Twelve opt in for Stupidly Not Beau Handicap

Virginia turns over the track to long sprinters this week, as they host the third annual Stupidly Not Beau Handicap. The weather held once again this week, and the track is rated as firm for this seven and a half furlong run for all horses four years and older. The race carries a $45000 purse. Last year’s dash was won by Once Wylde, who dominated the race down the stretch to win by three and a quarter at nearly 9/1 odds. The race has historically drawn large well matched fields, and has also been a bettor’s race, and this year is no exception to that rule. Twelve will take the gate here Saturday, and the favorite goes off at a long 9/2 odds. Ten of the remaining contenders go off at less than 15/1, with six of those sliding under the 10/1 mark. The race should be very entertaining, and should pay well at the window when it’s over.

PP 1) Incentive Sired by Touch Gold, Trained by pg52. Incentive is a five year old horse, making his twenty sixth career start. He brings a divisional rank of 44 to the table, along with three career stakes wins. Over his last ten starts he has put together a 3-3-1-2-0 record, with seven 100+ speeds to his credit. His last outing was a seven furlong stakes, on a tough Eastern Kentucky track, where he finished a closing third in a field of six. He is surface versatile, and has shown good speed out to eight furlongs. This is his dominant range though, and he has never finished outside the top three in this distance range on turf. He is a midpack closer, and his close has been quite consistent, though he has had trouble bringing it home over his last few. He’s the oddsmakers’ choice here, and has smooth saling on the rail. The extra half furlong should help more than hinder him here. With his speed he should be a danger late here.

PP 2) Sprite Remix Sired by Speightstown, Trained by lgbost2y. Sprite Remix is a four year old colt, running for the twenty fifth time. He has one prior stakes win to his credit. His last ten starts have yielded a record of 1-1-2-1-2 with a best speed of 100.4 earned late last year in an allowance race. He comes off an A2y at six and a half furlongs in Illinois, where he finished a hard closing second in a field of thirteen. While his best speed came at seven furlongs, he has experienced his best success in about a furlong shorter than he faces here. He prefers a midpack closer’s break, but with the exception of his last start, his close hasn’t been effective recently. His close seems to lose effectiveness also as he approaches route distance. The speedy field and the added distance don’t bode well for him in this race.

PP 3) Taraquest Sired by Rainbow Quest, Trained by rarerug. Taraquest is racing in is five year old season, and he is making his thirtieth start in this race. He has one previous stakes win, that win coming early in his two year old season. In his last ten starts, he has run to a 2-2-2-2-1 record, with three 100+ speeds. His last start was a six and a half furlong open allowance in Illinois where he finished third in a full field off a deep close. Three of four 100+ speeds he has run in his career were at seven to seven and a half furlongs, but his strike percentage is better in shorter sprints. He runs as a deep closer, and his close has been consistent, but he has been finding himself to far out at the half to be able to bring it home in the second half. He could possibly benefit from a faster break. With the could midpack runners in this race, and what is not looking to be a hot early pace, he’s going to have his work cut out for him in the second half here.

PP 4) Oh Black Water Sired by High Yield, Trained by stickup. Oh Black Water is a four year old colt, seeing action for the twentieth time with this race. He carries a divisional rank of 114, and has four career stakes victories, three of which came in his two year old season. Over all in his last ten starts, he has run to a 2-1-2-2-3 record with four 100+ speed outings. His last start was a stakes run at this distance in Maryland, where he finished fifth in a field of eight. He has shown speed at this distance, but is 50% in the top three at this distance, as opposed to eight of nine in the six to six and a half furlong range. He runs as a midpack to deep closer, and his close as been consistent, though not spectacular. His sweet spot seems to be about four to five lengths out at the half. In many of these longer sprints, he’s found himself significantly further out. The pace here should help him, with not any overwhelming early speed. If he stays close, he could be threatening down the stretch.

PP 5) Naw’s Man(AUS) Sired by Woodhill(AUS), Trained by obwan2. Naw’s Man(AUS) is a five year old horse, taking his twenty sixth career trip here. After smartly marching through his conditions, he has one stakes win to his credit, coming early this year. His last ten starts has resulted in a record of 5-1-1-0-1 with two 100+ starts. His last run was a nine furlong effort on a tough Kentucky track where he never really fired, finishing a long out tenth. He seems to run better the longer he goes, and it seems rather unusual to see him drop back to seven and a half here. He is a deep closer, and in general his close has been excellent. Lack of blazing early speed should be a definite help to him here, but it’s a distinct possibility that he will run out of real estate before he can make it count.

PP 6) Want To Dance Sired by Mr. Greeley, Trained by sjmeola6. Want To Dance is a four year old colt and he takes the gate for the seventeenth time in this race. He has three stakes wins to his credit. He has parlayed his last ten starts into a 2-2-1-0-1 record with two 100+ starts. His last run was an eight and a half furlong stakes race in Mississippi, where he finished a somewhat lackdaisical eighth in a field of ten. This one’s a real stumper, with his best speeds coming in the eight furlong range, but conversely going four for four on firm turf in a shorter sprint. He generally runs in a stalker’s role, but he has the ability to close short distances at need. His last win came wire to wire, and he could very well provide the early speed in this one. He hasn’t found himself in a position to do that recently, and he could very well open up a nice cushion if he gets a good break. If he gets a good lead here, he could figure in the trifecta at worse.

PP 7) Court Rules Sired by Doneraile Court, Trained by lugginin. Court Rules is a five year old horse making start number thirty in this race. He is still seeking his first stakes victory. His last ten starts have led to a record of 1-2-0-1-2 record, with a best speed of 89.4 earned last year. His last start was a claim race in Puerto Rico at nine and a half furlongs where he finished seventh in a full field. His best run is between six and eight furlongs and he goes up the center of that here. He is a fast starter but tends to fade quickly past the half. He hasn’t shown the speed to build any kind of lead in this field. I’d like to think this entry was a typo on his trainer’s part. Look for him to live up to his odds here.

PP 8) TJ Jesse Sired by Arch, Trained by lebori. TJ Jesse is a four year old colt, seeing action for the twenty eighth time here. He carries a 54 divisional ranking, and boasts eight career stakes wins. Over his last ten starts, he’s run to a 1-3-0-1-2 record with three 100+ speeds. His last start was a six furlong stakes on a very tough Vermont track, where he stole a thriller at the wire by a half length. He has performed well in any kind of sprint, from five out to seven and a half , and in this distance range, he has seven top two finishes in twelve starts. He generally like to settle at the head of the midpack and wait for the burners to start to flag. He has had some mixed results recently, but has been posting some good speed numbers at some high class track. He should be right on the leaders just past the half, and if he can show the speed he has recently could be a threat to pull away in the second half.

PP 9) Flyphard’s Event Sired by Event Of The Year, Trained by lafly. Flyphard’s Event is the grizzled veteran of this field at six years old, with fifty two starts behind him. He has seventeen career stakes wins, including two at graded level. Still running at a fairly high level, he has recorded a 0-2-3-2-1 mark with five 100+ speed figures. He comes off a seven furlong stakes in Eastern Kentucky where he finished fifth in a field of ten. This run has been his claim to fame with twelve victories and twenty top three finishes in twenty six career starts in this distance range. He runs primarily as a stalker, and while it’s been a while since he won one, he is always right up there in the mix. Even with all the action he has seen, he is still running at a high level. Should collect a check here as well.

PP 10) Terrordega Sired by Dixieland Band, Trained by darylucla3. Terrordega is a four year old colt who makes his twenty second career start in this race. He has five career stakes wins, including a Grade I back in his two year old season. Over his last ten starts he has put together a record of 3-0-0-2-0 with a best speed of 98.5 earned in a dirt sprint at six and a half furlongs. His last start was a stakes run at six furlongs in DC, where he ran to a thrilling come from behind victory by a quarter length. Nearly all his career success has come in sprints. His dirt speeds and success has been better in this distance range, with the bulk of his turf success coming shorter. He’s a deep closer, And his close has generally been excellent, but he has found himself with some very deep holes to run out of recently. The extra distance should help here if the early pace is slower, which it looks as if it may be. He he can hold any kind of early pace here, he could surprise more than a few down the stretch.

PP 11) Salto Weissbach Sired by Not For Love, Trained by warchyld. Salto Weissbach makes a twenty seventh career start here as he runs in his four year old campaign. He has two previous stakes wins to his credit. He has turned his last ten starts into a record of 2-2-2-0-3 with a best speed of 102.5 earned in his last start. That run was an A2s outing in New Jersey at eight furlongs, where he bested a full field by three quarters of a length off a strong second half close. He does his best work in the eight to nine furlong range, and he could find himself a bit short of real estate here. He’s a deep closer and when he’s on his game, his close is very good. He also has a pattern of just plain trotting the second half with only his stamina holding him anywhere in it. He’s coming off a career best, and will have to duplicate that here against a good field of closers to have success in this one.

PP 12) Devil’s Sky Sired by Sky Mesa, Trained by devil. Devil’s Sky is a well run five year old, making his thirty fifth career outing here. He has two stakes wins in the bag over the course of his career. He has earned a record of 3-0-3-1-0 with a best speed of 104.4 earned in his first start of this season. His last start was a seven furlong stakes at seven furlongs in Eastern Kentucky where he finished a fading ninth in a field of ten. All eight career victories have come in the six to seven furlong range and his career best was at seven furlongs. He does his best running as a deep stalker, and up until his last two has been right in the mix on a consistent basis. His last two have been uncharacteristically poor for him, and he could be a factor if he gets back to his old form here. His position at the half should tell the story for him here.