No Blueberries, But Plenty of Love for Love Muffins Stakes

Seven lovely three year old ladies vie for the Love Muffins title this coming Saturday at the Ohio track.  The seven furlong dirt sprint will be run on a fast track as weather seems to be splendid for the weekend.  Although not confirmed, the winner is reportedly scheduled to receive a tiara and sash presented by Mr. Donald Trump, and there will be a Ms. Congeniality award based on votes from the seven contestants themselves.  With all this in mind, and not knowing strengths of individuals in the swimsuit category, let us dissect (not literally) the seven runners.

PP #1      PERDILECTION (KY)                     cnl                          L. Gordon              6/1

L. Gordon mounts this brown mare in her first graded start.  The cln trained horse has actually only ran a single stake race in her lifetime, the Car Ginny Stakes, last March.  The finish was a disappointing sixth out of six starters, but this could be attributed to the off track conditions.  Lately, PERDILECTION has been showing a nice kick during the second half of races with an even more impressive burst of speed at the stretch.  This form has produced three straight wins in the AWL level when the track is rated fast.  In fact, the last win produced a blistering 106 SP rating coming back from 7 ½ lengths for the win.

PP#2       MP JO (JPN)                                       jo                            M. R. Luck            9/1

MP JO is looking to break out of a current slump that has spanned her last eight starts out of the money.  In fact, the jo trained horse has only one win, the School Alice Handicap, in nine starts as a three year old.  When running well, the dark grey mare will break to the front of the pack out of the gate and try to maintain that early speed all the way to the wire.  Lately, that early speed has been elusive.  It will be up to M.R. Luck to try to turn this dry spell around, perhaps with a little luck, or maybe just a purple horseshoe.

PP#3       HAWKEYESTATEOFMINE (IA)  chilcoat2             A. Peglow              7/2

Finally, a horse that is properly named and sired in the correct state (hear that MOTORCITYMADMAN and WANDLORE?).  Possibly because of this proper name/sire match, HAWKEYE has ran off two consecutive victories at the stakes level, the 7.5 furlongs Their Moors (GB) Challenge and Save the Dancer Memorial.  Prior to this, the chilcoat2 trained mare had been running classic routes at eight to nine furlongs length.  The change to a sprint has seemed to benefit the brown girl who looks to take off with the leaders out of the gate, then show a nice burst of speed at the half way point to get to the front of the pack.  Jockey A. Peglow will look to continue his (or is it her?) winning ways in the graded races after riding CAT CREEPER to a G II Buckeye Derby win last week at this track.

PP#4       BASSETT GIRL (KY)                      jockster                  L. Ingersoll            3/1

BASSETT GIRL is looking to get her second win during her three year old season.  This does not mean that the chestnut mare is in a slump per se, she has finished in the money in three of her past five starts including two thirds against G III competition, she just has not been able to get under the wire first lately.  The jockster trained charge last won in March where she bested the competition in the Domitila (IRE) Special.  Look for BASSETT to break to the front of the pack out of the gate and try to hold off all contenders to the wire.  It will be up to L. Ingersoll to ensure that this strategy is successful. 

PP#5       PULPRAT (KY)                                  darny                     M. Ryneer             2/1

Yet another horse that looks to break for the lead out of the gate, PULPRAT has utilized this wire to wire technique to win the Ignorantly Yell Challenge most recently.  The race favorite has been in the money in four of her last five starts that all have been at the stake level, and all at the six to seven furlong distance.  Trainer darny will look to M. Ryneer to guide the brown mare in her first graded level race.  If the girl can show some late speed at the end to fend off those final challengers, as has been displayed before, PULPRAT could be making the odds makers looking like geniuses.

PP#6       PERSIAN CAVALRY (KY)             mayflowers           D. McHale            7/1

Everyone that has been playing the sim since May 31, 2008 stand up.  Now that you are standing up, give yourself a quick kick in the butt.  Why, you ask.  Well, this runner was available on that date for a mere $20,000 as she breezed to an easy claiming victory at that tag with no one putting in a claim for the chestnut mare.  Continuing this Cinderella story, her next start two weeks later found her victorious in the Queen Manta Challenge.  If this race was covered by television, this would be the human interest story that we all would have memorized by post time.  Look for D. McHale to lead this horse in a second half charge to the front after falling to the back of the pack out of the gate.  If successful, trainer mayflowers should receive some sort of recognition for training a horse that won at claiming and graded level all in three months time.

PP#7       POMEROY’S QUEST (FL)             pointblank            M. Grunhard         5/1

The pointblank trained mare is looking for her first win as a three year old, but this could be due to the horse running nothing but G I and G II level races during 2008.  During this stretch, POMEROY’S was able to end up in the money two times in seven starts including a second place in the G I Circusham Derby.  M. Grunhard, who will most likely being coming off of a victory in the previous race riding POTATO FIELD for this writer (that’s right 14^th race Ohio, this writer is calling you all out, POTATO FIELD will be running all over you come Saturday), is in the saddle.  Look for the chestnut mare to break out of the gate near the back of the pack and move up starting the second half of the race.  If she can show some closing ability during the stretch, which lately has not been showing, POMEROY’S can be a factor on who makes the board.