Defending Champ Birds of Paradise Heads Flying Pig Sprint

Flying Pig Sprint
Grade III
Five furlongs
Fast Dirt
$125,000
Fillies and mares, 4 years old and up
 
PP Horse         Owner     Jockey    Odds 
1  SONN REI SHAH  davarto  O Brostek  13/1 
2  RAPID REFUND  sein2912  M Byrd  14/1 
3  MAYAMA  maruxa  A Koopman  6/1 
4  BIRDS OF PARADISE  dixiedotco  F Power  6/1 
5  STORMING BIRD  graywolf20  N Bagel  22/1 
6  BLOODBONES  ksparrow2  P Mersereau  15/1 
7  UNINHABITABLE  phartlap1  I Stevenson  5/1 
8  MINNA BLACK  aurton11  B Wallace  22/1 
9  BATTLEFIELD EARTH(GB)  mrbigb  H Moran  7/1 
10  POSITIVE DISCISION  firstmate  W Carter  9/1 
11  WILDERNESS TRAIL  losthecode  P Johnson  12/1 
12  WONDERFUL MEETING  rug  D Bouwens  11/1 
13  POST OAK BLUFF  super2  Mi Brown  10/1 
14  SEEKING THE HAWK  lotto  B Orazio  13/1

 

A full field of fourteen fillies and mares will go postward in the 2007 renewal of one of my favorite races, the Flying Pig Sprint.  One reason I like the race so much is that, since it is so short, there is always a mad scramble to the finish.  Another reason is that I was fortunate enough to train the 2004 winner, Vixen Prospector.  Here are the previous winners.

 

2000 Jill’s Burn  :57.3

 

2001 Mine Vote(IRE)  :57.1

 

2002 Harshly With Yokel  :56.4 (stakes record)

 

2003 C My Tail  :57

 

2004 Vixen Prospector  :57 

 

2005 Kim’s Lake  :57

 

2006 Birds of Paradise  :57

 

 

The field is both deep and talented.  And the trainers roster reads like a Who’s Who of racing.  Let’s meet the ladies and their conditioners in post position order.

 

 

Breaking from the rail will be the pretty daughter of Smart Strike and the great Storm Cat broodmare, Miss Becky, Sonn Rei Shah.  Davarto’s homebred five year old arrives in splendid form.  She has won four of her last five starts, all at the allowance level.  Sonn Rei Shah has had limited success at the stakes level in the past so she will need to step forward if she is to be a factor on Saturday.   

 

 

Rapid Refund has carved out a nice living over the years in lower level allowances and mid-range claimers.  She seems to have peaked for her most recent conditioner, Sein 2912.  Two back the Bates Motel mare got her first career stakes win when she won the Sally Raise Memorial over a sloppy track in Mexico.  Last time out she was outrun in an Eastern Kentucky listed stake.  Nice claim but in too tough here.

 

 

“Get the lead no matter what.  Go as fast as you can for as far as you can.”  Those are the simple instructions trainer Maruxa gives each rider Mayama has carried to the post.  The strategy works very well sometimes.  Not so well others.  It worked to perfection last time out in an Illinois listed stake as the big Afleet filly made every pole a winning one.  She was life and death to hold graded winner Strong Prospect safe by a scant nose.  But a win is a win.  And her time of 1:15 for the six and a half furlongs produced a huge 110 speed figure.  Threat if she can duplicate that performance.

 

 

Heading the field is Dixiedotco’s defending Flying Pig Sprint champion, Birds of Paradise.  Last year the swift Seeking The Gold mare stalked pace setting Dublin Lass, pounded that one into submission in mid stretch, and gamely held off Aim For The Moon to earn the half length verdict in a quick :57 flat.  This season Birds of Paradise arrives in great form having won the Grade II Real Danger Handicap in Ireland last time out.  Prior to that she was unplaced in Sweden’s Grade II Sister Dumb Stakes behind Battlefield Earth.  Surely the one to beat.

 

 

Graywolf sends out his career claimer, Storming Bird, for The Flying Pig.  Graywolf is a pretty clever dude, and a standout trainer, but I don’t have a clue what he was thinking when he entered his petite Marquetry filly.  She got crunched last time out in a listed stake and her primary claim to fame is a victory two back in a 5,000 starter allowance.  Wolfie, send me some of whatever it is you’re using. 

 

 

If ever there were a filly who looked ready to step up to the next level, it is Bloodbones.  Ksparrow2’s blueblood (Woodman x Storm Cat x A.P. Indy) comes off a pair of convincing tallies in listed events.  She’ll have plenty of pace to run at and her half mile workout Wednesday morning was spectacular.  Bloodbones broke from the gate running and stopped the timer in :46.4.  Worth a second glance at 15-1.

 

 

 

Battlefield Earth(GB) has emerged as a legitimate graded dirt sprinter this year.  The big four year old daughter of Diesis(GB) and Storm Queen (Kingmambo) began her career as a miler.  Based on her pedigree, trainer Mrbigb naturally tried her around two turns and she responded with both a turf course and main course win in her first four starts.  But ultimately, she proved best at one turn on the dirt.  Her breakthrough race came three back when she ran down an outstanding field in Sweden’s Grade II Sister Dumb.  Last time out she was a hard trying third behind Birds of Paradise whom she beat in Sweden.  Major factor here.

 

 

Positive Discision has three speeds.  Faster, fastest and Holy Cow!  The rangy Pulpit matron insists on being in front.  At least for a while.  She wired a solid allowance field in the Kentucky slop last time out.  Two back she led an Indiana Downs stake until the final strides.  And before that she was a convincing winner in a Woodbine allowance sprint.  This will be a real test of class for the Firstmate trainee.

 

 

Wilderness Trail makes her graded debut for Laura’s Losthecode stable.  The flashy chestnut has been campaigned conservatively thus far.  She didn’t race in a stake until her sixteenth lifetime race.  But the wait paid off as the daughter of Woodman closed strongly on the outside in North Dakota’s Cascade Challenge to make her first added money venture a winning one.  Wilderness Trail bounced a bit following her stakes win.  But she rebounded last time out with a solid second in a New Mexico stake.  Appears primed for a top effort. 

 

 

One of the characteristics that breeding magnate R. Bennett Okerstrom prizes most highly in his horses in consistency.  So even though Wonderful Meeting is not among his very best horses, she is one of his favorites.  The modestly bred (Three Wonders x General Assembly x Northern Taste) six year old has finished first or second in ten consecutive races, six of those being wins.  All ten races were allowances, however.  So the Rug Stable trainee will need to take a big step forward if she is going to carry her owner/breeder’s unique green and white silks all the way to victory lane.

 

 

Post Oak Bluff proudly carries the distinctive Super Stables colors postward in The Flying Pig.  She is one of several Flying Pig starters whose mom never won a race.  Her dam, Pass The Dice (Sadler’s Wells), was winless in sixteen career starts.  Although the rangy chestnut mare by Kingmambo has yet to win a graded stake, she has been close on occasion.  At three she set all the pace in the Grade I Radio City Classic before settling for fourth, beaten just over a length.  And two starts back she led the Grade II Sister Dumb from flag fall to deep stretch before bowing very late to the hard charging Battlefield Earth.  Looks like she has some shot at getting that elusive graded win with her best effort.

 

 

Front running Seeking The Hawk has earned over $750,000 in just twenty one career starts for trainer Lotto.  She returns to the races following a four month freshening.  Prior to her break, the speedy Forest Wildcat filly, from the lightly raced and winless Neatly Map (Seeking The Gold), was struggling mightily with four straight unplaced efforts following a Grade I win in Vermont’s six furlong Rapid City Sprint.  Perhaps the rest and relaxation will allow Lotto’s star to regain her best form and be seen in a different light.  Your call.