End Of The Line Futurity Houses Full Field
END OF THE LINE FUTURITY 8.5F fast dirt, $300.000, 2yo Stakes Record: 1:42.6 (Granhee, 2003) |
Past horses to grace the
2000 – September Storm made his 3rd start in the End Of The Line. The undefeated colt broke from PP 11 at lukewarm odds of 8/1 and went immediately after the frontrunner. Half way thru the backstretch the eventual winner took charge of the field, holding off late-running Amad’s Treasure to win by ¾ L with a 94sp. Final time was a sharp 1:43.8. He went on to become a top turf competitor.
2001 – Necessary Rifle made his 6th start from PP 4 on this day. The 13/1 longshot settled into the rear of the pack early on. As they turned for home, all systems were go – the young colt rushed past the favored frontrunner to score a 3 ½ length victory with an 89sp. Final time: 1:44.4.
2002 – Bound Around’s start in the Futurity would be his 7th and would also serve as the colt’s prep for the Breeder’s Bowl (finished 14th). That day the big bay was sent to PP 13 with 10/1 odds. The colt broke quickly matching strides with 2 other frontrunners, but they weren’t able to keep up. Bound Around’s strides easily lengthened carrying him to a 2 ¼ length win with a 92sp. Final time: 1:44-.
2003 – Nobody was prepared for what was to come in 2003; it would be the birth of a new bred of precocious juveniles. The race pitted Granhee & Seeking Ransom, both leaving the gate w/equal odds of 7/1. In only his 4th start, Granhee broke alertly from PP 12 and rated nicely in 6th. As they turned for home the colt picked up the pace to run down rival Seeking Ransom. Granhee won by 3 ½ lengths with an eye-popping 106sp & shattering the stakes record in the process. Final time: 1:42.6. Granhee went on to win the 2004 Bluegrass
2004 – Orca became the first post-time favorite to win the Futurity (5/1 odds) as well as the first horse to wire the field. It would be his 5th start of the young colt’s career & would serve as a prep for the Breeder’s Bowl Juvenile (4th). Breaking from lucky PP 13, Orca shot straight to the lead and never looked back winning by 4 ½ lengths with an impressive 102sp. Final time: 1:43-. Orca would later go on to compete in all 3 legs of the Triple Jewel.
2005 – K’s Rumor Has It took the Futurity in only his 4th start. The strapping son of Sadler’s Wells broke from PP 11 as the odds-on favorite (5/1). He rated nicely behind the early pacesetters bidding his time till the stretch. The colt pinned his ears as the group headed into the final turn and swiftly took the lead. He charged under the wire to win by 3 ¾ lengths with an honest 92sp. Final time: 1:43.8. He went on to run in the 2006 Bluegrass
2006 – Smooth As Butter glided into the winner’s enclosure last year in what turned out to be his 7th career start. The colt drew PP 13 and was given 9/1 odds. He broke sharp and bounded for the lead. Down the backstretch he took charge and then slide under the wire by 1 ½ lengths with a 94sp. Final time: 1:43.4. He would use the race as a prep for the Breeder’s Bowl.
NOTE: The winners have come from post position 13 (x 3), 12 (runner-up was #13), 11 (x 2), and 4. Seems like the outside is the place to be & #13 is the lucky spot…. Keep an eye on those outside horses Saturday. Oh, and only 2 favorites have won this race in the past 7 years. One last thing, with the exception of one horse, the winners have all came from either leading the field or pushing the pace early on.
Here are the times for the past 7 runnings of the End Of The Line Futurity listed in order from fastest to slowest. The stakes record is currently held by Granhee. It will be extremely tuff to beat.
Times (fastest to slowest):
2003: Granhee, 1:42.6, shattered prior record
2004: Orca, 1:43-
2006: Smooth As Butter, 1:43.4
2000: September Storm, 1:43.8
2005: K’s Rumor Has It, 1:43.8
2002: Bound Around, 1:44-
2001: Necessary Rifle, 1:44.8
We’ve got some heady trainers pulling into this race with some real talented runners. Let’s see how these 14 racehorses will write their stories…
PP 1: TRIEPOINT(KY), 2yoC by Point Given x (Old
Bred by: goody5 Jockey: B Drewrey (6% wins)
Trained by: zippy
Odds: 22/1 Rank: N/A
Triepoint has finished ITM in 2 of 3 starts with lone victory coming in debut around 4.5F. The son of Point Given prefers to close from mid-pack. He has traversed 8F twice in his short career. Last time out was in the 8F Timeless S. Bonanza stakes where he closed to finish 4th with a 78sp, beaten by 3 ¼ lengths.
PP 2: ROAD NOT TAKEN(KY), 2yoC by Storm Cat x (Machiavellian x Deputy Minister)
Bred & Trained by: focusforce Jockey: R Coleman (13% wins)
Odds: 10/1 Rank: N/A
Road Not Taken has finished ITM 4 of 5 starts with his lone victory coming in his 2yo debut traveling 6F. The striking Storm Cat colt has early speed, but tends to get a bit rank when the jockey attempts to rate him. He’ll need to reserve some of that energy for the stretch run come Saturday or he’ll end up out of the money. Last start came in the 8F Timeless S. Bonanza stakes where he finished 6th with a 75sp after pushing the pace early on.
PP 3: SINGLES BAR(AUS), 2yoC by Not A Single Doubt x (Storm Cat x Kris S.)
Bred & Trained by: ozioziozi Jockey: B Sipe (9% wins)
Odds: 10/1 Rank: 41
Singles Bar is all for himself – the self-declared frontrunner has plenty of speed & game to keep things interesting up front. After beginning his career on the green stuff, trainer ozioziozi switched Singles Bar over to the main surface &, with the exception of the final outcome of his dirt debut, the colt has yet to be headed at any point in a race no matter what the distance. He’s won everything from 6F to 8.5F (LTO). Singles Bar won impressively in the 8.5F Bob Bar Cap Stakes with a career best 86sp.
PP 4: GRATEST(FL), 2yoC by Congrats x (Gone West x Lyphard)
Bred & Trained by: theatrical Jockey: P McCarthy (11% wins)
Odds: 7/1 Rank: 88
This will be Gratest’s 8th career start, the most of the field. He’s an uber consistant colt having finished ITM or close to in all of his 7 starts. Two back the colt rallied from the back of the pack to canter home by 1 ½ lengths (83sp) in his lone 8F attempt. Last time out, he took on stakes company for the 1st time in the 7.5F One Devil Memorial Stakes. Gratest sat a bit closer to the pace (mid-pack) and like a professional sailed past the pacesetters around the final turn to get another trip to the winner’s enclosure, winning by 1 ½ lengths (89sp).
PP 5: GOD’S SHOESHINE(KY), 2yoC by Awesome Again x (Unbridled’s Song x Capote)
Bred & Trained by: rvd Jockey: R Conner (6% wins)
Odds: 5/1 Rank: N/A
I love this guy’s name (maybe I’m just partial since I own Paper Jesus J). None the less, this great name just so happens to have some talent tagged to it! God’s Shoeshine has the least amount of races under his belt, but that’s alright, past winners have done the job on only their 3rd start (September Storm). The son of Awesome Again has the perfect racing style to win this race – just a couple lengths off the pacesetters. In his last start, God’s Shoeshine rallied to win by 2 in an 8F maiden special weight with a 90sp.
PP 6: COUREGOUS BUDA(KY) , 2yoC by Artie Schiller x (Gone West x Kris S.)
Bred by: keryn Jockey: J Yount (10% wins)
Trained by: kiwi
Odds: 16/1 Rank: N/A
Courageous Buda has one win in 5 starts and only a 20% ITM; however, he is 2 for 3 on the dirt. His last two starts have been around Saturday’s distance of 8.5F; two back the colt rallied from mid-pack in the Brick Hit Stakes to gain 3rd prize by 2 ¾ lengths with a 77sp. Last time out was in the G3 Buckeye Juvenile where he appeared to be either a bit out of his league or a bit off of his game because the rangy grey colt struggled to keep up, losing ground throughout finishing well back in 9th with a 77sp. He has a lot to prove here.
PP 7: INYDAR(KY), 2yoC by A.P. Indy x (Twilight Agenda x Alydar)
Bred & Trained by: 8ballfarms Jockey: S Lynch (5% wins)
Odds: 11/1 Rank: N/A
Until last time out this colt wasn’t turning many heads. The colt made his route debut in a 8F maiden special weight that was served up over an offtrack. Indydar rallied from 4 back to catch the win by 1 ¾ lengths with an honest 85sp (20 points higher than his initial two starts). Could it be a fluke? Or does this guy love the extra ground? Or could it be that he may turn into an offtrack specialist? There’s lots of questions to be answered on Saturday before I jump on the bandwagon.
PP 8: GHOSTLY SPEED (KY), 2yoC by Ghostzapper x (Machiavellian x Buckpasser)
Bred & trained by: socalman Jockey: D Sherman (10% wins)
Odds: 10/1 Rank: 188
Ghostly Speed is no stranger to the graded and stakes competition as 3 of his 5 starts have been in that area, however, he hasn’t given us much to work with just yet. The colt’s natural tendency is to gun for the lead and if he gets that lead uncontested then everything’s fine. On the flip-side, if he isn’t allowed the lead or his jockey attempts to rate him, Ghostly Speed turns up very rank as we saw last time out in the G2 8F Camel Juvenile. Ghostly Speed finished off the board back in 10th with a 79sp. The time before that, however, the colt kept a level head, had an easy lead, and won accordingly in the 8F allowance with an 82sp.
PP 9: WELL GROOMED(KY), 2yoC by Seeking The Gold x (Blushing Groom x Riverman)
Bred by: afc3 Jockey: A Alexander (11% wins)
Trained by: super3
Odds: 7/1 Rank: N/A
Well Groomed is a lightly raced colt with one start on each surface at this point. His debut was over 8F turf; the colt bid his time in the rear of the pack before making a run at the leaders to finish 3rd beaten by 4 ½ lengths. With a performance like that I would have been encouraged and ran him further on the same surface, but that’s the difference between me and the Super stables. Well Groomed was placed in an 8F owner’s restricted maiden special weight on the main track for his next start (LTO). The colt again fell to the back of the field before making a big run down the stretch to close the gap and win by 1 length (89sp) over a sloppy course. Both starts were mighty impressive, but how will the colt do on a plain fast dirt track? I’m excited to find out.
PP 10: POSEIDON’S GOLD(KY), 2yoC by Eurosilver x (Pine Bluff x Conquistador Cielo)
Bred & trained by: tigerstar Jockey: I Hoge (7% wins)
Odds: 17/1 Rank: N/A
Eurosilver is a hot sire right now and this guy is making his papi proud as he is currently the leading money maker from the sire’s 2nd crop. And if you haven’t been paying attention to the sophomores this year, the Eurosilver foals just get better with age. This particular grey colt belongs to me. He is 3 for 4 ITM and is one that likes to be up close to the early fractions. Last time out he was stretched from 6F to 8F and loved it. Poseidon’s Gold rated nicely just off the pace and then ploughed past the frontrunner to take his 1st trip to the winner’s enclosure. The colt ran out strong to win by 1 ¾ lengths with a 77sp. He does have a lot of work to do here in order to place top 3, but if he can stay level headed I believe the extra ½ furlong will do him good.
PP 11: WEEBALA(MD), 2yoC by Lion Hearted x (
Bred & Trained by: dundey Jockey: D Givins (26% wins)
Odds: 5/1 Rank: 28
Weebala is one hot colt right now. He is currently the owner of 3 wins from 5 starts; he has finished ITM 100% of the time. He will be hard to beat against with that kind of consistency. One knock is that he has yet to try a route, Saturday will be his 1st. If he can pull it off then he’ll be a prime candidate for the BB Juvy if he can turn it around in 3 weeks time. Last time out Weebala raced off the pace about 3 lengths back in the G2 7F Dell Computer Futurity. He won in good order with an 88sp. The race prior to that was in the 7.5F Mr. Dinky Memorial. Weebala rated much closer to the pace and still pulled off a convincing win, drawing away down the stretch with an 87sp. Has the top jock on board and is breaking out of PP11 which has produced a winner in the past.
PP 12: APTIMEDIA(KY), 2yoC by Mass Media x (Aptitude x Thunder Gulch)
Bred by: mayflowers Jockey: J Godby (3% wins)
Trained by: outerbanks
Odds: 21/1 Rank: N/A
This post position has produced a winner, so Aptimedia has that going for him. Last time out is the best race to draw from as it was an 8F maiden special weight in which this guy rated 2 lengths off the leader before making his bid for the win (76sp). The encouraging thing in that race was that the small colt was pulling away from the field with every stride. He will need to break out of the high 70 speed figures, however, to make a dent in the outcome of Saturday’s race.
PP 13: DANCE STEPS(KY), 2yoC by Seeking The Gold x (Nureyev x Alydar)
Bred & trained by: twoofus2 Jockey: P Cadigan (15% wins)
Odds: 12/1 Rank: 54
This is lucky stall #13. The race has produced 3 of its 7 winners from this stall, and I would not be surprised if it happened again this year. The big-framed son of Seeking The Gold began his career (first 3 starts) on the green stuff, running well, but not good enough for trainer twoofus2. Twoofus began training the colt on the main surface during the mornings and saw her colt transform into a dirt gobbling machine. Dance Steps’s next two outing were over the main track & he’s yet to prove his trainer wrong. The colt is undefeated on the dirt. Last time out he rated 4 lengths off the leaders, made an early bid as they approached the last turn of the 8F Dancer Bluegrass Special, and pulled off down the lane to win by ¼ lengths with an 86sp. A repeat of that performance could upset the race.
PP 14: FIERCE KING(FR), 2yoC by Layman x (Desert King x Sadler’s Wells)
Bred & trained by: beamerbb Jockey: P Carrier (5% wins)
Odds: 16/1 Rank: 373
Last, but not least, is Fierce King. Scratch the colt’s 1st 4 races as they were all on the turf. His last two were dirt starts in which he finished 3rd & 4th (LTO). In his dirt debut the colt traversed 8F like a pro, rating neatly behind the frontrunners and holding strong down the lane for 3rd with an 80sp. Last time out was a 2L allowance over a shortened 6F. Fierce King was rated further back in mid-pack and started to close the gap between himself and the top 3 finishers, but ran out of ground, finishing 2 ¾ lengths back with a 77sp.
MY THOUGHTS:Bottom of Form
Bet on what’s worked in the past! J
~Keely J