Camptown race is 9 miles long

By ITCH

Normally, horses are not asked to run marathon distances until they are older.

Not so this week at Old Waterford.

The $40,000 SPANISH HARLEM is kind of a freak race. It’s 14 furlongs,a full mile and three-quarters, and is restricted to 3yo horses. And they say the Belmont is too far.

Thinking about today’s distance and the word freak, I am reminded of one of the more bizarre racing incidents ever this reporter has witnessed, several years ago at the real-life Waterford Park, aka Mountaineer Park.

It was a mile and three-quarters race, just like the Spanish Harlem. Now this just goes to show you how oblivious some of these jockeys are. The horses break from the gate, ou tof the six-furlong chute,and right away it becomes obvioius that several of the jockeys this it’s a six-furlong sprint.

Read the Racing Form? They don’t even know how long the race is or what horse they’re riding.

They whipped and rove for home, still with a lap to go. I can still hear this big Greek mobster next to me yelling at them as they crossed the line: “YOU IDIOTS!!!!”

The leaders passed under the wire,and then “finished out” around the clubhouse turn. More than one jockey stood up in the irons, and let their mounts drift out in track.

There went the six horse along the rail, Murphy aboard I think it was, plugging right along. He knew how long the race was, and would be the eventual winner. The jocks on the other horses realized their mistake then,a nd went back to riding in laughably fuile attempts to re-enter hte race. The big Greek guy REALLY let them have it when they crossed under the line the second time, beaten by 40 or so lengths.

I think the Sim jocks in West Virginia are gonna be a little bit cagier than the real-life boys at Mountaineer were that night.

It’s 14 furlongs, and not six, and can these horses make it?

Several of the 3yos in here are distance specialists,a nd have shown the abilityt ot get a route of ground. They’ve been going somethign like 11 furlongs, tops,though. None of thesese horsews ever have raced 14 furlongs. As Leonard Nimoy might have said, we have an element of the unknown here.

Let’s take a look at the runners, as always, in qualifying order.

At the top is BOOK LINK(IRE) for the bjbandit barn. This son of the Irish sire Noverre is out of bjbandit’s excellent Grade B mare NORTH JESSIE(FR), who now has produced no fewer than five runners in the Sim, only one of which is retired. Two are stakes placed, and one is a stake winner. That’s Book Link, who now has two stake victories in his young career. He won last out in a Wyoming stake going 11 furlongs, so he’s looking like one who can get today’s distance. Ranked No. 55 in the long division, Book Link likes to take back and then run on at the end. We’ll see if that tactic holds stretching out. As one might expect of a player holding a Grade B mare, bjbandit is a Sim veteran, coming within sight of the 100-win club now with 76 wins in the bag. Capable horse, capable trainer.

Second is DESTINY DANCE for the topicountb barn. This son of Dubai Destination is one of three Sim horses produced by topicountb’s Grade H mare HALF HILL, who is regally bred by Danehill and only raced once before heading to the breeding shed. This one seems likely to be the best of the three, and topicountb had high hopes for him as a possible Triple Crown horse, running him in the Grade I Florida Derby. He wasn’t quite up to that snuff, and topicountb has gotten him back on track by stretching him out and dropping down into allowance company. The best argument for this horse is he won easy at 13 furlongs last out. That was in a restricted allowance though. The horse probably can handle the jump in distance, the question being whether he can handle the jump in class.

Third qualifier is the regally named PASSTHEGAS for the 1i3 stable. One time I claimed a mare named HOOVE HEARTED, not realizing the same stinky implication this horse has. While the name might be a bit odorous, this looks like a good horse. He ‘s improved a bunch since being stretched out in his last two, second twice in a row in marathon stakes with better speed figs. Only 1 for 9 lifetime, but two time black type. Not surprising to see another good runner out of this barn, which is a hefty 59 for 262 lifetime for a big old 24 percent strike rate. To be honest, however, a lot of that percentage is a little misleading because many of the wins have come from HUNGRY YOU, who has taken down 13 CPU restricted bid races at South Africa. I don’t know why her value does not go up.

The first of Wassie’s two entries in this race qualifies next. It’s STRIKINGLY G for Paul’s jgjg barn. This son of Cat Thief tried the big boys in the Grade 2 Mountainous Derby last out, and will be looking to recover from an off-the-board finish in that big race. There is hope that he will, based in large part on that good race two back going 11 furlongs here at the Mountain Oval, second with a nice 98 speed fog in the Nightly Spin Memorial. That was his best lifetime speed fig in his longest race. Could be a distance freak on Wassie’s hands here and surely rates a good chance in this race.

All right, it’s 10:30 a.m. on race day, so I better hurry up a little here.

Next is APPRENTICE LION for sam812218. This son of Thunder Gulch has shown the ability to go 12 furlongs in restricted allowance company, but has managed only a show in three stake tries and got waxed in an Indiana stake last out going 13 furlongs. Something has to turn around for this horse to run, you would think.

INCREDIBLE HOMER for tg1 is next. This son of Came Home is a deep closer, whose running style is reflected in his 2-19 career record, with six placings. This horse was badly beaten in his only career stake try, which came right here in WV in the Nightly Spin Memorial. Can get the distance, but the class is a big question.

The final two have no stakes points.

ONE FINE DEPUTY for n2racing has a nice 5-11 career record. All of those were on turf, however, and he makes his first start on dirt here since his career debut. Very interesting horse on the surface switch. We don’t have a record of n2racing on the turf to dirt switch, but we can recommend him in general. This is a member of the very exclusive 200-win Sim club. N2racing has 204 career wins. An honor to have you here at Old Waterford, sir.

Finally, we have the second half of the Wassie entry. THAT’S AMORE G appears to have been placed in here as a rabbit.

GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY!!! SORRY I WAS LATE