The Ship Lunch Special
Race ID:3672.4710
Race # 10
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The SHIP LUNCH Special
Stakes
Six and one half furlongs
Fast Dirt
$55,000
All horses, 3 years old and up
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Racing takes place despite attention on Equinics.
As Equinics takes place in Vermont and China this weekend, racing is going at full strength here in Minnesota. Despite the Minnesota Downs Residency having an extremely strong contingent entered in the games, three residents have entered horses into today’s tenth race feature. If any of those three residents win today’s event, they shall receive a prize horse from one of our five holding barns. The full field of fourteen horses makes today’s event one of the bigger ones in recent memory. The event is named for Ship Lunch a horse who had eight wins in his career for trainer lovewolf, including one in Minnesota during week 1397.
1 STEEL BREEZE duncan08 A Beasley 11/1
I stumbled away from the Johnno Pub in order to take in today’s field. In the first slot I have come across an horse from the Duncan Stables. Duncan is unaffiliated with any residency, which is a shame because had he been a Minnesota Resident he would have been up for a prize just by running here today. Alas, our message hasn’t been reached by Duncan. The horse is sired by Johannesburg and is out of the 12 year old mare Christy Boar. Steel Breeze was her third foal with all three having not won a stakes level race. Steel Breeze seems to have been enjoying mud sprints until today, and perhaps will be disappointed to find today’s track listed as fast. With four consecutive 100+ efforts, the iron was hot to send him to stakes company for the first time. Duncan has decided to try and cash in on his ‘hot’ horse.
2 STONYBROOK LAKE zambrano C Boothroy 11/1
The next horse I come across comes out of my own Conglomerate of barns. After I admonished myself for not hiring a jockey off of the Minnesota Jockey Guild, I realized that Boothroy’s 11.6% WP this season isn’t so bad. Stonybrook Lake is a son of Meadowlake and of unowned mare Jennifer L H(Aus). Although I have tried using this mare again, the second foal did not turn out anywhere near as talented as Stonybrook Lake. S-Lake, as I commonly refer to him as, has 8 career wins in 40 career starts. He did win last time out in an allowance race posting a 107 SP. S-Lake last won a stakes event in November on this very dirt in a race so aptly named ‘The Chuckrock Minnesota Special’ If memory serves this race was run as a prep to the Minnesota Festival, and was hosted by kingab as a gift to the residency.
3 SOMETIMES NOT(IRE) mustbetime O Stinson 13/1
Third, trainer Jersey Bound from Delpenn, has placed his Cape Cross 5 year old. After a recent flirt with some turf races, Sometimes Not is back on the dirt. he had been posting pretty consistent 100+ speeds prior to the switch. His last win however was in February of 2007 and it was the third of a string of three wins in a row. Since then he has tested Graded company and has dropped back to allowances to no avail. If he rebounds to post turf form, his speed should be enough to keep him competitive here, but unfortunately it appears that Sometimes Not may not know how to find the winners circle anymore.
4 VALYRIAN STEEL(KY) tesio E R Cothill 17/1
Fourth, hails from Galileo’s barn tesio. I have woven the tales of Galileo’s greatness in the past , so I will not do so again here. Typically, I expect a great Galileo turf horse to show up here in Minnesota. I was not expecting to find one of his in a dirt race. That said, over 500k of Valryian Steel’s purse money has come from turf racing. He has only recently ventured on the dirt and has only one once of the four tries. Of course that win was an impressive trip over this distance in North Carolina posting a very respectable 104 speed. Although Valryian Steel has won at Minnesota before, that was on the turf and may not give him any needed experience. The Unbridled Song son must prove that he belongs on this surface, but if he does there is no reason why he’ll be outclassed in this field.
5 FORTY YARD BOMB chibound K Friar 7/1
The Fab Five..oh wait that’s not right…Fabman in the fifth spot sends this non-Minnesota Residency horse (Northwest Racing Circuit if you really must know). The son of Forty Niner has run exclusively on dirt since May of 2006 and has posted some gawdy speed numbers along the way. His last win was in February at a stakes in Eastern Kentucky. That race as well as every race since has been a half furlong different than today’s distance. This is his first visit to the Downs, but does have the services of the track’s best jockey. Nothing should stop this near favorite from competing today, except maybe that half furlong.
6 SAARLAND WELL’S(KY) ufsldowns B Sessions 18/1
SJMeola Racing run a total of 16 stables. Each of those 16 stables save one has at least an 11.6 WP. This particular stable, ufsldowns, is the second highest individual stable in the group at 15.5% SJMeola calls the East-West Connection home in terms of residencies. With that all said, this son of Saarland is the longest shot on the board although I am not quite sure I understand why. Once earlier in his career the 4 year old visited Minnesota and raced on the dirt. That day he was only good enough for 7th. Since then, he has raced 6 times and broke the 100 Speed barrier three times. One of the non100 races on was on the grass, so you can throw that one out. All three were wins for Saarland Well’s but they were only on the allowance level. He ran this distance two back and finished a disappointing 12th. There is a lot to like here, however if you are looking for a big payday.
7. TANICO(KY) 2aussie B Pickel 10/1
Rafa a/k/a Zambaygo is the second resident up for the prize horse. While unlike Chuckrock, Rafa has some heavyweights entered in Equinics. Alas he has kept the Minnesota faithful in mind when making his entries. They get to watch this magnificent son of Speightstown run in his first listed event of the year. The 4 year old has been in great form recently posting speeds of 106-100-102-103-108 in his last five races. Now, those all were in allowance races and none were at this exact distance. This will be Tanico’s first run in Minnesota, but he should have a large contingent of fans on hand anyway.
8. SAINT ZIGGY(KY) bicuspid J Ritorto 7/1
Dentition – known to me as doctahg – is representing Delpenn today with this son of Saint Liam. The 4 year old light grey colt has won twice in allowances since returning to the dirt in February. In those seven races, he has broken 100 in each of them. Three of those tries were at this distance exactly and while they produced some impressive speeds, they did not produce one of the wins. He has spent much of his career thus far between Pennsylvania and Arkansas, so he is in Minnesota for the first time. He has the services of Big John Ritorto today,no word asto whether the doc has purchased a rocket pack for Saint Ziggy.
9. TIMELESS EVENT(FL) reddog J Hendrickson 9/1
Reddog Stables only operates this stable, or doesn’t want us all to know what other stables he operates. This stable supports the Ireland Residency, a group of residents that are always welcome in the Johnno Pub, so we will let this deception slide – this time. Cases of Red Dog have been shipped in for the day in honor of this trainer, in hopes that he will be more trusting of us in the future. Timeless Event is a 4 year old son of Red Bullet and posted a very impressive win last out in New Hampshire posting a 112 speed at this very distance. He has 7 victories in 22 tries lifetime and over 325k in earnings. He tried a stakes two back but floundered perhaps due to the ‘good’ track that day in Arkansas. He hasn’t visited these parts since 2006 and much has change since then. Timeless Event has shown the talent recently to make an impact in today’s event.
10. IN THE LIGHT(KY) sdmf6 K Bowen 8/1
SDMF, a Delpenn heavyweight, has the horse in gate 10. Although my hunch is that SDMF will be in Vermont watching the Equinics, some of the Minnesota faithful have reserved an owner’s box for the Long Island native just in case he shows up. The 4 year old out of Point Given has had a case of seconditis lately finishing behind just one runner in six of his last eight attempts. He also hasn’t won since November. This horse has traveled around the world and back and visits us here at the Downs for the first time. His last few efforts have been tremendous despite the second place finishes. It might do the pocket well to bet exactas with this one in the second spot.
11. VICISSITUDE(IRE) repaper J Napper 10/1
Tseals, a Minnesota stalwart, takes a shot at the prize with this son of Giant’s Causeway. He’s coming off three straight victories, all at distance longer than this. The step down to 7 furlongs last out may have indicated that Vicissitude wants shorter ground, and Tseals has done well to spot him here. Never having appeared in a stakes event before, and never having appeared over this track before Tseals may be using this race as a learning experience for the relatively lightly raced 4 year old colt. Either way, his best – if repeated in stakes company- would be good enough for a score here.
12 MAGNESIUM azzo84 Pe Ingram 6/1
AIgf714. I have no idea what that stands for, but today’s twelfth starter hails from this organization of stables. Some of his stables support the Northwest Racing Circuit, including azzo84. Magnesium is today’s early line favorite, and the 6 year old son of Dixieland Band has probably earned said respect. He has won 16 times in his career, earning 195k for AIgf714. Magnesium appears to have been a claim back in March of 2006 that has royally paid dividends for AIgf714. Eleven of his wins have come for this barn. Unbelievably in his 43 career races he’s never touched the dirt of Minnesota and that may be his undoing this weekend. One has to go back to last November before finding a race on his card that is sub-100. No reason to think he’ll start slowing down now, but he is in a tough field today and will certainly be tested.
13 TEDDY’S NOW peckville N Brim 13/1
The Marilyn Corp. visits the Minnesota dirt for the first time with Teddy’s Now. Despite my hunch that said otherwise, this horse does not appear to be named after the former head honcho at Minnesota. Teddy’s Now has not won since December, but posted a lifetime best speed last out in Missouri. The 6 year old out of St. Jovite has been in the best shape of his career and any increase in that form will put this 13/1 long shot in with a solid chance. By the way, that last win in December, also the last time he has gone this exact distance.
14 BEER AND CURRY(IRE) beefcake10 PR Smith 11/1
The mostly unaffiliated beefcake stables have the outside post with this son of Statue of Liberty. Being a loyal New Yorker, I have always held Statue of Liberty as one of my favorite sires, although amazingly I can not recall ever using him. Beer and Curry has been running in routes recently, with much of his career success coming at distances greater than 8 furlongs. He last ran for a sprint in December and perhaps his two wins since at 8.5 and 9 furlongs indicate its really where he belongs. The drop today is surprising but could pay off for beefcake if by chance any of that route form translates to sprints.
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Picks
Win: Stonybrook Lake (biased perhaps…?)
Place: In the Light
Show: Sometimes Not
What’s Happening in Minnesota?
Two big pick 16 Equinics contests are being run this week, along side all of our many other contests. Jrodneyg won the high speed contest last week. The pick four was won two weeks ago by Randy and he collected a cool 900 credits. The pot returned to 500 last week but we didn’t have a winner. Darnath continues to dominate TAG and push for the Homebred and Stallion contests as well. He may be taking the master breeder crown away from Chuckrock and Cothill this year.