Who says duct tape can’t do everything?

Fourteen talented juveniles were thrown into the mix in this important Breeder’s Bowl prep, and in the end it was ADHESIVE who stuck it to them. The COZZENE x WOODMAN x MISWAKI colt used a well-timed stalk and pounce maneuver to overtake pacesetters SYN CITY and WHY CAN’T I, drawing off late to win by 2 lengths over a game DON”TTOUCHMYGOLD. The latter tracked right behind the winner the entire trip and was able to resist being passed by a number of others right on his heels, over a track that seemed to be favoring closers. CAT FIVE CYCLONE was one of those stalkers who appeared to get his head in front of the winner as they turned for home, but could not sustain his middle move and did well to hang on to the show spot, beaten less than 3 lengths. BOLD LAKE was a fast-closing 4th and the only horse to make up significant ground on the winner.

Trainer thebaker2 is now sitting on the number 3 ranked classic dirt 2yo colt, and we would be quite surprised if he does not show up in Kentucky for the $1,000,000 Breeder’s Bowl Juvenile Colts in 5 weeks. ADHESIVE is a perfect two-for-two at a mile and now has 4 wins from 7 tries and a $224,900 bankroll. He improves his speed figures every time, and there’s no reason to think this colt won’t get better with age and excel at longer distances. Congratulations to anyone who took the tip from the preview tout(that was me) and collected the $20.10 win mutual.

DON’TTOUCHMYGOLD impressed with a Graded placing in only his 3rd lifetime start, and now sits 15th in the rankings despite still being a non-winner of two races. With two more Graded Stakes races for 2yo colts carded in week 3000, it will be difficult for the talented wfstables3 charge to draw into the big race…he’s officially ‘on the bubble’. But his on-track performance and his pedigree of TOUCH GOLD x STORM CAT x BUCKPASSER indicate that he’ll be a force to be reckoned with on the Derby trail in ’07.

CAT FIVE CYCLONE continues to rack up credentials while still being winless at the two-turn distances. Ydracing3 group may be tempted to point to the big one with him as he appears to be versatile with his rate-able speed and his #11 divisional ranking. I don’t think the son of MR. GREELY x STORM CAT x NORTHERN DANCER wants much more ground than a mile, but is making a nice career for himself and is untested on the turf as well.

Besides the winner, the most visually-impressive race was run by manostable’s BOLD LAKE. The GREEN DESERT x MEADOWLAKE x SPECTACULAR BID colt put all of my distance limitation questions to rest with a solid late charge that would have netted him 2nd money with a few more strides. He won’t have enough points to qualify for the race in week 3028, but gave sufficient warning to this nice crop of 2yo’s that he is one to be feared.

RATTLE MY CHAIN(AUS) clocked in at an even-running 5th, only beaten three lengths, but didn’t look like a horse that would move up as the race gets longer. He’s still #1 in the sprint division and #12 in the classic division, but we expect dereen5073 to keep him at the shorter races for now.

It may be ‘back to the drawing board’ for the other contestants, but with the top 7 finishers separated by only 3 ¼ lengths, you can be sure this was a ‘key race’. Horses with this race on their form should be highly regarded wherever they make their next start. In fact, I would be happy to take over the training duties of anyone from this field if their respective trainers disagree with my opinion 🙂

Good luck to all and hope to see one of these in the winner’s circle in 5 weeks…or on Derby Day!!