Full Field for the Nasty n’ Bold Handicap

Welcome to the 10th running of the Nasty n’ Bold Handicap in beautiful Norway.  We have a full field for the 6 furlong race on dirt to take home their share of the $125,000 purse.  This race is for all horses 3 years and up.  In the previous nine runnings  of the Nasty n’ Bold we have seen some bold and nasty moves by the winners.  There haven’t been any true longshot winners of this race, but it is also interesting to note that the favorite has never won either.  Another interesting tidbit from the past winners is that fora ll but one, their win in the Nasty n’ Bold was the last graded win of their career.  Vomarromov is the one exception, he went on to win the G.S.R. Sprint (GI) two races after his victory here in 2005.  My Sheba T made quite a bold move in 2006 in his win against the two favorites.  Like this year, there was a lot of early speed and the two favorites were coming down the stretch in first and second when My Sheba T shot ahead to take the victory.  Another bold move was made by retired horse Shady in 2002.  He was well behind at first and second call, but then beautifully raced down the stretch with nasty speed to win, again just ahead of the favorite.  His speed of 116 is still the stakes record.  Although it has been years since anyone has been close to breaking his record I think it might be broken this year.  Let’s look at the field:   

PP 1   ECHELON (KY)   (POLLARD’S VISION x DANZIG x KINGMAMBO) bred by pg48 and trained by sdmf3 (Black Label Stables, 18%)  Odds:  11 to 1

Echelon will have the inside post position.  This 4 year old out of Sunday Silence is trying for his first graded win.   After purchasing this colt at the auction last summer trainer has run him at this distance 6 of his 8 races.  He picked up a win and two places in those races.   He probably would have preferred a muddy track as two of those in the money finishes came on off tracks.  The weather isn’t cooperating though and the track is listed as fast for today’s race.   Echelon needs a great start out of the gate to get ahead of all the early speed in the field and be a factor here.

PP 2   SULPHUR SPRINGS   (WAR CHANT x MR. PROSPECTOR x WELSH SAINT (IRE)) bred and trained by gipper5 (Gipper Stables 14%)  Odds:  13 to 1

Sulphur Springs is coming off two wins and a place in his last three races, but this will be his first try at graded stakes (or stakes for that matter) in over two years.  He is one of the older horses in the field, 5 years old, and this brown horse out of Pro Saint has brought home over $200,000 for his owner.  Sulphur Springs is the first of many horses in the field with a lot of early speed.  In most of the races he has won he has been in the lead for majority of the race and that might be hard to do here.    In four of his last five races he has put up triple digit speed figures, although the speed might not be high enough here to get the win. 

PP 3   BLAZING GLORY   (MORE THAN READY x SILVER BUCK x STORM CAT) bred and trained by waremblem2 (Winterfell Racing, 15%)  Odds:  11 to 1

Blazing Glory is one of two 6 year olds in the field.  Last year’s race was won by 7 year old Ecton Rats, so you can’t count him out just because he is the oldest.  He hasn’t tried graded stakes in over a year, but he has 2 places and a show against graded company.  This horse based on Storm Sparkling has only one speed figure under triple digit mark since last summer.  He looks to be in good form and as a late runner has good chances here. 

PP 4   I LOVE MY GRANDMA (KY)   (SILVER GHOST x NIGHT SHIFT x MISWAKI) bred and trained by perko5 (The Conglomerate, 6%)  Odds:  10 to 1

Who can resist rooting for a horse named “I Love My Grandma”?   This 4 year old is coming off a wire to wire win his last time out with his lifetime high speed of 110.    In his other two tries at graded stakes he finished 5^th and 11^th, but both of those races were G1.  He is a 4 time stakes winner and his trainer is hoping that he is ready for the jump up in class this time.    I Love My Grandma is the highest ranked male dirt sprinter in the field at 59 and has drawn second highest jockey for Norway, R. Gibson (16%). 

PP 5   GIANT WARNING (KY) (GIANT’S CAUSEWAY x NUREYEV x WARNING (GB)) bred and trained by jrogue2 (Jrogue Stables, 18%)   Odds:  31 to 1

Giant Warning, based on Warning Flag, is making his graded debut here in Norway.   In his second try at stakes in January he had a disastrous race, finishing 30 lengths behind.  Trainer jrogue gave him 2 months rest and sent him out again 3 weeks ago where he finished sixth.  This lightly raced 4 year old hasn’t been first across the line since last October.  I am not sure this jump in class is going to provide the desired results. 

PP 6   NO RULES   (PEACE RULES x LOST CODE x NORCLIFFE) bred and trained by runabout (Home To Over 40 Injuries Since Week 3126, 22%)     Odds:  6 to 1

When I first started glancing over No Rules’ past performance history it took me awhile before I could find a number higher than 3.  He has finished in the money 23 out of his 25 career starts and the only time since his very first race his has been worse than third was his fifth place finish last fall at The WAIT FOR SAL Special.  This will be No Rules first try in graded stakes, but in his last two times out he put up career high speed figures of 111 and 114.   Again we have a horse in the field who likes to take the lead early.  I think we are going to have quite a showdown at the beginning of the race to see who is going to dominate.  No Rules is the favorite here with 6 to 1 odds.  We will have to wait and see if he is able to buck the trend and be the first favorite to win the Nasty n’ Bold Handicap.

PP 7   STEALIN THE GOLD   (SEEKING THE GOLD x CEE’S TIZZY x GREEN DESRT) bred and trained by bigfan (Bigfan Stables, 12%)  Odds:  8 to 1

Stealin the Gold is making his graded debut here in Norway.  This 6 year old out of Vagabond Song, hasn’t been farther back then second place since second call in his race last September.  He has only raced 4 times since then and his last race was late in 2007.  One wonders if he had been injured or just receiving a prolonged rest.  In November he put up his career high speed of 115, also tied for highest in this field.  He tends to run with sustained speed and has trouble winning unless he has been in the lead the majority of the race.  If he is in first or second place at third call things are looking good for him. 

PP 8   WILD OATS   (WOODMAN x BLUSHING GROOM (FR) x CRÈME DELA CREME) bred and trained by super3 (More Evil Than The Evil Empire!, 16%)  Odds:  10 to 1

Like the horse next to him, Wild Oats is making his graded debut here in Norway.  He has placed twice in stakes races, including his last time out at The ICE STORM (IRE) Cap.  He hasn’t raced this distance in almost two years and all of his 6 wins have come at distances between 7 and 8 furlongs.  The distance might be an issue here, especially since Wild Oats has a lot of late speed.  One other interesting thing to note, when looking over Wild Oats’ past performance history I noticed two periods of time when his speeds were almost 10 points higher than they had been, perhaps like the speed bursts Pazjazz was talking about when he revealed the SUPER secret training method.  Although Wild Oats typically races at a distance shorter than Pazjazz discussed, he is out of SUPER Stables and perhaps the trainers there have more tricks up their sleeve.  J 

PP 9   EEYORE (KY)   (DEHERE x DANZIG x STUTZ BLACKHAWK) bred and trained by epcotlen (Epcotlen Stables, 14%)  Odds:  8 to 1

With the name Eeyore I expected to find this 4 year old trained by BTB managing editor Roys, but he resides at the Epcotlen Stables.   This will be his first try in graded company and in his 8 tries at stakes he hasn’t been first across the finish line.  He did finish third in 4 of those stakes races, but hasn’t been able to overcome the leaders and finish first, especially in this class.  When his trainer raced him in allowance races (4 times since last summer) he won 3 times.   Eeyore is out of game dam R. Throat.  He has only one speed figure under 100 since last summer and he is coming off 7 weeks of rest so he should be in good form. 

PP 10   BAD BOY RISING   (BLACK MINNALOUSHE x WOODMAN x RAHY) bred by moonkissed and trained by lrh (Keely’s Stables, 12%)   Odds:  7 to 1

Bad Boy Rising is a 5 year old out of Odmanhy.  After a 3 race winning streak Bad Boy Rising was moved up in class and finished first in The SOFT LIGHT Bonanza last November.  He tried graded stakes for the first time in the G3-Narrowly Missed Stakes where he finished 3^rd, (almost narrowly missing finishing in the money).  He was beat by two graded winners, but finished ahead of two other graded winners.  Bad Boy Rising hasn’t raced 6 furlongs in almost a year, usually racing 7 or 7.5 furlongs.  Since he tends to run in the middle of the back and wait until the stretch to move up like Wild Oats, the distance might throw him off his game.  

PP 11   BLASTSHAFT (KY)   (MINESHAFT x BLUSTERY x BARKERVILLE) bred and trained by fittler (Ozsteve Stables, 15%)  Odds:  10 to 1

This 4 year old out of Bluster Miss NC has raced in stakes or higher 17 out of his 20 career starts.   His two tries in graded stakes returned disappointing results, but after 6 weeks rest, trainer fittler is hoping for a different outcome this time.  There are a lot of horses with sustained speed in this race and when Blastshaft isn’t able to take the lead early on he has a hard time winning.  He has only won when he has been first, second or third at third call and he is going to have a lot of competition to be there in this race. 

PP 12   TIRED WINGS (KY)   (POLLARD’S VISION x DANZIG x KINGMAMBO) bred by jimdscott and trained by kaif014 (Kaif Stables, 19%)  Odds:  8 to 1

Tired Wings has won an impressive 60% of her 15 career starts, 6 of those wins coming in graded races.  She had quite a winning streak from April 07 to Oct. 07, winning 7 of her 8 races.   Trainer Kaif moved her down in class to compete in a listed stakes (after back to back G1 wins) and she only finished 7^th.  Then he moved her back up to a G3 and she finished in the money.   Last time out was an allowance race where she finished 5^th and was her first race since late in 2007.  She seems to run better against tougher competition.  This 4 year old based on Bind with Rope has proven she can win at this distance, even against the boys, and has had great success in a higher class.  This number one ranked older female in dirt springs has drawn top jockey H Knott (17%)

PP 13   BLACK TY TINSEL (KY)   (ROMAN RULER x STORM CAT x MARFA) bred and trained by wes32 (Keely’s Stables, 12%)  Odds:  19 to 1

Black Ty Tinsel, out of Beating on the Cat, finished second in her graded stakes debut at the G2-Dandelion Sprint with her career high speed of 110.  Since then trainer wes32 has raced her in two more graded races.  Both times she had good starts, towards the front of the pack, but was not able to hold on, finishing 12^th and 13^th.  This might just be an adjustment to the new class.  In her first allowance race she finished 11^th.  After three times in this class hopefully she is ready to hold her own.  Black Ty Tinsel, the second horse in the field from Keely’s Stables, has never won at this distance.   

PP 14   MAJESTIC SAKHEE (ENG)   (SAKHEE x POLISH NUMBERS x RUN THE GANTLET) bred and trained by factorx (Sjmeola Stables, 14%)  Odds:  9 to 1

Majestic Sakhee is a 4 year out of Majestic Rex.  He only finished out of the money 3 times in his 16 career starts and has been first across the line 6 times.  And two of those three times out of the money were at distances he hadn’t run before and I don’t think he likes.  He has raced in this class before with success (although none of his wins are in graded stakes), but this will be his first time against this class in 9 months.  He is coming off two wins and a place in his last three races and definitely has the speed to be competitive in this field.  The length is also his favorite, three of his wins coming at this distance. 

There are many possibilities for this race.  I think things might get nasty with all the early speed and so many horses fighting to take the lead.  I wouldn’t be surprised if they wear each other out in their effort to start strong.  I think Bad Boy Rising will make a bold move late in the race and take home the victory.   My picks for second and third are I Love My Grandma and Stealin The Gold.   Happy racing and good luck to all!  J