THE MINNESOTA FUTURE TURF STARS (Part 1 – Written by Randy)

Article Written by Randy: Part 1

Hello fellow Mn. members, the big day has finally arrived. No, not Christmas, but Mn. Fest, the really big day. Welcome to the preview of the 4th running of the Mn. Future Turf Stars. Past winners include 2003 Mountain Reef (Wnrscircle), Cheezy Halo(Cheezwiz), and last year Wings for Wheels(IRE) (Dundey7). This year a big and contentious field of 18 two year olds have shown up to strut some stuff. With only 4 of the 18 runners over 20 -1 and 11 of the between a low of 7-1 and 14-1, should make for a wide open affair. As it turns out, i’ve got the field surrounded with my two runners, one will break from post #1 , the other from post #18, the plan is to put a huge squeeze on right from the break forcing everyone else to collide and check back about 10 lengths, giving me a chance for a top 10 finish . Let’s take a look at the field for the 2006 running of Mn. Future Turf Stars.

pp1) – 14/1 – Hands End (Selkirk / Pine Bluff / Red Ransom) -(Minnesota) – M. Griffin (13%) – How quaint that the rail would go to my colt from the Minnesota stable to get this preview started, the Mn. stable was a contest prize from the early days at Mn. when SuperD was running the show, Dennis ran this stable in it’s formative years, then after damaging it to what seemed beyond repair he gave it away to the ‘lucky’ winner of the trainers standings contest Though i’ve tried my best, the stable still struggles from those deeply imbedded formative years . Ok enough humor for now. Hands End was bred when all the unused mares were opened up to all players, though i didn’t like the price i still decided to try one breeding of this type and chose the mare Finger Tips, a B grade mare as i recall. I used Selkirk due to having very nice success with another 2yr old out of that sire. Only 2 starts for this guy and both on the turf, as he showed nice improvement running a 79spd at a mile in his second race and the timing was right for this race i decided to give him a shot, could jump up and run big or he could regress, though i offered him to 5 or 6 top jocks, they all turned me down and i wound up with Merv Griffin instead, but Merv’s having a decent season so i’ll hope for the best with this maiden, but he’s unlikely to take home a big share.

pp2) – 11/1 – Squeeze (Tapit / Grand Slam / Storm Bird) – (Dundey5) – A. Beasley (6%) – Dundey5 tries to take over where Dundey7 left off as last year’s winning trainer. This son of Tapit has made 7 starts, 6 of them on the dirt in which he won 2 and showed in another. His lone turf run was his last out 5 weeks ago where he ran a 70spd at 7f on the turf, in his lone dirt route he did pretty well in Grade III company running 5th but beaten only 3.5 lengths. So … the route shouldn’t hurt, only question is can he jump up and run on the turf to the ability he’s shown on the dirt. This light gray is well seasoned, and it’s not beyond chance that he could run better second time on the turf, he’s got some questions to answer .

pp3) – 24/1 – Cryptical(IRE) ( Black Sam Bellamy(IRE) / Cryptoclearance / Hansel) – (mflstables) – Wa. Adams (8%) – new Mn resident Fred brings a chestnut colt out of a nice sire/damsire combo, he probably carries long odds due to only one run, but that run was a very nice one over this track. He dropped back to 12th at 6.5f then closed quite nicely to run 2nd with a 69spd#. He could be any kind still at this point and with the stretch to a mile who knows?? this is typical of these races, and it’s generally hard to throw out any runner, but there’s no way you can discount that this guy has a shot to light up the board, or on the other hand to do so so … wants a hot pace it appears.

pp4) – 8/1 – Koo Koo Bananas (Belong To Me/ Afleet / Majestic Light) – (maplefarms) – K. Bowen (19%) – yowzza, Bigrick brings in big shot with this colt who has had 8 starts, 6 on the dirt where he was ok, but upon switching to the turf this guys gone Koo Koo Bananas, with a 2 wins from 2 tries on the lawn. His last was a very impressive win at a mile with an 88spd#. He’s shipping in from Japan and running off a 4 week rest and that last out is the fastest spd# of any entered in the field at the distance and on the turf. He’ll be hard to deny if he can hold his form, gets a top jock in Keely Bowen, has a very nice pressing to mid pack running style, all signs point to lookout. gets a very big shot at the top prize!

pp5) – 13/1 – I’d Be Lion (Lion Heart / Monarchos / Seattle Slew) – (run4wire) – S. Merwitz (6%) – Rharfo brings in a colt that tried the turf his first time out, and then has ran on the dirt in his next 5 tries, he’s done rather well on the dirt, and though his firt time out turf run was a bit slow, a lot of the time those maiden voyages can be completely tossed out, we’ll see if this guys takes to the turf a bit better this second time around. He’s well rested and has some turf blood, so who knows ??? as we all know Rharfo is a sly one, he may have been working this one on the turf all along

pp6) – 16/1 – Three Kings Ryry (King Cugat / Desert King(IRE) / King’s Bishop) – (ryry) – B. Pickel (6%) – my old no mercy buddy Tom (cothill stable’s) brings in this ‘christmassy named’ colt, this will be only his second start, and his first turf run. His maiden voyage on the dirt was quite respectable running a 74spd going 6f , where he took the lead and gave it up late. He’s lot’s of turf in the bloodlines and possibly route blood as well, not to mention all that king stuff He could grab the lead and take it wire to wire, he could say no to turf or no to a route . what do you think Tom, will we crown him ‘king for the day’

pp7) – 13/1 – Ten The Hard Way (Rock Hard Ten / Unfuwain / Miswaki) – (luvsthekey) – S. Upertoy (11%) – long time favorite Mn. trainer Rich brings in a very solid (rock hard) looking contender as i’d expect him to do, and he gets a Mn. leader Mr. Upertoy in the cart , as he’s supposed to be good with the girls the first filly of the field, and she’s been no worse than second in her 3 turf runs including a win last out at 8.5f with a solid 80spd#. She seems to be quite versatile having both closed nicely and gone to the lead, we’ll see how these two Mn. regulars decide to run her, but when S. Upertoy gets that wagon in front of you he can be hard to pass This filly has gotten better with every run, if she continues with that pattern she’s gonna be a handful for the rest of us .

pp8) – 12/1 – Tip The Scales (Richter Scale / Personal Flag / Empery) – (miltfarms) – L. Zandofsky (9%) – 2nd entry for for Fred, a new favorite trainer here in Mn. who’s helping keep the message board interesting and this colt is coming along nicely, shown improvement of late with a nice turf run last out and a nice dirt run the time before that at a mile, a perfect 5 wks between starts for this and needs only to make one more step forward to be in the thick of things ! He has a nice closing style, shown he likes the mile (poetry), still he’s on trial as to which race he may dial … oh that’s enough of that … good luck Fred

pp9) – 43/1 – Tabasco House (Limehouse / Tabasco Cat / Explosive Bid) – mets2000) – K. Ritterspauch (9%) – as soon as i saw the name i knew the trainer, not to mention the Mets thing, Chuck also has a Tabasco Cat thing going on This colt’s a maiden, and he’s struggled a bit, but on the positive side he did run a beter race going a route for the first time in his last out and he does lose the wagon pulling S. Upertoy he’ll need a big spike to contend it appears, but that’s happened before in sim-land so ther’s always a chance, though Chuck, this is a slim chance and hey. it’s all about being at the party, i’m sure Chuck will do his share of damage over the 16 races run for Mn. Fest.

pp10) – 81/1 – Teddy’svenetianhen (Hennessy / Venetian Jester / Proctor) – (ets) – T. Bannon (11%) – speaking of slim chances , our most gallant and revered leader at Mn., Theo brings in the longest odds of the field. Well, captain, he did win his last out, and then it appears he took off 2 months to celebrate the victory, perhaps his new confidence will allow him for yet another improved run, he’ll need to exit those low 60 spd#’s though to do much damage, i’m a big fan of Hennessy as a sire, so i wish i hadn’t seen this good luck my friend, you must have a powerhouse entry further down the line here.

ok, i’m going to post this much of the preview as i’m getting nervous that i’ll figure out a way to lose all this unsaved typing, i’ll do the second half of the field in a new thread after a brief intermission.

R

Article Written by Randy @ Minnesota