A CLASSIC EUROPEAN DIRT RACE FOR THE EAAA CHALLENGE

The classic distance will be featured in the 11th race at Queensland, part of the EAAA Division Inter Residency Challenge. The mile and a quarter distance has always been the cornerstone distance for great champions and i am sure the older aged runners today will make their home bases proud.

Let’s take a look at today’s field:

1)FUSAICHI FOOTSTEPS(GB)—HORSEQUEST (EIRANN) (IRELAND)—29/1

This 4 year old mare out of FOOTSTEPSINTHESAND(GB) enters this race with a record of 12-4-1-2 and lifetime earnings of $91,023. She is out of the mare URALLANA NC who was 2/28 at the track and who has 4 foals on record, all winners including 1 Graded stake winner. She is currently ranked 760th in the older female dirt classic route divisional rankings. She started her career on the turf and in fact broker her maiden on that surface in her 4th lifetime start in her first race as a 3 year old. She switched to the turf shortly after and picked up a pair of allowance wins on the dirt but has not been very competitive in her 3 stake starts so far to date. Her top speed rating of 95 was posted in one of her allowance wins which came on an off track. She is a closer who will have her work cut out for her today not only having to race against higher class opponents but against the boys as well. The rider for today’s race will be Phillips (14.3%).  PROJECTED SPEED RATING—90.

2)JENYAN(GB)—DOWELLY (HUNTER VALLEY) (QUEENSLAND)—12/1

This 4 year old colt out of BEAT HOLLOW(GB) enters this race with a record of 27-9-4-6 and lifetime earnings of $351,838. He is out of the mare PAINT CRACK who was 2/5 at the track and who has 5 foals on record of which 4 are winners including 1 Graded stakes winner and another stakes winner. He is currently ranked 350th in the older male dirt classic divisional rankings. Well, he debuted on the dirt and then switched to the turf where he would win 3 allowance races as a 2 year old and 5 races including 2 stakes races last year. He also raced in 2 dirt races last year where he won a stake race and finished 2nd in another in his season finale. He loves the distance and runs best on the front end or pressing the pace and while most of his record has come on the turf he has been very good on his limited dirt races as well. His lifetime best dirt speed rating is 103 which he posted last time out and that is his best mark on either surface. The rider for today’s race will be Cameron(7.7%).  PROJECTED SPEED RATING—101 (DIRT RATING).

3)NATION OF ULYSSES(LA)—ASTINATOR3 (ADRIAN) (EAAA RACING)—6/1

This 4 year old colt out of WAR EAGLE enters this race with a record of 19-4-6-5 and lifetime earnings of $113,282. He is currently ranked 454th in the older male dirt classic route divisional rankings. He started his career on the turf as a 2 year old and broke his maiden on that surface. He was switched to the dirt last year and ended up picking up 3 allowance wins during the campaign. He has started in 2 stake races with a second place finish his best result to date. He posted his lifetime best 110 speed rating last time out while finishing 2nd in a 10 furlong dirt allowance race in the slop. He is a closer who sits midpack early on in the race. The rider for today’s race will be DeBerg (75%).  PROJECTED SPEED RATING—101.

4)EIRENE(KY)—AIRTIGER (DELTA TIGER) (ALPINE TURF CLUB)—12/1

This 4 year old mare out of JOHANNESBURG enters this race with a record of 13-3-4-2 and lifetime earnings of $90,450. She is currently ranked 2218th in the older female dirt classic route divisional rankings. She was 0/3 as a 2 year old while running on the turf and won her dirt debut last year in her 3 year old season opener. She added another pair of allowance race wins last year and came 3rd in a heartbreaking 3 horse photo in the Alpine Turf Club dirt championships to close out last year, her only other race against males so far in her career. Her top speed rating of 105 was posted 2 starts back. She is a stalker who likes to challenge for the lead going around the final turn. The rider for today’s race will be Kays (14.3%).  PROJECTED SPEED RATING—102.

5)HERE FOR THE PARTY—BABYFARM (SABALOU) (QUEENSLAND)—5/2

This 6 year old horse out of HANSEL enters this race with a record of 33-8–1 and lifetime earnings of $569,108. He is out of the mare SEIGFRIED’S FILLY who was 2/10 at the track and who has 4 foals on record of which 2 are winners including 1 stakes winner. He is ranked 101st in the older male dirt classic route divisional rankings. He did not race as a 2 year old and started his career on the turf where he picked up a pair of allowance wins. He was switched to the dirt near the end of his 3 year old campaign and picked up another pair of allowance wins and added 1 more as a 4 year old albeit he was Graded stakes placed that year. He had 3 wins last year including a pair of stake wins and once again finished in the top 3 in a Graded stake by finishing 2nd in The Grade II Windy City Gold Cup where he posted his lifetime best 111 speed rating. He is a stalker who can also run up front albeit that is usually in short field races that is not the case today. The rider for today’s race will be Wyatt (25%).  PROJECTED SPEED RATING—107.

6)M. RUTHERFORD(MD)—SALSABIL (INDEPENDENT) (EAAA RACING)—8/1

This 4 year old mare out of WAQUOIT enters this race with a record of 20-6-5-2 and lifetime earnings of $163,282. She is currently ranked 205th in the older female dirt classic route divisional rankings. She won 2 of 3 starts in her 2 year old campaign and won 4 times last year including 1 ovenite stakes race. That race was The River L.(GB) Bonanza where she posted her lifetime best 106 speed rating in the 10.5 furlong race. She will be facing male company for the first time in her career today. She is a closer who save her best run for the stretch drive. The rider for today’s race will be Jeter (0%).   PROJECTED SPEED RATING—100.

7)BEAU’S PEGASUS—MORTICIAN (ACE) (IRELAND)—7/2

This 5 year old horse out of FUSAICHI PEGASUS enters this race with a record of 34-7-7-4 and lifetime earnings of $271,572. He is out of the mare BEAU’S COUNTRIES who was 4/25 at the track and who has 4 foals on record, all winners including 2 stakes winners. He is currently ranked 756th in the older male dirt classic route divisional rankings. He was a 3 time winner as a 2 year old including 2 overnite stake races. He would be winless as a 3 year old albeit he did manage several top 3 finishes in allowance races that year. Last year he picked up 4 allowance wins for the season. He posted his lifetime best 111 speed rating in both of his last 2 races last year, both of those racing on off dirt tracks. He is a stalker who sits just behind the early leaders and then starts his challenge in the far turn. The rider for today’s race will be Cox (0%).  PROJECTED SPEED RATING—100(FAST TRACK).

8)SEATTLE TIMES(SAF)—SAFRACE2 (DRAGNIL) (ALPINE TURF CLUB)—50/1

This 5 year old horse out of LONDON NEWS(SAF) enters this race with a record of 11-1-5-3 and lifetime earnings of $47,421. He is currently ranked 3409th in the older male dirt classic route divisional rankings. This horse was a late bloomer starting his career last year as a 4 year old. While he has just about always managed to run in the money he has had difficulty finding the winners circle so far in his career. His top speed rating of 95 was posted last year when he put together a span of 3 straight dirt starts after mostly running on the turf. This closer will probably find the competition a little stiff here but being as litely raced as he has still may have his big races ahead of him in his career and would be a big bomber should he show massive improvement today. The rider for today’s race will be Ayso (0%).  PROJECTED SPEED RATING—92.

9)GOTTO WEAR SHADES(GB)—HILDING (EIRANN) (IRELAND)—58/1

This 4 year old mare out of DEISIS(GB) enters this race with a record of 12-1-3-1 and lifetime earnings of $29,746. She is out of the mare BAD DEPUTY(IRE) who was 5/73 at the track and who has 3 foals on record, all winners. She is currently unranked in the older female dirt classic divisional rankings. This mare started her career with 1 race on the turf as a 2 year old and then switched to the dirt last year in her sophomore campaign. She picked up 1 win and several top 3 finishes in allowance races and will be making her stakes debut here today in this restricted contest race. This will be her first race against male company and her lifetime top speed rating to date is 88 which is well below others here today prompting her long odds in the morning line. The rider for today’s race will be Gann (0%). PROJECTED SPEED RATING—85.

10)TICK THE BOX(ARG)—SCOOTBOY1 (SCOOTBOY) (EAAA RACING)—11/1

This 4 year old mare out of BROWN ARC enters this race with a record of 8-4-3-0 and lifetime earnings of $75,265. She is currently ranked 560th in the older female dirt classic route divisional rankings. She was unraced as a 2 year old and won her first 3 starts in her career and was not claimed when run for a $25K tag in her lifetime debut to the relief of her connections. She picked up another allowance win and a 2nd place stake finish before trying Graded company in her 2007 finale where she tired in the stretch to end up 6th in the 11 furlong race. Her lifetime best speed rating of 108 puts her in the mix here and she is a frontrunner and may just try to get the jump on the field out of the gate and keep them chasing her all the way to the wire. This will be her first run against male company. The rider for today’s race will be Wakeman (0%).  PROJECTED SPEED RATING—105.

11)PLEISTOCENE EPOCH—NEXTBONUS (NEXTBONUS) (QUEENSLAND)—4/1

This 6 year old mare out of CAPOTE enters this race with a record of 45-13-11-7 and lifetime earnings of $827,511. She is out of the he-mare PLEISTOCENE PIRATE who was 4/41 at the track. She is ranked 41st in the older female dirt classic route divisional rankings. She raced on the turf as a 2 year old and broker her maiden on that surface before being switched to the dirt midway in her 3 year old season. She won 4 times at 3 in dirt allowanc races and won a pair of stake races as a 4 year old hilited by The Grade II Vogue Handicap in California. She won 6 races last year including 5 overnite stake races. She matched her lifetime best speed rating of 109 while winning The Richella Special over 9 furlongs in the dirt at Arkansas last fall. While she has some speed she usually sits just off the early pace and it looks like her favored distance is 9 furlongs which is 1 furlong less than she will be running today. She has yet to win a race against the boys so far in her career. The rider for today’s race will be Radke (18.2%).  PROJECTED SPEED RATING—101.

Well the girls outnumber the boys in this race and Alpine Turf Club will be at a disadvantage having only 2 runners to the other teams 3 here today. While i thing TICK THE BOX may have a shot here today in reality I think that HERE FOR THE PARTY may just be here to party after he wins this race for the Qeensland residency today.

GOOD LUCK AND GOOD RACING

THEO