From covering three 10-furlong G1 events on the lawn recently, I have traveled to Oklahoma to preview the hopeful rebirth of one of the turf giants in the game. Bristol Rovers has dropped down the rankings in the long turf division lately and connections have decided upon this race as a place where his renaissance begins. Let’s look at the field.

Crypto Tork                                       Trainer – darkalydar

(Turkoman x Cryptoclearance x Gallant Man)

Trainer darkalydar has his first-ever runner here with a horse that has done his best running in dirt sprint claiming races. Guess we all have to start somewhere!

Rainbow Moonshell                              Trainer – cleverdoc

(Rainbow Quest x Sadler’s Wells x Kris)

If supporters of Bristol Rovers think their horse just needs to show up to win, then think again. This G1 winning juvenile out of the cleverdoc stable has faced the favorite on two occasions this year and honors are shared. In The Dawn Chat Handicap the pair were locked together at the line with ‘Rovers prevailing by ½ length. In the United Countries Handicap(G1) ‘Moonshell got his revenge, finishing 2 lgths ahead as they wound up 2^nd and 5^th respectively. After a season in the wilderness last year, following an excellent juvenile campaign, cleverdoc has guided his charge back to the top and seems to have found ‘Moonshell’s optimum distance. A win on Saturday would go a long way to giving Rainbow Moonshell the necessary points to draw into this year’s Breeder’s Bowl Turf.

Urko’s Fantasy                                   Trainer – urko

(Foyer x Rainbow Quest x Our Native)

A career spent entirely on the grass, this slow-maturing son of Foyer seems best when his stamina is brought into play. He has a fair record in races of 14 furlongs plus but anything around Saturday’s distance has shown him to be fairly mediocre. His one run this season over 11 furlongs was a distant 12^th of 14 in an allowance race, hardly inspires confidence for this much stiffer test.

Woodly                                               Trainer – turfsurf

(Woodman x Pharly x My Gallant)

After a sophomore campaign spent on the dirt where he racked up 4 wins in allowance class, Woodly was given a chance to shine on the lawn, and a 113 speed figure over 11 furlongs on his first attempt was enough to convince trainer turfsurf that was where he belonged. Following that initial success, Woodly has spent the rest of his career in stakes class with his best performance coming last November in the Flying Carpet Handicap(G2) where he ran out a comfortable 4 lgth winner. He has been butting heads with the best around since then with a 2^nd to Rain God in the Half Century Stakes(G1) being the highlight of his season to date. If he can reproduce that kind of run on Saturday, then a second graded success could be there for the taking.

Bristol Rovers                                    Trainer – swampy

(Rahy x Danzig x Roberto)

I was fortunate enough to be able to cover this guy’s return to action this year, on my Japan beat, following his injury in last season’s Breeder’s Bowl Turf(G1). I wondered at the time if the injury had left its mark on the strapping son of Rahy. He possibly needed that first run off a long lay-off but since then he has won 4 of 6 starts including the Doomben Cup(G1) and Slow Tree Special(G3). There have been mutterings that this 7-time G1 winner is not as good as he was, but there is little evidence to back up those rumors. In 3 meetings this year with Rain God, he has twice finished in front of that horse, is that the record of a horse past his prime? Connections have stated that they are dithering over whether he should take his chance in the Breeder’s Bowl Turf this year. Without him the race would definitely lose some of its lustre, as he has been one of the top five horses over turf routes for the past couple of years. I hope he puts up a sparkling performance on Saturday to convince swampy that he deserves a place in this year’s Breeder’s Bowl.

Mokele Mbembe                                 Trainer – reems11                                           

(Forty Niner x Septieme Ciel x Darby Creek Road)

This guy is one of a number of horses I have covered recently that have had spells away from the racecourse for a number of reasons. The most recent was last week’s G1 scorer, Doggie Walacki, who at 6 years old gained his first graded victory. Mokele Mbembe could fall into the same category. In the space of 3 years, he only started 4 races, which included 2 victories. This year he seems to have put his ailments behind him as he has started in 8 races and gained a further 4 wins, the most recent being a comfortable stakes success over 11 furlongs where he beat a decent field. It’s likely he will prove most effective over 10 furlongs but Saturday’s trip should still see him to good effect. I am confident we will be hearing a lot more from this horse before his career is over.

Desert Oasis                                      Trainer – michap

(Green Desert x Seeking The Gold x Secretariat)

I covered this guy in his last run, the Windy City Turf Classic(G1) 2 weeks ago and mentioned then that this former G2 winner was running 2^nd in races you would expect him to win. I still don’t think he’s in the kind of form to trouble the likes of Bristol Rovers on Saturday, and would be surprised if he managed to get competitive here.

Summary

Bristol Rovers is without doubt the class horse of the race, nothing in here can come close to his record. However, in two meetings this year with Rainbow Moonshell, there has been very little between them and I expect them to fight out the finish here. On current form I would expect Woodly to fill the minor berth but wouldn’t be at all surprised if the lightly-raced Mokele Mbembe made his presence felt.

1. Bristol Rovers
2. Rainbow Moonshell
3. Woodly
4. Mokele Mbembe