Maryland Special: The Battle for No. 1

By ITCH

The winner is the new No. 1 horse. Simple as that.

Will it be AWESOME FORCE, SOLAR SONG or GRACEPOINTE PRAYER? Those Big 3 all have entered here in Maryland on Saturday for the Grade I, $750,000 Maryland Special Handicap, going a mile and three-sixteenths on the main track.

In fact, 2007 Trainer of the Year Squirrel, handler of the great Solar Song, invited Will (Sledge4) and Pazjazz to bring their horses along on Solar Song’s specialized charter jet, featuring four stalls lined in royal velvet. They arrived here in Baltimore on Monday from Dubai, where they were last seen contesting the richest of all Sim races, the Grade I Sand Castle Classic.

And what a race it was. Eventually, it would belong to Will’s Awesome Force, who outraced Solar Song in a head-to-head duel as thrilling as any in the history of Sim racing. These two stars of the Dirt Classic Division raced in tandem from gate to wire. Even as Gracepointe Prayer seemed to take control of the race with only three furlongs to go, the deadly duo loomed, and then sprang onto the race viewer. At first glance, all who watched that day knew it was a two-horse race.

When first they appeared, rolling fast, Solar Song had his head in front. Down on the rail, he would be about the toughest horse in the Simulated world to pass in the stretch. But Awesome Force did it. He surged past the great Solar Song, and at the end, had earned a full length lead over the champ.

It is that great race that is rematched here Saturday in Maryland.

Of all the fast races run by AWESOME FORCE, out of Will’s camry stable, in his brilliant 21-race career, the Sand Castle was the fastest. He needed a 117 speed figure to bring home the big check. He’ll need another big number to make it two in a row and claim the distinction of the Sim’s Best Horse. Can he do it? He’s had a nice rest since that big score, as have all the Big Three. Seven weeks is plenty of rest, and may, in fact, leave these top contenders maybe a boll weevil shy of their top form. Class tells, though, and these three have it over the rest of this field. In terms of the ultimate arbiter, stakes points, Awesome Force has 484. (SS has 480, and GP 446). They are the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4 horses in the Dirt Classic Division for older males. The next qualifier for this race, STAR SPANGLED KID, has only 112. The entire field added together, from places four through 14, has only 274 points, not nearly as many as the Big Three have alone. So, this is clearly a three-horse race, in terms of class. There may be others in here who have brilliant current form and may be ready to leap to the class. I sure wouldn’t blame anybody for taking a shot in this field, because what if one the top ones stubs their toe off that seven-week layoff? A good horse could take advantage and hit the board in a Grade I if things fall their way. It’s hard to see any of these Big Three having a bad day against this field, however. There are more than 40 horses in the Top 50 who stayed away from this Grade I. Who wants to mess with Awesome Force, who captured his SIXTH!!!! Grade 1 race in the Sand Castle. He’s won the Middle Jewel, the New Yorker and the Sand Castle now to stamp himself an all-time great in the Sim. Will may never know what happened that day in Kentucky, because it was only an inexplicable 10th-place finish in the Bluegrass Derby that kept AF from a TC. The points from the Middle Jewel are about to come off his total, so the 128 for first place here would come in handy.

SOLAR SONG loses 64 stakes points this week from last year’s Maryland Special, in which he ran second to ERMINGTON PEGASUS. That horse came back nicely to win the Grade 2 Eviscerator two weeks ago to claim a temporary reign as the No. 1 horse, but he, like so many horses, lost stakes points from a year ago and slipped back to the No. 3 spot. That comeback victory had to be nice for Pigeon to see, because ErPeg got his doors blown off in the Sand Castle by the three horses in this race. It is no wonder Pigeon opted out of a rematch right away. He never threatened GP, who ended up third, and could only watch as SS and AF went flying by in the late stages. SS came back really nice in that Sand Castle race from two subpar third-place finishes that may have had trainer Squirrel worried. Word on the chatty backstretch is that the TOY was glad to see the Big Horse fire like that, even though he ended up second. After all, Squirrel has seen this super-horse be defeated before only to come back time and time again to keep his place among the Sim Elite. He’s won a whopping nine Grade I’s in a smashing career that’s seen 21 victories and winnings surpassing $16 million. Even at age 6, this amazing son of Deputy Minister continues to hold the form that has made him an all-time champion in the Sim. He ran a cracking 115 in the Sand Castle, only three ticks off his lifetime best of 118. It will be so interesting to see where he races in the early stages of this race in relation to AF. As stated, they raced together for the entirety of the last race, which by my very unofficial count was only their second meeting. AF was fifth in their first meeting, when SS won the BB this year. So, this is the rubber match between two Sim titans. Can SS turn the tables from the Sand Castle and wrap his classy mane around that No. 1 ranking yet again? How long can the Big Horse continue in top form like this? High drama this Saturday in Maryland.

Even though he was third and had no answer for the charge of SS and AF in the Sand Castle, GRACEPOINTE PRAYER is basicially equivalent to the top two coming into this race, with his 448 points and No. 3 ranking. There’s no such thing as a dead heat in the sim, so those big Grade I stakes points are going to decide the No. 1 spot. Here’s saying GP has every chance in the world to claim the 128 for first place. He held on well in the Sand Castle and was a clear third despite having to fight his way to the top spot in Dubai. He broke behind PASSING STONE, and was pressed to the immediate outside by THE KID STU. While those two collapsed and finished 12th and 14th, GP was the lone remaining member of the early pace picture to have any kind of impact on the race at all at the end. The front end was tough in Dubai. In Maryland, maybe not so much. It says here that GP has a huge shot in this race because the expected pace scenario should work much more in his favor this time. You look down through the top contenders and try to find us another speed horse in here. You have to go all the way down to Lenny’s horse, FANG, in the ninth qualifying spot before you find any other horse who contests the pace. All of them are closers until you get to Fang. Will Lenny try to do his fellow GR Simster Squirrel and favor and send Fang to the front in a suicide mission to wear down GP? There’s a chance that Fang won’t have the class to even go with GP from the gate. What if GP is able to put away Fang readily and draw off to another big lead like he had in the Sand Castle? This looks like a very favorable pace for GP here and I do believe he’s going to take a lot more catching in Maryland than he did in Dubai.

It’s a pretty large dropoff stakes points-wise to the rest of this field.

The Kyclocker brings a very fresh horse to this race in STAR SPANGLED KID.  This is a handsome 4yo son of Smarty Jones who just returned to the races in April after an extensive eight-month layoff after a disappointing ninth in the 2007 Travelers. Eight-month layoffs are very uncommon in the Sim, and usually are only seen when a player leaves the game. Indeed, this appears to be the case for the Bulletwork 15-stable operation, as evidenced by the “Bulletwork Stables Under New Management Inc.” sign at the top of the barn. A brief tour of the re-opened barn reveals that a number of the very nice Bulletwork horses are coming back nicely from those long, long layoffs, and Star Spangled Kid is certainly a leading example. He cantered home easily in his return race, a non-graded stake going Saturday’s distance of 10 furlongs. That was an encouraging sign, to be sure, to see this horse win so easily after eight months. But, he’s taking a giant leap in class here. Star Spangled Kid did not beat much in that return race. The second-place finisher, DEFIANT DIREWOLF, is ranked only No. 298 in the Classic Division. This colt goes from facing the No. 298 horse to the Nos. 1, 2 and 4 horses. It’s a lot to ask. As stated earlier, however, it’s hard to blame the new ownership for taking this shot. Since when can a horse come back from an eight-month layoff and qualify fourth for a Grade I race? The obvious answer is that other than the Big Three, there ain’t much in this race as far as Grade 1-caliber competition. Nobody wanted to mess with those horses, so the new operators of Bulletwork step in and take their shot with the No. 49 horse. If this horse can hit the board here, they’ve got a potential monster on their hands.

It’s another big dropoff down to the fifth-place qualifier. Toral’s BRUSHRIVER PRINCE has only 38 stakes points, and is ranked clear down in the No. 182 spot in the Classic Division. No chance, right? As Lee Corso might say, “not so fast my friend.” Believe it or not, this chestnut son of Bahri never has been this good, even at the ripe old age of 6. It is true that Brushriver Prince always has been a nice horse. He was placed in a Grade 2 as a 3yo, and has gone on to move up yet another run on the class ladder when he placed in a Grade I as a 4yo. This horse has been carefully spotted and campaigned in a way as to preserve the horse, which always is admirable. You can ask for no greater evidence of the fact than the 115 speed figure which he ran last out in winning his second in a row, a lifetime best. That’s pretty good for a horse to be stakes-caliber all the way from age 3 through 6. As all players know, it’s hard to hold these horses together for very long, let alone five racing seasons. This is a real nice training job by Toral and a very nice horse. If you are going to take a shot at Grade I company again, why not here where he can be the fifth qualifier? Toral is not going to find many Grade I races that are the right distance for his horse and he’s going to get to qualify fifth with the No. 189 horse. To beat one of the Big Three? Odds are against it, of course, but taking the shot is well understood considering the rest of the field.

By now, some of you may be wondering, “how long is this fool going to continue to contradict himself by touting horses he’s already disparaged? Didn’t you say the rest of this field is weak?” But, how can a BTB writer not sing the praises of Knightmare’s STUDENT OF EROS? This capable 4yo son of Dixie Union has blossomed handily into a nice triple-digit stakes horse in his last five starts. As a 3yo, he developed ability to hold his speed at distances as long as 13 furlongs while regularly picking up checks against allowance company. Knightmare waited until the colt was four to introduce him into non-graded stake company, and the horse responded. He won the first two stakes he entered, the non-graded variety at distances of 11 and then 10 furlongs (Saturday’s distance), both with fat 112 speed figures. He earned his shot at the Grade 2 on Vermont Day, but never fired on the jump in class. From there, it’s been back to non-graded variety with continued success, finishing second twice in a row. Granted, it’s not winning, as Student of Eros had done on his first two tries, but the horse remains solidly in stakes form, now four-for-four exacta-wise in his four starts at non-graded company. As far as the bottom rung of stakes competition, this horse is dominating. Why not take the shot at Grade I? Knightmare is trying to move forward with this horse now, and it’s about as shallow a race as he’ll find, speaking of No. 4 qualifier on down. As a handicapper, probably we have to hold it against this horse that he did not fire in the Grade 2, and may not be capable of firing at this level of competition. There are a lot of closers in this race. He’s a closer, and he’s far from the classiest in here. If he hits the board, it’s a huge jump forward for this nice horse.

Don’t go near the stall of the next qualifier unless you are comfortable with full frontal nudity. Kingman gallops nekkid in and out of his Simulated barns, and never thinks he is going to get caught. Even as SUMMER WINE concedes a massive class edge to the Big Three, Mike doesn’t think he’s going to be caught in this race, either. “I think he has a very good chance,” Kingman says of Summer Wine, pinning his hopes on the results of the world-renown Toilet Scrubber race. “He did finish within 3 1/2 lengths of ErPeg this year and I think he’s sitting on a big one.” Perhaps nobody reminded Kingman that all three of the Big Three in this race beat ErPeg handily in their last race. “I’m not afraid of any horse in that field,” Kingman said. Solar Song? “Not a bit.” Awesome Force, Gracepointe Prayer? “He’s as good as any of those horses. He might be better on turf though.” Practical handicappers may notice that Summer Wine has a total of three wins, compared to 21 for Solar Song. This horse could not win at this distance against time-restricted allowance company. This writer is not looking through the same nekkid rose-colored glasses as this Indiana trainer, put it that way.

We’ve got an aspiring distance horse stretching way, way out here in HAPPY A for the noble stables. This is a tiny, tiny three-barn operation that has a total of only 11 charges under its direction. Happy A, a son of A.P. Indy, lends a ton of class to this microbarn, having been an impressive third last out in a Grade I sprint. In that race, he defeated the likes of MAGICAL MERLIN, K’S STATE OF MIND and MONEYGROWSONTREES, all of whom will threaten the $1 million earnings threshold and are top-class horses all of them. But they’re sprinters. Class at Grade I sprinting is not likely a translator to Grade I at 10 furlongs, even if a horse was as fast as Ruffian. Happy A is fast, but he isn’t that fast, and he is very, very unlikely to upset the apple cart is this Classic Division race. If he does, we have a new Simulated Ghostzapper.

Of all the underqualified, class-jumping horses down on the list here, Lenny has by far the most interesting in FANG. As stated previously, this is the other legitimate speed in the race in addition to Gracepointe Prayer. Old Lenny is about as tough as they come in the Sim these days. In 2008, you are probably better off running into a horse from the Super Stable than you are running into one from the Evil Empire. Like so many Lenny-breds, this one is born to be a ton of horse. He’s by Spinning World out of a Mr. P. DS. We’ll see if he’s got the class here Saturday, but he’s certainly bred to have it. The fate of this 4yo likely is to be determined in the early stages. Where will he be in relation to Gracepointe Prayer? Normal handicapping logic dictates that, as the only other speed in the race, he should try to get the jump on GP. It’s hard to envision a scenario where a chasing position would benefit him, what with all that class trying to take back and close. What’s he going to do, lay off of GP, pass him and then hold off the big, big-time closers? It seems far more likely that his best chance is to beat GP out of the gate, and then hope that one is not on his best day off the tough race in Dubai. He’s a player, and he will contribute to the outcome of this race. If he drops back and does not challenge GP, then Pazjazz may have a very fun day here at Maryland on Saturday.

At this point, we are getting to the part of the race that makes this a soft field. Nobody from here on out has more than six stakes points. For one of these remaining horses to beat any of the Big Three is going to require some sort of freaky occurrence.

No. 10 is a potential cheap rabbit out of the aforementioned Bulletwork operation. PROPHECY fired a 106 bullet last out when cruising at nine furlongs in a CPU-restricted allowance, but that hardly suggests Grade I ability. What is suggests is that the new operators of the Bulletwork stables feel it will benefit their No. 4 qualifier, Star Spangled Kid, to have a rabbit in the race to bother Gracepointe Prayer. We’re not sure if this horse has the class to bother GP even if sent on a suicide mission, however.

No. 11 is tsunami’s DEPUTY GEORGE, who was distanced in both his prior missplacements at the Grade I level. This one has about the same chance of hitting the board in this race as Lyndon Baines Johnson has of leading the St. Patrick’s Day parade next year in Boston.

No. 12 is CAPTAIN JIM for the the bayouherd stables. It’s hard to have much of anything to say about a barn that’s only learned enough to win 2 percent of its races after 200 tries. The manager has mismatched another as Captain Jim should not be in this spot. I can say something nice about this horse, however. The last time he raced in the Maryland Special was a few years ago when he actually had something of a chance. He’s run well in the past.

No. 13 is BITING INSECTS for mcjonny, who is an anomaly to be ranked this low in this race. This is a legitimate Grade I horse, and forever should be ranked head and shoulders above horses like Deputy George or Captain Jim. This horse could run 1,000 races against either of those entrants and never lose one, even if he stopped to chomp a few juicy humans along the way. A year ago in March, Biting Insects could be seen winning in Grade I company in the Oaklawn Handicap. He beat FLY FOR BUDA in that race, who was a helluva horse. What we have here, race fans, is a situation about the same as with the Bulletwork horses. McJonny apparently lost interest in this game last fall, or somehow otherwise became unable to play. All of the horses in this four-stable outfit were laid off from September to at least February. This horse’s possible campaign into the upper echelon of the Sim handicap division was interrupted by this player leaving the game for a while. The first reaction is to say, “what a shame for Biting Insects, he really coulda been something.” He’s 7 now, and probably his best chance at greatness is gone. That being said, the potential certainly exists for this horse to come back with another top-class form cycle. He certainly gave a positive indication with that nice 108 speed figure in the return in the Razorback going only 8.5 furlongs. That’s just about how you would expect a horse to run that was sitting on a big comeback here. Mcjonny sure did put the horse in tough, but he stands to run a good one. He is way, way more classy and legit than any other horse this far down the qualifying list.

The last horse is another laughable longshot for tsunami, who apparently is not above missplacing horses for the sake of a few BPs. Did you know you get 10 bp’s for just starting a horse in a Grade I? Some rule, huh? It will be a wonder if DEHENNY does not drop dead of fright at the sight of horses like Awesome Force, Solar Song and Gracepointe Prayer.

GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY!!!!