Smackdown III – 2yo dirt open
This week marks the third animal Smackdown competition, a roving challenge posed by the GR Simsters to other residencies. This year the visiting teams are the Northwest Racing Circuit (NWRC) and the remnants of Down Under Racing (DUR), both looking to become the first to unseat the formidable GR Simsters from their seat atop the podium. It’s a big day for the sim, with twenty-one challenge races across three tracks and another ten Grade 1s open to all comers just to share the wealth, not to mention the party. The two-year-olds will take to the track in Oklahoma and this race, a $500,000 affair for juvenile colts at seven furlongs on the fast main track, has drawn fourteen, one short of a full field.
That’s because DUR is filling only four of their five alloted slots. Risky? Maybe so. But racing is not just a number game; having the right horses is more important than having the most. And the DUR entry is led by one of the field’s cofavorites, Ozsteve Stables’s Ghost In A Dancer, the number two dirt sprinter in his class. By hot young sire Ghostzapper and out of a stakes-winning Storm Cat mare who won four of seven at two, Ghost In A Dancer was born to hit the ground running. He won his first race handily and just ran out of ground in the 5-furlong Grade 3 Television Stakes, finishing a fast-closing second. Stretched back to 6 furlongs in the Grade 2 Vermont BB Juvenile last time out, he roared from last to run away with it in the stretch. His 85 speed rating there showed heady but logical progression from his previous efforts, and all indications are that the colt will eat up the Smackdown race distance.
Snappa Racing Syndicate entry Nine Carat Gold is also by a classy young stallion, in this case Rock Hard Ten. His Seeking the Gold dam was a winner at two, daughter of a $200,000 earner. Nine Carat Gold won his first race with a close-up, professional trip and wired a small stakes field as a followup. Started last out in the Grade 2 Irish Futurity, he was shuffled farther back but handled it well, closing steadily into fourth and an 82 speed rating.
The other two DUR entries both hail from Pedro’s Racing Empire. Appropriately is out of a Storm Cat mare whose first foal is a recent Grade 3 winner and whose second is stakes-placed. Appropriately has been handled cautiously thus far, winning a short MSW and then placed in two allowance conditions. He finished third by a quarter-length in one, in front by the same margin in the the other. Speed ratings have shown steady progression and a Pulpit son deserves to trymore than 5.5 furlongs.
Stablemate Zapper Man is another Ghostzapper, this one out of a Woodman mare whose first foal won two stakes. Zapper Man won his first two races before faltering with the jump to stakes company. Rolled back again into the Black Nine Handicap, he was far less intimidated and stalking the pace before outkicking stakes winner Sunsetsonrome. Speed ratings have been a bit static for his last three, but 76 is nothing to scoff at.
The other challengers start a little farther out, with co-third-choice Red Monster, and run their odds all the way out to two at 18/1. But funny things happen with two-year-olds, where pedigree has as much to say about the morning line as performance, and the NWR crew is hoping for a nice payoff at the wire.
Red Monster hails from Murry1 Stables, a son of Vindication with as nice a female family–out of a Sadler’s Wells mare, granddaughter to Gone West–as you could want. That mare was unraced at two; Red Monster is her first foal. He hit the ground running, gutting out a narrow win, and has two stakes placings to his credit with the last–a third–coming in the Grade 3 Montana Futurity. That race came just a few weeks back, but the juveniles seem to be sharpening up rapidly this year. The 80 speed rating earned there puts him in contention and his position down on the rail will help get him the close look he wants at the early speed.
NWR controls the field from end to end–High Mesa is on the far outside–but three of theirs are stacked in the middle: 5, 6, and 8. The middle of the middle is 12/1 shot Pico’s Cat, of the giant Barndog Farms. Brazilian sire Pico Central is lightly-regarded (available for credits, and just 92 of them, as I type this) but managed a graded stakes winner in his first crop last year. That runner was out of a Storm Cat granddaughter; interestingly, so is Pico’s Cat. He won his first two races with steady, sustained drives and passed horses late in the Grade 3 Abstract Juvenile, but ran out of ground. The added half-furlong will be a gift.
Scratch-bred Staywithmeavy is a product of Winningrun Stables, a son of Smarty Jones out of a Giant’s Causeway mare. His connections’ rain dance must have failed; the Oklahoma track is dry, but Staywithmeavy won his first race in the mud and came within a fast-diminishing three-quarters of a length of picking up a stakes win on same last out. He did the same in allowance company in between, though, and so should handle things just fine on Saturday. Another colt who should appreciate the 7-furlong distance and who could easily factor in.
The race’s most seasoned starter is Huaralino, with five races under his belt. The Rafa Stables trainee is by Speightstown, out of a Grade 2-winning Theatrical mare. It took Huaralino a few races to notch that first win, but it’s hard to hold that two much against him when he kept coming second in the meantime, first in a rough-and-tumble nineteen-horse affair and then in good style to Auld Langniner, who is now Grade 3-placed. He found his way into the winner’s circle in his third start, won an allowance race, and picked up a stakes-placing last time out.
The aforementioned High Mesa, of Windward Farms, is a speed horse set to break from the far outside, and could make things interesting in a quest to find a good position. A son of Sky Mesa, out of a Woodman mare, the colt wired the field at first asking. In his second start, he dueled through the early fractions and was caught off guard by the eventual winner’s big stretch run. He boasts competitive speed numbers, though not a jockey who can be counted on to pay better attention to the rest of the field.
Which brings us to our host, the GR Simsters, a formidable lot indeed. They’ve never been beaten in the Smackdown standings, and these two-year-olds will surely be expected to do their part. The morning line gets them off to a good start, though, with the co-favorite, the second favorite, and a co-third choice.
Those 5/1 odds go to Distorted Wave of Lone Star Racing, a Distorted Humor son out of a stakes-placed Seattle Slew mare. It’s worth noting that this colt is a half to Breeding Empire, Grade 3 stakes winner and stakes winner at two. Distorted Wave got off to a good start with two commanding wins in his first two starts. Up against classier in his last race, the Grade 2 Irish Futurity, he found himself farther off the lead but still made good headway late and finished fifth, 1.5 lengths behind Nine Carat Gold. His speed ratings put him in the best company here and it is to be expecting that he’ll gobble up the 7 furlongs.
Ghostzapper is represented here all out of proportion; Badrinath marks his third son in the race. Badrinath is out of a Mr. Prospector mare; they don’t come much more regal. Cobra Kai Racing Stables is responsible for this undefeated front-runner. There’s not much more than that to say about him: beautifully-bred and fast out of the box, and he hasn’t put a foot wrong yet.
Love ’em or leave ’em, but there’s no ignoring the noisy Big Oil Conglomerate. They’re in here with their son of Rock Hard Ten and a winning daughter of Capote who was twice stakes-placed at two. That colt is Of A Revolution, and he’s interesting here because, like Staywithmeavy, he’s proven his mettle on wet tracks (and a “good” turf course), including a stakes win with an 87 speed rating, highest in the field. Unlike that horse, though, his only fast-track run was decidedly subpar. That came in his very first start and he probably wasn’t sharp, but it’s still no minor question mark.
Desperado Stables sends out Quarter Century, by Henny Hughes, out of a Grade 3-winning Carson City mare. Another undefeated colt, he broke his maiden at first asking and then ran an ultra-professional race in entry-level allowance company, where he notched an 84 speed rating. He’ll be farther back than Badrinath, and 15/1 seems generous given his record thus far.
And to finish out the field, Dance to Gold will carry the home team’s colors to the gate. Vkstables Stables bred and trained the Golden Missle colt, first son of a winning Smart Strike mare, and notched a handsome stakes win first time out with him in a GR Simsters-restricted event. Jumped up into Grade 3 company, he ran fourth and then ninth, and will need a form reversal to factor into the Smackdown standings