Sky Turn To Black May Be The One To Beat

Sky Turn To Black May Be The One To Beat

Louisiana – Eleven horses will go to the post Saturday in the Grade I Explosive Bet Stakes on what should be a glorious spring Saturday here in Louisiana.  Heading the field for the mile and an eighth race will be Bjbandit2’s Sip Of Saki and Coolerk’s New Storm.  The $500,000 race will be held over the well tended turf course and will be the 15^th race on the card.  Several of the entries deserve to be here, but many do not and that makes this a rather soft field for a race of this stature.  Here is a look at the field by post position.

Breaking on the inside will be Brilliant (8/1) a rather large and imposing 5 YO horse by Fantastic Light.  Brilliant has a chance in this race but he will need to step things up as he has only won twice in the last year and both of those were listed stakes last summer – a far cry from a Grade I.  After winning the East For Trick, he was given three months off but he came back with a dull effort first time off the layoff and then was soundly beaten last time out in Grade II The Buddy Boy Mile.  Brilliant is trained by Vsmdinc and has won six of his 30 starts, a closer who may have just needed his previous two races, he could improve on Saturday.  However, if the layoff was due to an injury, he may well be a downhill slide towards the breeding shed.

Celtic Legend (8/1) is an 8 YO horse by Irish River and the copper chestnut is certainly the picture of health but he may not put on much of a show on Saturday.  That said, however, he is conditioned by one of the Sim’s smartest trainers, Correction.  A winner of 14 of his 30 career starts, one cannot say this horse has been over raced.  He won four in a row recently and three of those were on the turf and included The On ‘N Over Challenge two races back.  He is definitely a solid allowance horse and has won at the distance but, again, this is a grade one race and he will need to step up to be competitive against the class of horses here. 

Urko’s Danzig (5/1) is ranked # 12 and the compact, bullet- headed, light chestnut horse is ably trained by Urko and has garnered 12 wins in his career of 39 races.  He may not have the best personality on the race track but Urko’s Danzig has won over a million dollars and although he last saw the winner’s circle last September, he hasn’t been far out of it either, finishing 5th or better in his last eight races.  He earned a 110 speed figure when he won the Grade I Canada Mile, so he definitely belongs in this race but his biggest problem may be the distance as his best seems to be a flat mile.   Even if he needs some oxygen to get him through that last furlong, he has the class to run through it.

Post four will hold the long and lanky Sip Of Saki (5/2), a 5 YO red son of Sakhee.  The Bjbandit2 trainee is ranked #23 and has a good chance to improve that ranking after Saturday.  He has won over a million dollars, mostly from winning nine races in his 26 race history.  He is another who’s best distance is a mile but like Urko’s Danzig he has the class to help him along.  He is competitive at this level and comes into this race off a sparkling win in the Grade II Buddy Boy Mile, earning a 114 speed figure.  If he doesn’t bounce – look out!

Fab19 has dropped the entry of Sky Turn To Black (8/1) a 5 YO copper chestnut son of Sky Mesa who may have been named for his bad temper.  Not the best looking horse in the world, pig eyed and roman nosed, but he stands tall and is looking for his third win in a row.  A winner of 12 of 35 starts, he is trying his first graded event in over a year.  This horse may just be getting better with age.  He took an allowance race and then followed that with a five length victory in The Jungle Alert last October.  He moved over to the main track for a race and then it was back to the grass where he was a closing third in The Elf Tilt, following that he won The Judge Rank and The Single At The Pro, both drawing away.  He’s got the back class so don’t over look him.

An entry that must have been a bit of a surprise to the Racing Secretary was the horse in post six.  Storm Tide (99/1) is just one of many well-bred claimers that populate the earth.  He was claimed last time out by Sherman13 from the Super Group.  It will be hard to improve on them but Sherman13 thinks he may have gotten a bargain.  The chestnut 5 YO horse by Seeking The Gold has only won one race in 25 starts and has only an 81 (earned on the dirt) for a top speed figure in his last eight starts.  That’s about 20 below what will be needed for this race on Saturday.  If the class jump isn’t bad enough, the distance may also be a question as Storm Tide has been stopping badly at a mile.  Unless the trainer has some good magic dust, this horse will probably need to return to the claiming level before he finds win number two.

Merry Mex (6/1) is another well bred 5 YO.  The dark brown horse is by Deputy Minister and is ranked # 25 among his peers.  A rangy, raw-boned type, Merry Mex is trained by Gradeone and has won seven of his 28 races.  While he hasn’t won in the past six months he is usually on the board and consistency at a class level is what a trainer loves.  He has finished second in the Grade III Harry Carey, the Grade III Irish Immigration, the Grade I Whirlaway Tavern and last time out he was second in the Grade I Idle Hour.  This horse closes well and then seems to just miss getting his picture taken.  Saturday might just be his day!

Coolerk will saddle his 5 YO dark bay horse by Storm Cat, New Storm (9/2).  Ranked #5 in by his peers, this nice looking bald-faced horse has won 13 of his 33 starts.  He looked to be on the right track after winning the Grade I Simulated Sports Horse Racing Hall Of Fame Stakes but then he threw in a couple of clunkers, probably just to keep his trainer on his toes.  He came back last time out, sweeping from last to first in the Grade III Fort Lauderdale Cap.  He likes the distance, has a very smart trainer and if he doesn’t leave himself too much to do at the end, we will see his bald face coming with a rush down the lane.

Streets Of Fire (19/1) is one of the youngest horses in the race at four and is trained by Upperhand.  By Street Cry, the handsome brown colt has won a third of his 18 starts, but this well-bred colt may have his work cut out for him against the veterans in this race.  He was third last time out in The Hermit Improve with a 95 speed rating and two back he was a closing 4^th in the Grade III Race Five Ramblings Stakes with a 102.  That should be enough to get him some play at the windows, not to mention that he has one of the smarter trainers around.  Maybe the old guys should be wary of this youthful up and comer.

I am not sure whether trainers Bryanj79 and Sherman13 are related but this is the second horse in the field that has only won one race and will probably need to be dropped down to his proper level before seeing his second.  Majestic Bryan (41/1) is the other young guy in the field and is a striking grey colt by Opening Verse.  He is lightly raced, only making his thirteenth start and he is marginally better than the other long shot in the race, partly because he has not run as often and partly because he does have a second place finish in The Grey Band Stakes.  This colt may need some more experience before trying this level and hopefully racing at this level before he is ready will not break his heart and we will see more of him down the road.

Last Groom T (11/1) will find himself in the outside gate on Saturday and the 6 YO son of Gone West will probably care less.  He’s been around the track a time or two and is the third millionaire in the race with 10 wins from 39 starts.  Trainer Eastecho99 sent him out for his most recent win last December in The Elf Tilt where he just hung on to win by a head.  This race is probably too far for this old warrior who probably nurses a lot of aches and pains from hard racetracks over the years.  The good looking bay horse does have some gas and although he faded down the lane to finish 5^th in the Grade I Idle Hour last time out, he was a close as second earlier in the race.  If the distance doesn’t get him, his lackluster rider probably will.  Jockey Baily is looking for his second win of the year and contrary to what some might believe, he is no relation to a former popular rider of the same name.

That is the field for The Grade I Explosive Bet and it should be an excellent race for fans everywhere.  Luckily for some, horses can’t read racing forms so Good Luck to all.