of late. He shows four impressive stakes wins in his last eight races, and is on a win-loss pattern that dictates a win this coming Saturday. This field is a bit more talented than the open stakes fields he has been facing, but there is no doubting the immense talent that this colt has in spades. He could be in for a monster performance!
Nutcracker Suite: He might have a name that sounds like a famous composer, but Yochem’s Vomarramov is quite the serious racehorse. He’s earned more than $1.3 million over the course of his career including an incredible 11 stakes wins and four graded wins. He shows no signs of slowing down with six 100+ SF’s to start off 2006 including two stakes wins. A formidable closer who almost always fires, this horse has a great shot to earn points for his residency!
Fight For Oil: Rounding out what is probably the deepest of the three teams in this race is Sjmeola’s Gulf Intrigue. A very talented colt who won a stakes three back with a 110 SF, make no mistake he can run with any of the horses in this race. The question mark comes in with the distance, as his top career efforts have been closer to a mile than six panels. Talent is talent, however, and this colt has the ability to run a massive race this weekend!
Pastures of Green’s Garrison
Swan Ballet: The second of two Russian sounding entries in the race is Highpoint’s colt Shuminsky, who kicks of the
Where’d You Go? Aptitude11’s horse Fleeting Account will look to play a bit of hide-and-seek with his Smackdown competitors this weekend. With a number of very high SF’s in his last eight races, including a 114 SF in an allowance, there is no doubting the raw ability that he brings to the table. He appears to enjoy runs closer to a mile than the distance he’ll see here, but many times talent can overshadow all. A definite horse to watch this weekend!
Strike Force: Named after something that could be from a Chick Norris movie, Noranadia’s Second Strike has the potential to love up to his name. Although he is winless in his last eight races, he has shown some pretty competitive efforts, including a very good 102 SF two races back in an allowance. He’ll need to step it up to run top five this weekend, but it certainly is possible.
Get Your Motor Runnin’: Runwild8’s Motoring Franco will look to jumpstart his engine this weekend. The talented colt is on the precipice of going over $100,000 in earnings, and a top five finish would put him over that mark! He’s been running mainly in allowance races, and hasn’t won in seven starts, but he does run very consistently. He seems capable of the type of improvement that would land him in the money.
Back to Dirt: Blueribbon’s Back Door Man will head back to the dirt this week after 16 consecutive efforts on the grass. After winning a dirt stakes impressively as a 2yo, he was switched to the turf and loved it. He’s captured five turf stakes wins, and boasts top two finishes in ten of his last eleven turf starts. Horses often love the surface switch, and this colt is a real candidate to absolutely explode this week. A nice longshot play for sure!
Conclusions: This looks to be every bit as thrilling as last year’s dirt sprint! The GR Simsters seem to have the top horse in Looking For More, but the KYHorsemen might have a tad more depth among their runners. And while the Pastures of Green may look a bit overmatched, they certainly have some runners capable of running huge! Good luck to everyone!