The Grade 1 Penn Dash (part 2)

OK, this is getting nuts. I just lost this piece, too. It seems that I need to write one section, submit it, shut down and reboot and then try again. This is ridiculous. I’m supposed to ENJOY this day. But you gotta do what you gotta do…

PP6 Mixed Prophecy Son of obscure sire Fair Mix has some decent credentials, but he’s picked a whopper of a spot to try to grab his first Grade 1 win. Note that this stalker has fired his top figs at seven furlongs, so the distance should suit him. Problem is, like Raktavija before him, if he gets shuffled back early, he seems to spit the bit. He’s going to find it tough to hang with the early speed in here. Mixed results probably.

PP7 General’s Chariot This is the fourth time I’ve tried to write about General’s Chariot, so I know him pretty damn well by now. Stocky son of Gone West has a vicious late run. Just missed in the BB Turf Sprint, and he now returns for a repeat shot at the Penn Dash, where he was fourth last year. He hasn’t been on fire like he was last year, and I can tell you from experience, it’s not a lot of fun to have a top rung horse like this repeatedly fail to find the winner’s circle while tantalizing you with close efforts. Which is exactly what the General has done this year. He still retains the #1 ranking off all those off the board finishes, but the wins have been few. Odder still is that top jock Piotrowski opted off him for Digging the Grave. Some shenanigans, perhaps? Tough to say, but I’ll say the same thing about the General that I did last season- he seems to lose a bit of his late punch at seven panels. He’s going to get the pace he wants to run at, but then it’s up to him to finish the job. Has the backclass to get it done. Now all that’s left is to go out and do it. He’ll be flying late.

PP8 Northern Pirate Yet another three year old, this one by Belong to Me. He’s been coming on like gangbusters of late, and jockeymax has warned the gathered masses about how well he’s coming into this race. Likes to loaf at the back of the pack, and then hit the gas. And oh my, when he hits those afterburners, LOOK OUT! This guy is a pure vapor trail in the stretch. It appears that the seven furlong distance will suit him perfectly, and he could gobble all of them up in deep stretch. In with a big shot.

PP9 Night’s Desire Keely has announced to the world that she’s going to win this race. And she may well be correct. The five year old son of Night Shift is one of those late bloomers, and he’s been strong as a rock this year. He’s a stalker, and should get first run on the leaders turning for home. From there, it’s up to him to hold his position. Note that he looks like a seven furlong specialist, having run his best figs at this distance, including a 110 in the Spirals Stakes (G2), with a time of 1:21 2/5. A repeat of that effort likely puts Night’s Desire in the winner’s circle.

PP10 Whodouthinkiam Well, it looks like you’re a five year old son of Langfuhr, who’s probably better suited to routes than sprints, that’s who I think you are. He’s Grade 1 placed- at nine furlongs. Sprinting? Decent, but not on par with these in here. Will take a Herculean effort, and maybe bentnose moving the finish line down about a furlong and a half. Right there, that’s longer than 19-1 odds. But don’t despair…last time I dismissed a horse like this, he won!

Posts 11-14 coming next.