Huge Upset of 2 yr old Horse of the Year!
Snowbound Special Stakes
Grade I
One Mile on the Firm Turf Course
$500,000
Fillies and mares, 3 years old
Stakes record – Inaugural Race
As I mentioned in my preview, we had the makings of a special race in Nevada this weekend with a really nice group of young three year old ready to show the world that they had arrived. Of course the biggest obstacle in their way was Super Star horse MIESQUE’S GOLD who was the two year old Turf Filly of the the Year for “07. That tends to be a pretty big obstacle. There were two horse in the race whose chances I was particularly fond of though, BEST THERE IS trained by Desperado5 and OTTO TRIBUTE who was trained up by ShadowClaw. In the end, these three young ladies had a heck of a horse race.
There was not a huge amount of juggling at the start as TRUCULENT took the early lead but never pushed much further than a length ahead of a group of six other horses. This group contained both OTTO TRIBUTE and our favorite, MIESQUE’S GOLD. And BEST THERE IS was dead last but still within six lengths throughout the early part of the race. At the half, OTTO TRIBUTE immediately jumped out to the lead but “ GOLD” was right on her shoulder in her customary spot to come on and win the race. As they hit the stretch, MIESQUE’S GOLD made her move but it was surprisingly answered in a big way by OTTO TRIBUTE who seemed to reach down for something extra. The two battled down the stretch with “TRIBUTE” holding a small lead. They were now joined by BEST THERE IS who was making a furious charge from the rear. In the end she passed MIESQUE’S GOLD but didn’t have quite enough real estate to catch our winner. It is a good thing that this race wasn’t a bit longer. Partially because she just might have caught OTTO TRIBUTE but mostly because I’m not sure my heart could handle much more. It was a thrilling race!
In the end, it was OTTO TRIBUTE who under top jockey M.Cooper ran a nearly perfect race that enabled her to gain her sixth victory in only seven tries. She has now won all five of her turf races and looks like a force to be reckoned with. She has over $600k in earnings for trainer ShadowClaw and the Given Stables and looks like she is just hitting her stride.. She ran her fastest race with a sizzling 105 SPF and now has four Stakes wins including two Gradeds. She improved her rank to number three from fifteen in the three year old tuf classic class.
ShadowClaw has quite a special horse in the stable and has to be really excited about the prospects of this beautiful filly. I for one will be watching and admiring this filly as she finishes up her three year old campaign.
Good luck to all runners!
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