Small field with lots of talent in NWRC’s Cavalcade Turf
The Northwest Racing Circuit’s (NWRC) Cavalcade Cup is the big day in the residency. We sponsor a bunch of races for our residents that mirror the Breeders Bowl, and have a grand old time watching our horses win big. Our horses often go on to great things in open company, and indeed a few winners of 2005 Cavalcade races are well-favored in the 2006 simwide Breeders Bowl. One of the races on the Cavalcade card is the Turf; it’s a 12 furlong test for 3 year olds and older on the California grass. Only 6 horses have entered this year, but those 6 have enough talent among them to fill up several more horses. The weather is looking warm and sunny, the track is firm, and $250k plus a spot in the NWRC history books is up for grabs.
The winner of the 2005 edition is Confederacy, owned by longtime NWRC resident Snowchief. The first running of the Cavalcade in 2002 saw Sapphire Deelite (owned by 7seas13) come home the winner of what was then a 10-furlong race. Confederacy might have returned to defend his title but for a date with the Breeders Bowl Turf in Kentucky. Will the 2006 winner of the Cavalcade Turf move on to the sim stage for next year’s Breeders’s Bowl? Possibly.
Post 1 holds the 9-5 field favorite, rubber1’s Song Dancer. The striking gray 4yo son of Songandaprayer has had a solid career on turf. In 35 starts, he’s picked up 11 win plus 5 other places. He’s fresh off a 99-SP win in a nw1t allowance, but that race was at 7 furlongs. Has yet to hit the board in a stake, and never been over 10.5 furlongs. Despite the distance limits, he has a pair of allowance wins at 10 this year. Most concerning is the heavy race schedule – he has 16 starts in him this year alone. Could be a tired horse, but he’s swift on his hooves and may well set a blistering pace if jockey Mc Cooper gets him in the clear breaking from the gate.
Post 2 features tisgold’s Storm’s Gone Again. Generally speaking Awesome Again offspring prefer the dirt, but this 3yo colt has shown a strong liking of the turf. In 7 grass starts he’s won twice and showed three other times for about $66k in earnings. He’s recently successfully challenged the NWRC Series Turf division with a win and a show in restricted company, and is fresh off a closing second in an open stake at 10 furlongs. The colt has a solid sustained drive that should stand him in good stead as he tries a quarter-mile longer than ever before. He’s the second betting choice at 7-2.
Flickaspad sends Lone Waite from post 3. The 4yo Harlan’s Holiday colt has spent most of his 30-race career on the maintrack, but in 8 grass starts has seen modest success. He tried 12 in his second start of the year in an allowance and won on the lead by 3, although the 4-horse field contributed to a 76SP. That race is actually his lone turf win, although he’s hit the board at other distances. Lone Wait just finished a tired sixth in a listed stake on the dirt at 13. The drop back in distance should help, and the surface switch may wake him up. He too has had a tough year with 12 starts under his girth already. One of three at 5-1 on the morning line.
Post 4 will hold Broadbrush’s Case Study. Broadbrush is part of the Snowchief empire, which trained last year’s Cavalcade Turf winner. This 3yo Thunder Gulch colt looks pretty good to keep the trophy fir his owner for one more year. Despite his young age, he’s well-accomplished with 6 wins from 14 turf starts. He was picked up in a 40k claimer in February and has rewarded the claim with just 2 finishes since then out of the money. Has tried this distance once and won handily by almost 3 lengths. He can stalk or lead as necessary, and finally broke the 100SP barrier two back going 10 furlongs. A duplication of that effort means a good shot at winning. At 5-1 on the morning line.
Post 5 features cgk2’s Cahill’s Gold. The 4yo Cahill Road colt has made turf marathons his specialty and has nearly $200k in earnings to show for it. Has had a hard time lately finding the winners circle (last victory was in February) but he hits the board with frequency. Has only tried 12 furlongs once, but that try was on an offtrack. Can guarantee the distance won’t be a problem; the horse posted a 6+ length win in February going 2 miles. He has yet to break the 10SP barrier, but a career of hitting 85+ going long will stand this horse in good stead. This is the third 5-1 horse.
The outside horse is jdawg05’s Jdawg Child. Despite a 31-start career, only 5 of those were on turf and he has yet to run top-3 on grass. Still, he’s uniquely experienced with this race as the only horse to return from last year. The upside is he won’t lose as badly as he did last year (was distanced, finished 14th). It’s even possible he might do well this time around, if his last start is any evidence. It was just 7 furlongs, but the 4yo Lion Cavern colt displayed patience and a willingness to rate that, if he can keep it up for the distance, might lead to a board finish. Turf SPs aren’t high enough to male the win likely, but if that last start was any indication, this could be the start of a new wave of success for Child. 4-1 odds.
I really can’t call the winner on this one. The small field coupled with the fast that this is a new distance for half the field makes it, in my opinion, rather unhandicappable. Any of these horses is capable of a shocker of a win.