Six vie for QUICK SEATTLE Challenge Fame

Holy cow!! Those jockeys from Malaysia are a persistent group.  After giving them what I suspected was the slip and catching a flight to Newmarket to continue my writing elsewhere and far from harms reach, the true chaos began.  I really have no strength to rehash it all, but let us just leave it at the jockeys collected, and it was not via the BTB credit card that mysteriously was canceled during my flight.  The collection process was not enjoyable, it involved the black market, a chicken, a cane, and three dozen top of the line Callaway golf balls.  I walk with a limp now as a memory of the whole ordeal and it reminds me with each step not to raise a jockey in the track kitchen in Malaysia unless I’m sitting on the nuts or have the means to pay for failure.

Anyhow, this article is not about me, it’s about horses.  A group of six two year olds in this case running in the QUICK SEATTLE Challenge this coming Saturday in Sweden – at least I think it’s Sweden, the meatballs tell me it is Sweden.  The weather has agreed to cooperate as there promises to be firm turf for the entire seven and a half furlongs of this listed Stake.  And since I have no credit currently, there is no other story to tell minus that of the race.  The runners:

PP #1      CHILL OF A JOURNEY (IRE)                      calle4                     R. Jenkins              3/2

The calle4 trained runner is looking at his first start in a stakes race.  With only two lifetime starts both on the turf, CHILL OF A JOURNEY has shown some early promise with a win and a second running at six and a half and seven furlongs.  This step up in race class should be a good judge on just how much potential there could be.  R. Jenkins will be atop the colt that enjoys breaking to the front of the pack out of the gate, though not necessarily the lead.  At the half way point of his two previous races, CHILL has made a move to the lead.  It will be a question of whether this runner has enough speed at the end of the race, but one advantage may be that he is only one of two runners that has traversed at least seven furlongs before.

PP#2       CIVIL WAR GENERAL (KY)                        sirbear                   M. Manson           4/1

Part of the CVBear Racing Empire (also know as 10% of the entire sim), the sirbear trained runner is only one of two starters that has at least placed in a stakes level race.  CIVIL WAR GENERAL’s placing was a third in the RATTY DANCER Special during the colt’s last start.  This run will be CIVIL’s fourth lifetime start and second on the turf, which is the surface that he has shown a preference to thus far.  M. Manson rides the light grey colt who has shown a tendency to lurk just off of the pace out of the gate and close to the front during the second half/stretch of the race.  Sometimes, CIVIL has shown a little trouble closing if the front end speed is too fast out of the gate.  Fortunately, there doe not appear to be any speed demon out of the gate in this field.  Nonetheless, one needs to consider which general is going to show up, will be Sherman, or Mead?

PP#3       RED SPARKY (IRE)                                          fleurdelis              P. Jones                  2/1

The favorite and most accomplished runner in this small field, RED SPARKY arrives as the only stakes winner (the PRO REAR Bonanza) and the only graded placer (third in the G1 Macmillan Cancer Support – i.e. Equinics).  The fleurdelis trained colt has been in the money in all three of his lifetime starts with a career winnings totaling over $150,000.  This young runner displays a similar running style to fellow runner CIVIL WAR GENERAL as he will lurk just off of the pace out of the gate only to take the lead around the midpoint of the race.  In his only start that did not equal a win (the Equinics – G1), he displayed the he can be both outran and caught with this technique.  But this writer does not see any other runners at the level of the G1 runners that accomplished this feat earlier in this field.  It will be up to jockey P. Jones to ensure that this writer is correct.

PP#4       SOLARIS SNOOP (KY)                                    conor                     Me Gay                 5/1

The happiest jockey in the sim, Me Gay, is riding the conor trained SOLARIS SNOOP.  SOLARIS is yet another lurker who has shown the ability to take the lead with a half point burst of speed in his two lifetime wins.  The problem is that if this move at the half point is not successful in taking the lead, the light grey colt has shown a tendency of fading to the back of the pack (which could be an instruction from the trainer to the jockey).  This all or nothing approach ended with a ‘nothing’ in the colt’s only stakes run thus far, an eleventh place in the ONYX Memorial.  SOLARIS SNOOP is the only other runner in the field that has ran at least seven furlongs, and it should be point out that this distance resulted in a lifetime best 81 speed figure.

PP#5       I HATE THE MAILMAN (SWE)                   mattress                 S. Marts                 43/1

The only filly and first time runner in the field, trainer mattress is wasting no time testing his newly bred runner.  Running out of the Chump Change group of stables, all supporting the Bargain Bred Racing Series, and having sire lines of MELMAC x SERVICE STRIPE x IKARI, this writer suspects that we will be reading about this girl in future BBRS events.  As I, the writer and player, have little knowledge about breeding, I will not insult those that do with some sort of prediction of HATE’s first run.  All I know is that she will be running in front of the hometown crowd, and she must display characteristics of a dog.  Any who wouldn’t want a horse that is loyal?

PP#6       FASTNFIRM ROCK (AUS)                             2wide                     W. Farthing           5/1

Jockey W. Farthing will be riding FASTNFIRM ROCK in the outside post position.  FASTNFIRM ROCK has three lifetime starts thus far ending up in the money on all three of them (one win, one second, and one third).  The 2wide trained runner also has shown characteristics of a lurker, but this colt appears to be comfortable more near the back of the mid pack.  This will most likely put FASTNFIRM at the back of this group coming out of the gate.  From this mid pack position, the two year old looks to move to the front around mid race, and has shown some bursts of speed during the stretch.  This will be FASTNFIRM ROCK’s first start at the stakes level.