SOLAR SONG’S 2008 DEBUT IS IN NY GRADE III THIS WEEKEND
The Maxxed Platinum Plate Cap is the feature race in New York this weekend. While this 4YO+ open Grade III 9f dirt route has only attracted 8 entrants, the quality of the field is excellent and should provide the fans with some exciting winter racing on Saturday afternoon. The lions share of the $125,000 purse is up for grabs in the 15th race of the 16 race card.
Let’s take a look at today’s field:
1)TRIPLE A PRAYER(KY)—5/1—pazbarn sends this 4 year old colt out of ALDEBARAN with a record of 2-8-2-4 and lifetime earnings of $721,296. He is out of the mare A.P. NEWS who was 6/10 at the track and who has 4 foals on record of which 3 are winners including 1 Graded stake winner. This 13th divisional ranked colt races out of the PazJazz Music City Stables based over at Minnesota Downs. This colt has a heavy 10 race schedule as a 2 year old picking up a pair of allowance wins that year, both on off tracks. Last year he won 6 races, all stakes hilited by The Grade I (R) World Cup Nines and The Grade II Mountainous Derby. He has twice posted his lifetime best 110 speed rating with the latest coming in his 6th place finish in The Grade I Breeders Bowl Classic. His last race was the restricted Minnesota Classic where he did not look overly sharp and sat further behind the pace then normal. His best runs have come when he stalks the pace from just off the leaders and it looks like he prefers 9 furlongs over the classic 10 furlong distance. The rider for today’s race will be Davis (6.7%). PROJECTED SPEED RATING—107.
2)HEAD START—6/1—6ward sends this 5 year old horse out of JUMP START with a record of 22-6-6-2 and lifetime earnings of $425,065. This 183rd divisional ranked horse races for The big easy’s New Orleand Inc. based over at the NWRC. This horse was unraced as a 2 year old and was claimed by his current connections for $5,000 in January 2007 while he was still a maiden. He would pick up 3 allowance wins before winning his first stakes race in a 10 furlong overnite in Iowa on a sloppy track. He added another pair of stake race wins before the year was out including a win in the NWRC Cavalcade Cup Classic. He closed the year with a 4th place finish in The Grade I Deleware Mile where he posted his lifetime best 112 speed rating. This horse has shown he can both stalk the pace and close from the back of the field and will probably like the extra ground here from his last race. The rider for today’s race will be Foster (21.4%). PROJECTED SPEED RATING—109.
3)AL HIRT—9/2—zooomr sends this 5 year old horse out of DIXIELAND BAND with a record of 27-8-4-3 and lifetime earnings of $542,000. This 109th divisonal ranked horse races for the unafilliated Zooomr stables. This horse picked up a pair of allowance wins in his 2 year old season and won 2 races as a 3 year old including The Grade II Captain Hook right here in New York. He won 4 stake races in his last 5 starts of 2007 , all overnite stakes but was unsuccessfull in his Graded starts last year. He tries another Graded start today. He has posted his lifetime best 110 speed rating times in his career with the latest coming in his last race, a win in The Golden Disorder Challenge, a 9 furlong dirt stake in North Carolina. He is a closer who sits at the back of the pack early and hopes to step it up in Graded company today. The rider for today’s race will be Michaels (13.%). PROJECTED SPEED RATING—107.
4)DEGOLDENSTORM(KY)—10/1—tenpin4 sends this 4 year old colt out of DEHERE with a record of 20-9-1-3 and lifetime earnings of $1,797,340. He is out of the mare STORM DANCE who was 1/5 at the track and who has 6 foals on record of which 4 are winners including 2 Graded stake winners. This 8th divisional ranked colt races for the Great Plains division of the Rockriver Stables. This colt had a big 2 year old season winning 5 races including 3 stakes hilited by The Grade II Darling Squash Futurity and The Grade I Breeders Bowl Juvenile. He then went on the derby trail as a 3 year old and looked to be the one after a pair of early Graded stakes wins but he regressed in the Florida Derby and was outrun in Kentucky. He did come back later to win another Graded race in The Grade III Hoover Handicap where he posted his lifetime best 110 speed rating, but he has not looked overly sharp in his last 2 starts albeit one was a turf race experiment. Still, if he refinds his 2 year old form again he will be a force to reckon with. He runs a stalking/pressing stlye of race and should be sitting just behind the front runner in today’s race. The rider for today’s race will be Haffner (0%). PROJECTED SPEED RATING—104.
5)GRACEPOINTE PRAYER—7/2—pazfour sends this 5 year old horse out of CRYPTOCLEARANCE with a record of 26-9-4-4 and lifetime earnings of $512,753. This 8th divisional ranked horse is the 2nd entry in today’s race from the Pazjazz Music City Stables based at Minnesota Downs. This horse was unraced as a 2 year old and won 3 allowance races in his 3 year old season. He won 6 races last year including 5 stakes and put up big back to back wins in The Grade II Abraham Lincoln Memorial and then The Grade I Farewell to CryptoZot Stakes where he posted his lifetime best 115 speed rating over the 10 furlong dirt race. If not for the special purse annually in that race his bankroll would be subastacially higher in his career. His last 2 starts last year were not the sharpest while running against the best in the division in the BB and DPCD races. He has prepped for this race with an uneventfull 4th place finish in an EK overnite stake race. He is another stalker in this race, but with the absence of any front end speed here today one will have to guess which of the stalkers will go out on the limb and try to steal the race on the front end. The rider for today’s race will be Child (11.8%). PROJECTED SPEED RATING—106.
6)SOLAR SONG—8/5—squirrel4 sends this 6 year old horse out of DEPUTY MINISTER with a record of 41-21-6-4 and lifetime earnings of $14,653,450. This 3rd divisional ranked horse races out of the GR Simsters division of the Squirrel stables. It would probably be easier to list the races this champion has not won but with 21 wins including 9 Grade I’s in his career he is destined to be a future Hall of Famer. He has won the last 2 BB Classics and ended off his 2007 season with 4 straight wins including 3 Grade I’s and should be a shoe in to take home some hardware in the upcoming eclipse awards to be presented in a couple of weeks. He matched his lifetime best 118 speed rating in winning the most recent BB Classic and perhaps the only difficult task at hand today will be that there will probably not be much of a pace to chase in this race and with his late closing rally may mean he will have to work harder in the stretch to get the win here today. He looks as sharp as he can be and is deserved of the morning line status he has here for this Grade III contest. The rider for today’s race will be Lawton (.3%). PROJECTED SPEED RATING—113.
7)PEPPET(KY)—18/1—financr sends this 4 year old colt out of VINDICATION with a record of 19-8-3-5 and lifetime earnings of $440,717. He is out of the mare PRIMARY GOAL who was 15/55 at the track and who has 3 foals on record of which 2 are winners including 1 stakes winner. This 45th divisional ranked colt races out of the unafilliated Jake stables. This colt ran exclusively on the turf as a 2 year old and broke his maiden in his final start that year. Last year he won 7 races of which 5 were overnite stake races and only 2 of those wins came on the dirt. He has run mostly on the lawn and seems to be switched back and fort quite regularly and while his form seems to be consistant on both one wonders how this colt would progress is he stuck to one surface or the other. He did manage a 3rd place finish in both the Middle jewel and the Travelers last year with the latter race having him post his lifetime best 107 speed rating. He has never finished off the board on the dirt and will be a turf to dirt angle play here again today. He is a midpack closer who may be closer to the pace today with the lack of any front end speed. The rider for today’s race will be Pritchard (0%). PROJECTED SPEED RATING—102 (DIRT).
8)POINT COLONY(KY)—26/1—xanderman sends this 4 year old colt out of POINT GIVEN with a record of 10-2-3-0 and lifetime earnings of $76,860. This 4324th divisional ranked colt races for the unafilliated Jrogue stables. This colt was unraced as a 2 year old and posted a pair of allowance wins last year, both coming on the turf. He has raced in 6 stake races so far in his career with 3 third place finishes being his best results. In his last race, his first ever Graded start he tried going 16 furlongs on the dirt and was beaten by 28 lengths. His lifetime best speed rating of 104 came on the turf and his best rating of the dirt was a 100 mark that he posted on a good dirt track. His appears to run with a closing style but as shown by the odds will probably be outmatched against these in this race today. Still with only 10 races lifetime he may still be coming up to his peak performance in his career. The rider for today’s race will be Sturman (0%). PROJECTED SPEED RATING—90(DIRT)
A small field in this race today but even without any clear cut speed horse I still think the one to beat will be SOLAR SONG and even with the low odds may just be the play here today.
GOOD LUCK AND GOOD RACING
THEO