Four opt in for Rah Pistolet Stakes

Marathoners return to Virginia this week for the third annual running of the Rah Pistolet Stakes. The race invites all females four years and older to to run over two miles of firm turf. A purse of $40000 is up for grabs at the fiinsh line. The race has historically drawn small, well matched fields, and usually generates a fairly leisurely oace, relatively speaking. Last year’s edition was won by Git Down in her only career stakes victory, rising from the claiming/starter allowance ranks to become a long threat in both allowance and stakes competition. This year’s race draws a field of four, and gives new meaning to the term “well matched”. Three of the four entries are going off at less than 2/1 on the morning line, with an 8/1 longshot rounding out the field. Barring a miracle, payouts are going to be weak at the betting window.

PP 1) Well Formed Gal(IRE) Sired by Galileo(IRE), Trained by dabears. Well Formed Gal(IRE) is a six year old mare, racing for the thrity seventh time in this race. She has one prior stakes win to her credit, coming in her final start of last season. Over the course of her last ten starts, she has run to a 5-3-0-0-1 record, with a best speed of 97.1 earned in June of last year. Her last start was a stakes at fourteen furlongs in Colorado, where she appeared to stumble coming out of the gate, and never really got into the race. Her best speeds have been in the eight to nine furlong range, but she has had a lot of success going long on turf, with four wins in five career starts at twelve furlongs and beyond . This will be her longest start by a pair of furlongs. She likes to run from the head of mid pack, and while she has shown some ability to close medium distances, she fares best within about two or three furlongs of the lead. The whole field seems to have about the same kind of start preference, so this one is going to be a matter of who lasts longest. She has been on a hot streak recently, but she’s tacking a quarter mile on her previous long. She’ll need a better break here to survive it late.

PP 2) Flaming Pegasus Sired by Fusaichi Pegasus, Trained by susie. Flaming Pegasus is a five year old mare, taking the track for her thirty seventh career time. She has six career stakes wins, with five of them coming at the distance that she faces here. She’s generated a 0-1-0-2-1 record, with a best speed of 90.9 earned four starts back. Her last race was a stakes at this distance in South Dakota, where she finished second in a short field. She made her living running distance, with twenty six of her starts coming at twelve furlongs and beyond, with fifty percent of her turf finishes in the top three. He prefers a fast break from the gate and needs a lead to be successful. She is the fastest starter in the field, but her speeds have been subpar recently. The two things she has going for her in this one are her experience with this distance, and her fast break. She is going to need to find some more speed than she has shown recently to have any kind of success here.

PP 3) Navesink River Sired by Bahri, Trained by thebigm. Navesink River is a five year old mare, who is making her twenty first career start here. She sas two stakes wins to her credit, coming in her final race of last season and then her first race of this season. She parlayed her last ten starts into a 4-1-4-0-1 record, with a best speed of 101.8 earned last August at nine furlongs. Her last run was a thirteen furlong stakes on yielding turf in Mississippi, where she finished fifth in a field of seven, unable to mount a close on the sloppy surface. She has four wins and six top three finishes at twelve furlongs and beyond, but this race to two furlongs beyond her previous long of fourteen. She is a midpack to deep closer, and at this level on firm turf, she has been quite consistent. She has shown some ability to close from fairly deep at the half at need. In this field, she shouldn’t have to pick up so much ground. If she is sitting inside five legths at the half, she could well run away ith this one in the second half.

PP 4) Nexcenica(IRE) Sired by Scenic(IRE), Trained by dreamscity. Nexcenica(IRE) is the baby of the field at four years old, and she makes her eighteenth career start here. She is still seeking her first win at this level. She comes out of her last ten with a record of 3-2-0-1-2 and a best speed of 98.6 earned two starts back. Her last race was a thirteen furlong stakes in Texas where she finished fifth in a field of five, without really mounting any kind of threat throughout. She won her only start at this distance, and has four top three finishes in five tries at twelve furlongs and beyond. She genrally starts at the head of midpack, but she has shown very little inclination to close if she finds herself more than a couple lengths out at the half. Her speeds seem to be bouncing up and down, but she has been experimenting on dirt, and has caught an off track or two. She seems to like Virginia, though, and if she can hold the early pace, she could still be threatening late.