SAINT RAPID Challenge up for grabs
Last year’s race was taken by Unprohibited and saw two other runners go on to earn over 100K in their careers up to this point.
Here are the runners in the fourth running of the SAINT RAPID Challenge:
PP1 Grey Colac(KY) schillachi O Cheeseman 7/2
Aragorn(IRE) x Grey Dawn II x Buckaroo
This light grey mare goes for alishan of the Blazing Saddles residency for the first time in its career. The pedigree suggests this may be a turf horse down the line, but Grey Colac will test herself on the dirt here. Aragorn has been a mostly successful sire, with a handful of nice winners in the 2-year-old crop so far. Will Grey Colac add to that? The bettors seem to think she has a shot, despite a lack of past races to study.
PP2 Desert Jeep(IRE) kirby4jeep L Bucholtz 5/1
Desert Style(IRE)-V’s Girl, by Brahms
This chestnut colt is one of the more experienced horses in the field, running for kirby and Minnesota Downs. He has run three career races and finished in the money every time, including two wins. After breaking his maiden at the special weight level at the end of May, Desert Jeep moved up to an 9900 allowance race a month ago and won by 2 ¼ lengths, posting his fastest speed of 79. This horse stalked before closing last time out at 6.5 furlongs, and closed from the back in his previous win. This race will be a step up in distance, but he handled the stretch last time and I think may be able to come strong down the stretch to challenge.
PP3 Primary Target(AR) derbycity B Coates 9/2
Primary Suspect-Cryin The Blues, by Mr. Greeley
The only runner in the field with stakes experience, this chestnut colt will be looking to pick up its first stakes win for Fortune500. Going against stakes competition the last three times out, Primary Target stretched to his furthest distance thus far (6.5 furlongs) in the Bare Within Wild Challenge last month. Finishing third behind winner and 100K juvie earner Delite of My Life, this horse posted his best speed mark of 80. He has finished in the money in five out of six races. Having closed in every race he’s run, I look for Primary Target to make his move coming out of the turn.
PP4 Canungra Follies(KY) bigkev B
A.P. Indy-Canungra Folly, by
Impressive bloodlines here, and this brown colt will be looking for his second consecutive win for bigkev. The bettors like this horse the most, despite it having only two MSWs under its belt. Both were strong runs, though, closing to finish in the top two both times with speed ratings of 70 and 76. With a fine pedigree and nice speed marks so early in his career, you have to like Canungra Follies to make some noise. Should run mid-pack or further back and make a move towards the end.
PP5 Destination Colac(ENG) deficate BJ Cusack 6/1
This scratchbred brown colt runs for the first time ever, sent here by deficate. The son of Dubai Destination, his sire has had some success, although this current crop is still unproven. None of his current two-year-olds have notched even a stakes point up until now. Destination Colac will be looking to change that. With no history to bank on, this is a difficult horse to judge. Going his first time out against stakes competition could be tricky, and drawing a jockey that is not amongst the tracks top riders may hurt the cause even more. However, every horse in this field will have a shot at the win.
PP6 Never Blessed(KSA) derbydave9 D Highsmith 8/1
Alysheba-Forever Blessed, by Hennesy
One of the more experienced runners in the field, this brown colt has seven races under its belt. After breaking its maiden in April for Derbydave Stables, Never Blessed moved on to allowance competition with mixed results. This is an all-or-nothing horse, with its only two ITM finishes being wins. The second of those was his last time out, three weeks ago, as this son of Alysheba ran just off the pace before starting his move at the half-way point and finishing off the job. He ran a 75 speed there, going a mile for the first time in his career after a string of 6-furlongers. It appears he likes that longer distance, and it remains to be seen whether a slight drop to 7.5 will hurt him or keep him in his distance pocket. This is another runner who did not draw a first tier jock.
With very little speed in this race, it becomes an interesting field to pick from. In a group of closers, the lead may fall to one of the un-raced horses, so Grey Colac or destination Colac may get to the front early. If it’s not one of them, whichever horse does set the pace may find itself out of its element. I really don’t think you can go wrong with anyone here, since a small-field of mostly inexperienced runners means that any horse could emerge. I’m going to go with Primary Target as my choice, as he has run against better competition and posted the best speed time here. Runner-up should be Desert Jeep, who has shown the ability to close from various spots in the pack, which may come in handy with a field that is an unknown quantity. I look for his in-the-money runs to continue. I’ll round out my picks with Canungra Follies, a colt with nice bloodlines who may be improving with every race. His ability to handle the longer distance may be the difference here. That is also the reason my sleeper pick is Never Blessed. He has shown he can handle a longer stretch, and if he runs as well at 7.5 as he did at 8, then he could pull out a victory as the long-shot.
Enjoy the race!