Large Field for The SENORITAS BABIFIED Special

Hola Amigas!  The highlight of Oregon’s races this Saturday is a 7.5 furlong race on dirt for the senoritas (4yr+ females).  In honor of the senoritas the jockeys who are not racing this week will be giving free Macarena lessons and for refreshment after the dancing please enjoy the margaritas, steak and chicken fajitas, and dulce de leche ice cream.   Then sit back and relax (or stand and cheer) as the senoritas race to see who will be the winner of this year’s Senorita Babified Special!   Let’s take a look at the senoritas:

PP 1   JUMP MY GUEST (JUMP START x BE MY GUESS x HABITAT) bred by court1 and trained by marks1 (LIDDLESKI Empire, 9%)  Odds:  42 to 1

This 5 year old mare is coming off a decisive victory in her last race.  She will need all the help she can get to be competitive in this field.  Not only is she the only horse not to put up a speed figure over 100, but all the other horses in the field except two have put up triple digits speeds in one of their last two races.  Jump My Guest has raced in stakes before, but all of those starts came on turf.  Marks1 decided to try her on dirt last July and is hoping she can bring home her second win in a row here.   

PP 2   EMPIRICIST (EMPIRE MAKER x THEATRICAL (IRE) x GREEN DESERT) bred and trained by cheapo (Chilcoat Stables, 18%)  Odds:  9 to 1

The last time out for Empiricist was a rough one, finishing 11^thand posting her lowest speed factor in months.   But ignoring the most recent race she is looking good, winning 5 out of the last 7 races and only finishing out of the money 4 times in her career.   There are still two questions that need to be answered.   Can she continue her win streak competing in this higher class?  (This is only her second stakes race.)   And can she forget what happened in her last race and continue to win?  

PP 3   KISS MY KIRBY (EMPIRE MAKER x SEEKING THE GOLD x KRIS S.) bred by bigbadwolf and trained by theoldguy (4Nighthawk Stables, 15%)  Odds:  9 to 1

If the weatherman is correct, this will be Kiss My Kirby’s first start on a sloppy track (he predicts 85% chance of an off track).  Her highest finish in a stakes race to date is 6^th and she is hoping to improve on that here.   In her first career start, a little over a year ago, she posted a speed rating of 90 and for the most part has been increasing her speed since then.

PP 4   GREY ICE (KY) (JOHANNESBURG x GREY DAWN II x ICECAPADE) bred and trained by crandyiii (Crandy Stables, 7%)  Odds:  9 to 1

Grey Ice has shown that she likes dirt sprints by winning 6 of her 22 starts.  Unfortunately only 1 of her 6 wins has been in the last 12 months and that was in an allowance race.   She has shown that she has what it takes, 50% of her wins are in stakes races, but it has been a while.   Grey Ice is also one of only two in this field to win a grade II stakes, her win coming at G2 – Yanta Snez last January. 

PP 5   OFFLEE HIGH (KY) (OFFLEE WILD x HIGH YIELD x ALLEN’S PROSPECT) bred by upsandowns and trained by inhalers (Fortune500, 17%)  Odds:  7 to 1

Offlee High comes into this race ranked 12^th for her age on dirt sprints and with the most starts on off tracks with 6.  She also hasn’t raced in anything but stakes races since her second start almost two years ago. Oregon’s top jockey, K. Proehl (24%), will be riding Offlee High.   Although the number of wins and the speeds she has posted are “offlee high”, they might not be enough for her to win here. 

PP 6   FU FU MASCUS (IRE) (GIANT’S CAUSEWAY (IRE) x FASAICHI PEGASUS x NORTHERN DANCER) bred and trained by freeky (Pierchinski Stables, 18%)  Odds:  5 to 1

Pierchinski Stable’s first horse in the field is one of the favorites.  Fu Fu Mascus is also tied for the highest speed rating in the field with the 111 she posted in her last race.   She is coming off a nice streak, winning 4 of her last 5 races, all of those races were allowance.  Fu Fu Mascus has plenty of experience in stakes, although this will be her first one in 6 months.  She hasn’t won a stakes race in over two years, perhaps she will this Saturday. 

PP 7   SASSY LIZ (A.P. INDY x SEEKING THE GOLD x OBLIGATO) bred and trained by justin (Justin Stables, 15%)  Odds:  6 to 1

Sassy Liz is making her stakes debut here in rainy Oregon.  Although she hasn’t raced in this class yet, she has an impressive record, 5 wins in her 16 careers starts and has finished in the money 69% of the time.  She is tied for posting the highest speed figure of all horses in the field today, 111, and that was also on a sloppy track.  I think Sassy Liz will make a spectacular stakes debut here in Oregon. 

PP 8   GOLDEN BEAUTY (GOLDEN MISSLE x IN REALITY x VICERGAL) bred and trained by mardigras (Pierchinski Stables, 18%)  Odds:  10 to 1

Working in Golden Beauty’s favor is the fact that she has won 3 of her 4 races on good or sloppy dirt and placed in the 4^th.   Golden Beauty also comes into the race Saturday with a lot of stakes racing experience; this is her 15^th start in a stakes race.  Despite these factors, I think Golden Beauty will have a tough race ahead of her given the competition in this field.  

PP 9   NISH (KY) (PULPIT x DEPUTY MINISTER x AL HATTAB) bred by stablesix and trained by teds (Theo’s Stables Inc.—Claiming Division, 11%)  Odds:  10 to 1

It looks as though Nish’s former trainer had given up on her when Theo breathed new life into her in October.  Since she has been with Theo she has only finished out of the money twice (in 8 races) and put up three speed figures over 100.  She will have Jockey E. McNeal who is off to a great start this year.  She has a lot of early speed, but will need to be careful not to run out of steam.  

PP 10   LEADER OF THE PACK (IRE) (THEATRICAL(IRE) x MR. PROSPECTOR x SECRETARIAT) bred and trained by cgk (Kobras Stables, 10%)  Odds:  9 to 1

Leader of the Pack is by far the most diverse racer in the group.  About half her starts and half her wins have been on turf and 33% of her races have been routes (although most of them almost 2 years ago).  She has experience in this class and has posted some triple digit speed figures recently, but I am not sure that is going to be enough for her to be “leader of the pack” at the end of this race.  

PP 11   LEMON RULER (LEMON DROP KID x LANGFUHR x MISWAKI) bred by shockwave and trained by starstruck (Twoofus Stables, 14%)  Odds:  5 to 1

Late entry Lemon Ruler is the other favorite for this race.  Although she was last to enter the race she is first in career starts (40), first in wins (13), first in places (8) and first in the number of times posting triple digit speed figures (16).  She has jockey B. Parks, who is having a great year with 5 wins already.  She also really likes the length of the race, 6 of her last 7 wins have been at 7.5 furlongs.  Things are looking good for Lemon Ruler. 

PP 12   BARB’S LAST NERVE (KY) (STORM CAT x MR. PROSPECTOR x NUREYEV) bred and trained by joseph316 (Jakematt Stables, 14%)  Odds:  13 to 1

Barb’s Last Nerve has the fewest career starts in the field, but 5 of her 13 starts have come on off tracks where she has won twice and showed once.  This is only her second time racing 7.5 furlongs.  She has raced with in this class before, but her best finish was third in her last start, at The BABE THE BUCKET Special just two weeks ago.