THIS WEEK IN MINNESOTA—WEEK 3462

The Strip Mining Cap is the 10th race feature at Minnesota this week. A field of 9 have entered the 3 year old open 7.5 furlong dirt sprint and will chase down the top prize from the $45,000 purse.

Let’s take a look at today’s field:

1)GOLDEN PERFECTION(KY)—5/2—pegasus sends this colt out of PLEASANTLY PERFECT with a record of 9-3-3-1 and lifetime earnings of $134,080. He is out of the mare GOLDEN STORM II who was 1/31 at the track and who has 3 foals on record, all winners including 1 stakes winner. This 42nd divisional ranked colt races for the Citation stables that are locally based right here in the Minnesota Downs backstretch. This colt won 3 races last year including a stake race in his 2007 finale where he posted his life best 99 speed rating over 7.5 furlongs in the slop in The Dawn Walley Special in Colorado. He finished in the money in 5 of 6 stake starts last year. He is a speed horse who likes to run on the front and today’s rail draw may help him if he can get out of the gate quickly. He will need to reverse his trend of tiring late in the stretch drive. Also, he returns to a fast track today, where his ratings have been slower than when running in the slop. The rider for today’s race will be Bowen (26.7%). PROJECTED SPEED RATING—83.(FAST TRACK RATING).

2)RINGMASTER(JPN)—10/1—gtest sends this colt out of AGNES DIGITAL with a record of 5-1-2-0 and lifetime earnings of $54,655. This 201st divisional ranked colt races out of the Circusham Stables based at the GR Simsters. This colt broke his maiden in his 3rd lifetime start, 2nd on the dirt. After posting that win he had 2 second place stake finishes to close out his 2 year old season. He posted his lifetime best 88 speed rating in his finale over 7.5 furlongs on the dirt where he took the lead in the stretch but could not hold on and ended up in 2nd place. This colt so far has run a stalking style of race in his career and will have to better time his move today if he wants to be first at the wire. The rider for today’s race will be E R Cothill (16.7%). PROJECTED SPEED RATING—86.

3)JOHANNESROAD(KY)—6/1—grammy198 sends this colt out of JOHANNESBURG with a record of 6-2-1-0 and lifetime earnings of $87,490. He is out of the mare BOULDER ANT who was 6/59 at the track and who has 4 foals on record of which 3 are winners including 1 stakes winner. This 171st divisional ranked colt races for the unafilliated Samber42 stables. This colt broke his maiden in his lifetime debut last year in the slop. He would add a stake win later in the year while winning The Over With Launch Cap in Upper New York where he posted his lifetime best 87 speed rating over the 7 furlong dirt race. His wins have come while he has pressed the early pace so far in his career. The rider for today’s race will be Friar (11.8%). PROJECTED SPEED RATING—85.

4)KONOIS STEP’N SAND(IRE)—10/1—tremguis sends this 3 year old colt out of FOOTSTEPSINTHESAND(GB) with a record of 4-2-2-0 and lifetime earnings of $74,120. He is out of the he-mare K’ONOISSEUR who was 6/32 at the track. This 507th divisional ranked colt races out of the Hispano Parlante racing residency. This colt had a win and 2 second place finish in his first 3 lifetime races last year, all on the grass. He was switched to the dirt for his 2007 finale and had a big speed rating jump when he posted a 90 while winning a NW2L dirt allowance sprint in Queensland. He had jumped the pond over to America this week where he will be making his stakes debut. This colt has shown a speed presser style of racing so far in his career. The rider for today’s race will be Unchy (0%). PROJECTED SPEED RATING—90 (DIRT TRACK RATING).

5)IT’S NO MYTH(AUS)—16/1—aalusive sends this colt out of DESERT KING(IRE) with a record of 4-2-0-0 and lifetime earnings of $51,240. He is out of the mare LADY HAWK who was 5/43 at the track and this is the only foal on record to date. This 697th divisional ranked colt races out of the unafilliated division of the Topicount stables. This colt broke his maiden in his debut start last year and after jumping right into a Graded stakes where he did not fare to well came back to win The Their Scale Memorial Stakes in Argentina where he posted his lifetime best 83 speed rating. He would run once more, unsuccesfully in a stakes before closing out the season. It should be noted that all his racing last year was on the turf and he will be trying the dirt track for the first time today. His wins have had him racing on or upclose to the lead while his losses have had him struggling at the start so you may be able to tell early on if this colt will have his A game today. The rider for today’s race will be Zandofsky (0%). PROJECTED SPEED RATING—NA (NO DIRT RATINGS RECORDED).

6)PRISONERS’ DILEMMA(AUS)—6/1—chilcoat2 sends this colt out of REDOUTE’S CHOICE(AUS) with a record of 6-3-1-0 and lifetime earnings of $70,240. He is out of the mare SONOMA who was 12/39 at the track and who has 3 foals on record, all winners including 1 Graded stakes winner and another stakes winner. This 277th divisional ranked colt races for the Chilcoat stables based in Vermont at The Pastures of Green. This colt broke his maiden in his lifetime debut on the grass but switched to the dirt for his 2nd start and won 2 in a row on that surface including a stakes race. He then tried a Graded stake where he struggled and after a return to the turf came back in his 2007 finale on the dirt to record his lifetime best 91 speed rating while finishing 2nd in an 8.5 furlong stake race in New Mexico. He is another who has shown early speed so far in his career and many of those in this race today seem to like to be up close to the front of the field. The rider for today’s race will be Stinson(33.3%). PROJECTED SPEED RATING—86.

7)STEP NINE(KY)—7/1—freeforall sends this colt out of BORREGO with a record of 6-1-1-2 and lifetime earnings of $21,468. This divisional unranked colt races for the unafilliated Wjobsports Radio Farms. This colt broke his maiden in his 4th start last year and posted his lifetime best 90 speed rating in his final race last season in a 7 furlong dirt NW2L allowance sprint where he finished 2nd. He will be making his stakes debut in today’s race. This colt is a closer who sits at the back of the pack early and should have an honest pace to chase in the stretch drive here today. The rider for today’s race will be Ritorto (20%). PROJECTED SPEED RATING—83.

8)TWODRUNKTOPUNCH(MD)—9/2—sjmeola5 sends this colt out of TWO PUNCH with a record of 4-2-1-0 and lifetime earnings of $36,465. This divisional unranked colt races for the sjmeola stables based at the East-West Connection residency. This colt won his first 2 starts of his career and posted his top speed rating of 89 in his second start as a 2 year old. His only finish out of the money came in his only stake start last year where he finished 4th in an 8 furlong dirt stake in Wisconsin. While both of his wins came from a late closing style of running he reversed tactics last time out and showed speed out of the gate but with the makeup of today’s field he would probably be better off reverting back to his succesfull closing style in his debut races. The rider for today’s race will be Man (0%). PROJECTED SPEED RATING—88.

9)SPRING IN AUGUST(ENG)—6/1—cream sends this colt out of SAKHEE with a record of 8-1-2-2 and lifetime earnings of $43,655. He is out of the mare STORMY BRO who was 16/46 at the track and who has 5 foals on record of which 4 are winners including 1 stakes winner. This 352nd divisional ranked colt races for the Toplight stables based at the EAAA racing residency. This colt broke his maiden in his 2nd lifetime start for his only win so far in his career. After a try on the grass he returned to the dirt and in 4 stake starts so far he has a pair of 3rd place finishes. HE posted his lifetime best 89 speed rating 2 starts back in a 7.5 furlong dirt stake race in Ontario. While he showed some early gate speed early last season he did not have the same zip of late so it will be interesting to see if he has developed a running style entering his sophomore season today. The rider for today’s race will be Green (12.5%). PROJECTED SPEED RATING—86.

NOTE #1 GOLDEN PERFECTION(KY) IS ELIGIBLE FOR THE MINNESOTA DOWNS RESIDENCY 200 CREDIT PURSE SUPPLEMENT SHOULD HE WIN THIS RACE TODAY.

WHAT’S HAPPENING AT THE MINNESOTA DOWNS RESIDENCE THIS WEEK

Well with short fields and some good looking chalk horses running last week at Minnesota we ended up with 5 winners in the Pick 4 contest and each took home 250 credits. Congrats to Marmac, Wenlock, Randy, Theatrical and Fabman. The jackpot starts up again at 500 credits this week.

Jrodneyg’s Ridin’ Shotgun continued his dominance in the Minnesota Sire Series contest for Gulch sired horses and looks to be running away with first place. The battle will end up being for the 2nd and 3rd place finishers that also have nice credit prizes. Ridin’s Shotgun leads with $344,000 earned, in 2nd is Cothill’s Big Gulp RyRy with $172,500 and Doza’s One More Shot holds down 3rd place with $116,750. Theo’s Stormina Ets took this race off and will return to the series for the next start in 4th place with $110,000.

Kingkirby took the opening High Speed Rating contest of the year when his horse Fupeg Hunter posted a 108 speed rating.

Well with our big racing events up and running recently i have fallen behind in posting our HOW winners so here are Chuckrock’s recent Horse Of the Week winners at the Minnesota Downs residency.

For week 3413

This week’s winner won a 25k Starter Allowance in Oregon going 6.5F at a 92 Speed. CITY PRESS(KY), a 3 year old mare out of Johannesberg was a 13.5k claim for squity (Baggio). This was her 3rd win in a row, first for her new stable. Interestingly enough , she ran a 99 on dirt in the race she was claimed out of, but baggio returned her to the turf. It looks like she will be able to do well on both surfaces, something that can come ion handy. Congrats to Baggio and City Press.

For week 3420

The winner is Meatball Hero from Theo’s barn who returned to form to win the G3-He’s A Charmer Stakes in New Mexico running a 106 on the turf. Meatball Hero is a former claimer who Theo claimed fro our own bigrick in March of 06. Congrats to theo and Meatball Hero.

For week 3427

Sometimes a horse achieves enough throughout her career that it surpasses all of the individual achievements of a particular week. This is why the winner in 3427 is BADGE OF HONOUR from rich’s wnrscircle stable. badge of Honour won her 20th race beating a field of four in Mexico over 8 furlongs. This was badge of Honour’s second win in a row and 4th in the last 12 months. The 6th year old out of Silver Ghost continues to rumble and fends off the breeding shed. congrats to Badge of Honour and rich.

For week 3434

We are all familiar with RIDIN’ SHOTGUN(KY) from the jrodneyg stable. this week’s winner won the sire series race this week. The really special thing about it? We were told that ridin’ shotgun was only little groggy. i don’t know about the rest of you, but i never race a horse when its little groggy. Now i have to ask myself why. We now know that winning is still possible. RS ran a tremendous race passing Big Gulp Ryry at the very end. I was floored personally. Here is to fred for making me throw out my playbook. congrats.

For week 3441

This was the easiest award of the year. To me the biggest race in the residency (and perhaps the sim for those of us that can’t get in on the triple crown) is the Minnesota Derby. So how could i give this week’s award to anyone else but BELISARIO(KY) from fernando. Belisario ran a 111 over the 8 furlongs on dirt with my favorite jockey, K. Ritterspauch on board. The win was the 5th of his career in 20 starts. The Dixieland Band colt has earned 839k in earnings and has run his best two speeds the last two times out. Congrats to fernando and Belisario.

For week 3455

A return to Cothill as the jockey earned Evil Dancer his 4th victory in a row this week in Minnesota. This colt in indigo1 of Wenlock’s barn has dominated the starter allowance 2500 division in Minnesota for the last two months. This versatile colt out of Evil Minister keeps his tag until 3546, at which point wenlock will have to make a decision to either drop him back into claimers or go up to allowances. For now, he is happy right where he is. congrats!


GOOD LUCK AND GOOD RACING

THEO