‘Bright Light’, Big City? That’s Nobody’s Business But The ‘Turk’s…

It’s been another chilly week in an Arizona January.  Yeah, most of the time one could say that a chilly day in Arizona is a great winter day elsewhere, but this year’s been a bit chillier than usual, even for us.  That being said, though, the cooler weather has managed to dry out the Arizona Sim surface, and fast and firm conditions are the order of the day.

That’s a good thing, as the Scottsdale Dirt Track gets this weekend’s attention.  Five three-year-old fillies line up for the $55,000 Dynathe Truk Handicap, and like last weekend, with a quartet of fillies and an odds-on favorite looming large over them—Ziggy Indy ended up grinding out a narrow win at 4/5 over Rock Of Passion in the Eight Shelley Handicap—this weekend one filly gets the lion’s share of attention.  And if you had won a Grade I race last fall and were making a 2008 debut, wouldn’t you deserve the attention, too?

EE Bright Light won two graded races last year at 2 (and isn’t that a good feeling, eh?) but tailed off at the end of the season with a grass race that didn’t live up to her pedigree’s aspirations and a California Grade I in which an expected bounce up in momentum didn’t materialize.  Still, with the two graded wins she has managed to hold on to a Top 10 ranking among routing three-year-old fillies.  It’s hard to say this is her 2008 debut, because while technically it is, her last race came on December 29, so she’s been using the holiday season as a working holiday while waiting for a little bit of that learning curve to kick into gear four weeks into the new year.  Still, this race has that season-debut feeling; her opposition is nominal in terms of accomplishments.  But even if she leads in stakes wins by two to the others’ none-ever-attempted, there’s some very good potential that the Racing Secretary has tried to put together.

The overall card is down a little from last week, even with a full field later in the card in the Grade I Fainting Goat Mile on grass for the sophomore colts.  The numbers are disappointing, but the quality of what’s here really is rather high this week.  Let’s look at the field:

Woodsy Toothpaste [Forestry-Tooth Paste, by Point Given, trained by doctahg for Dentition *No Do Claima’s* Stables] has the same connections as last week’s winner Ziggy Indy, and a filly this week with the same kind of hot streak.  Her connections have opted for a steady, stealth campaign thus far in her racing, going the scenic route through her allowance conditions instead of trying stakes foes.  With four wins in seven starts, and three wins in a row, the time seems appropriate to take a gamble on a stakes placing.  Her “dam” was a stakes-placed miler on the grass, and she’s reasonably bred for the middle distances on the turf, but her experiences have shown her to prefer dirt routing.  It’s easy on me to say one thing for four of the five entries, in that this will be the true class test in their stakes debuts.  But even if they’re stepping up in a class level, the allowances or MSW races they rose from could provide some clues about how they might handle the added pressure.  In this case, with all seven starts having come to date in North Dakota, she’s been holding her own very nicely while zipping through most of her allowance conditions, the pedigree is solid and she’ll bring her best late from a position somewhere off the early pace in a race that doesn’t seem to have a standout on the front end.  But what exists in North Dakota that proves her ability at a higher level?  She was beaten by two stakes winners earlier in her career, but turned the tables on a third in an allowance event last fall.  Additionally she owns one victory over another entry here, Meadowbank Samurai, back in November.  Her speed figures sit well among these, as they’re all reasonably competitive here, but it may take a career-best for any of these to earn the victory.  She’ll be sitting pretty mid-pack before being asked to roll, and she does engage Niles Gardner, last week’s stakes-winning jockey, for a repeat performance.

Tizlove [Tiznow x Rubiano, trained by skymesa for Skymesa Stables] is very much an unknown among these, with just a maiden win in two starts under her belt.  What is known about her is that she made a solid middle move in her Nevada debut before giving way, and that two weeks ago over this very surface she went out winging for a mile-and-an-eighth on the lead throughout, and she came home much the best by just over a length with a solid speed figure of 84.  It was a win that showed some promise, and maybe that promise could repeat itself in this spot.  This field is light on pace, and she’s clearly capable of taking a field through the early stages in front of the pack.  But it should be noted that despite the sire, the pedigree is a bit short on stamina.  Tiznow supplied enough to get her a nine-furlong maiden win, but the back end, with Rubiano and Not For Love, doesn’t do a lot for suggesting she can stay much longer than she has to date.  It might just be enough, particularly if there’s an uncontested pace, but on two starts the jury’s safely still out on her.  But the potential at these middle distances is still there, and with some more seasoning, she may yet be a serious routing threat.  The unheralded Martin Graybill, winless thus far in ’08, is in the irons for a most important outing in this young career.

Meadowbank Samurai [First Samurai-Jeter Arod Nomar, by Red Bullet, trained by pigeon3 for Pigeon1 Stables] is hopeful that once stablemate Solar Song retires, the Pigeon Squadron will ride again in her name.  This is her first major test for class in her stakes debut, and from her past performances, early indications hold strong promise.  She didn’t break her maiden until her fourth start, but while winning that mile MSW her speed figures rose 10 points, hinting that the best may be yet to come from this well-bred filly.  We never got to know First Samurai’s full promise on the track beyond a mile; he did win the Fountain of Youth Stakes at 3, but broke two ribs at the start of the 2006 Blue Grass Stakes and was retired without attempting the Triple Crown races.  Winning only one two-turn race in his career and retiring rather early only served to reinforce in some folks the notion that he was more a sprinter/miler than a true router.  But his pedigree is strong for longer distances, and he seems to have passed that potential down to this filly, who sat off the early lead in an Iowa allowance just before Christmas and wound up winning, albeit under pressure, respectably.  The resulting 88 speed figure is second-highest in the field, and she’s got the goods to improve off that race, plus the pace scenario seems to favor her stalking or sitting chilly and moving late to the front end.  The potential drawback is that aside from a loss two back to Woodsy Toothpaste, the fields she’s faced, while competent, don’t exactly scream “high class” as of yet.  This will be a test, but the continuing improvement in her speed figures do speak to her rapid development, and she should definitely have a role in the outcome this time around.  Richie Rehberger is traditionally known for having a firm but gentle touch with the early-season three-year-olds; although winless to this point, he’s remained a stalwart figure on the circuit over the years.

Mindbending [E Dubai-Hampton Bay, by Deputy Minister, trained by trembling for Tees Stables] is another well-bred filly with an almost limitless future, but she’s really making an aggressive placement here, as she enters off of a maiden win last out in Nevada.  That day, she went to the lead within the opening quarter-mile, and was on cruise control shortly thereafter, winning by two lengths.  It earned her a solid 88 speed figure, but this will mark her first start versus winners, which can be a dicey proposition for a last-out maiden winner.  Of the five, she’s most likely going to be the one on the lead, with Tizlove possibly accompanying her, if the past performances are any indication.  She’s not one to wilt badly under pressure, though her pace-setting abilities do have their limits.  Stretching that speed to go gate to wire on the lead against a field with more established runners, though, is going to require some fortitude, and in her debut against winners, that might be asking a little too much.  It may take a 90 speed figure to pull out a win, but while she is poised to be a good filly in her division, that’s a goal that might not yet be within her reach.  Rich Zombie enjoyed a fine effort in last week’s feature to end up second behind Ziggy Indy, and he is enlisted for the jockey services in this race.

EE Bright Light [Fantastic Light-Gizmos Gone Wild, by Wild Again, trained by autumnwind for Whirlaway Stables] is the favorite here, but that role is somewhat tenuous among these fillies because of their capable forms and her own somewhat mysterious recent results.  She is the only one of the five with anything resembling a stakes history, and what a history.  She captured the Grade III Little Momma Debutante last September, then followed that up with a win in the Grade I Frickazee Stakes in New York last October.  It would have, or should have, earned her a spot in the Breeders Bowl Juvenile Fillies, but her connections decided to bypass the biggest divisional race for some extra seasoning.  With her pedigree, the turf seemed like a likely preference at some point, so she tried grass in New Hampshire’s Bitter Pecan Memorial, and while she was a no-factor third, she didn’t disgrace herself too badly in that long sprint.  Perhaps with an eye to the future it was used as a training tool to sharpen her focus back on dirt, but her race last out in the Grade I Mistletoe did not earn any extra benefit.  She sat in mid-pack in the field of ten, but never kicked into gear, as she faded to seventh.  Perhaps it’s apropos of nothing, but her speed figures since winning the Little Momma have been regressing slightly as her races got longer.  Throwing out the 80 in the turf sprint two back, her speed figures in her Frickazee win and her seventh in the Mistletoe, both races at today’s distance, actually came down slightly from the seven-and-a-half furlong Little Momma.  The Little Momma got her a field-best 91, but the Frickazee dropped to an 87 and the Mistletoe earned just an 86.  Numbers can mean what you want them to mean, I will admit, but she did managed a pair of graded wins, one of them a Grade I race beyond a mile, and while facing some tough company, one would have imagined that between her pedigree and obvious class that the figures should have bounced a bit upwards.  That they didn’t is concerning, but two-year-olds are as fickle as they come.  The distance should still appeal, and this is no Grade I field right now.  She’s about as deep a closing threat as could exist in here, which means that she’ll be making a rear charge, but likely from no more than, say, four lengths back.  With the back class from facing much harsher opposition, even if her numbers still don’t get the usual second-race-after-turf-to-dirt-switch angle that might otherwise show up, she might not need all that much to surge to the front late for good.  She’s a talented filly, no doubt, but her 2008 debut might not necessarily show her light from beneath this listed bushel.  Wilhelm Kewmwa gets the mount here, and looking at his record, he seems poised to make a very early run for the riding title in Arizona already.

Again, no selections in such a short field this week, but a little perspective may be in order.  In last year’s running of the Dynathe Turk (of two races total held in Arizona), Coldstone came in with a Grade II win as a juvenile, and left the Arizona circuit with a third-place finish behind late-developing Saujon, who would last spring eventually finish third in last year’s Grade I Black Middle Flower Stakes.  In 2006, Corzaffair came into this race with a win in the 2005 running of the Grade I Frickazee Stakes, but was fourth here to Forty Winx, who went on to a multiple stakes-winning career without quite reaching the same heights.  The average winning time has been 1:43 2/5, with an average speed figure of 95.5 required for the win.  Will this year’s race follow a similarly striking trend of a graded winner getting upset by a competent but then-unknown runner?  Stay tuned.