Ah Mexico – Ain’t Never Been But I’d Sure Like to Go

You’ve heard in baseball about the September call ups.  If not, it is the time of the year where teams will bring up their promising young stars to the big leagues to give them a taste of the good life.  Conversely, the aging veterans that put in all their hard effort during the majority of the year as regulated to the bench or elsewhere to give the young guns a chance.  Well, I know feel like one of the vets that just got walking papers to make room for a new star – this star’s name is gold4ever.

I arrived early this morning at the track in Arkansas to cover my assigned race, the POCAHONTAS SPRINT Stakes, only to find snowcheif sitting there waiting for me.  I immediately began thinking of my past abuse of the BTB credit card and contemplated driving away pretending not to see my boss.  Unfortunately, I decided that this tactic is not going to work and that it is time to face the music.  Much to my surprise, good old snowcheif mentioned nothing about my credit abuse (which makes me suspect the other writer’s use of company expenses).  Much to my displeasure, I was informed that the BTB decided to give my race to some hot shot rookie named gold4ever.  The paper decided that I needed some time away from the graded stakes after the Chinese government complained about my child labor crack in my Equinics article.  I was told not to worry, that gold4ever was the best rookie writer they’ve ran across, and that they wanted me to cover the listed stakes in Mexico.

So here I am driving in an economy Aveo rented for me by snowchief while some rookie is enjoying my press buffet food.  While he (or is it she? – I don’t even know) is enjoying the sun and fun in Arkansas, I’m sitting at the boarder getting searched every which way AND it just has started to rain.  So now here I sit in Mexico, looking over the seven starters for the upcoming two mile route that will be on yeilding turf for fillies and mares three years old and up, and all I can think of is new ways of exacting revenge on gold4ever.  On to the runners:

PP #1      URKO’S CASTLE (IRE)  champs                  D. Zandofsky       2/1

The morning favorite, URKO’S CASTLE, looks to continue her recent success at runs over eleven furlongs.  Trainer champs’ four year old filly has just started running over ten furlongs this past March and has yet to finish outside of the money in those last seven starts.  Included in those starts are wins in the JERRY’S TOILET Special (11f) and an open allowance at 16f on an off track.  Jockey D. Zandofsky rides the brown filly that enjoys lurking off the lead group out of the gate and starts to move up about mid race.  At the top of the stretch, URKO uses a nice kick to catch any remaining runners in front of her.  URKO’S CASTLE has also shown an ability to hold a lead if there is no speed in the race, which will probably not be the case in this race.

PP#2       URKO’S BEAUTY (IRE) mrfu2                     R. Albert                12/1

Right off of the bat (another baseball analogy), we have an interesting subplot in this race.  Runner URKO’S BEAUTY apparently was not beautiful enough for trainer champs as she was dropped into claims by her breeder and eventually got claimed (or bought in auction – I do not know for sure) by current trainer mrfu2.  The five year old mare’s first start for her new trainer was a win in the restricted Emerald Isle (12f) which was her fist stakes win in her first stakes start.  Now, jockey R. Albert mounts this chestnut mare that could be looking to prove to her former trainer that he (or she – I don’t know) let go of her too soon.  If revenge is to be had, URKO will need to return to that stakes winning form which has her running off of the lead out of the gate looking to close to the front in the second half and stretch of the race.  This will be URKO’S BEAUTY’s first career start at two miles.

PP#3       SKILLED CHAMBER                     astfly                      C. Criswell             7/1

Yet another girl that is running for her second trainer, SKILLED CHAMBER too is looking to show she still has the form to be successful at the stakes level.  This is the first stakes race start for the astfly trained mare since April 2007.  Even more interesting, this is the first race SKILLED has ran over 13 furlongs (which was her last start, a forth place finish).  It is not like the five year has not had success at the stakes level, she was winner of the SUPERHERO LASS Challenge in 2007, but she has been struggling to find that form again AND she is being stretched out much further than what she has ran for most of her career.  Jockey C. Criswell has the tall order of  guiding this brown mare that looks to lurk just off the lead if she does not take it out of the gate. 

PP#4       MANKIND (AUS)                               astfly                      I. Naber                 7/1

Trainer astfly recently decided to move his four year old filly over to the turf and MANKIND has rewarded her trainer with two wins and a third in her past four starts on the turf.  Yet another lurker just off of the lead, this brown filly uses a nice second half burst of speed to try to take the leaders.  This has resulted in wins at both twelve and sixteen furlongs at the allowance level.  The ALL SLIDE Memorial marks MANKIND’s first go at the stakes level as astfly looks to see just how successful his/her runner can be on the turf.  I. Naber will be up for the two mile race.

PP#5       THE ENIGMA (IRE)                        bmw                        N. Dumas              8/1

Back in June and July of 2007, THE ENIGMA was in the process of rattling off three straight victories at the sixteen furlong length including one on an off track.  Unfortunately, that was the last wins for the bmw trained brown mare.  Since this modest win streak, THE ENIGMA has only landed in the money four times in her past twelve starts.  Normally, the five year old breaks off of the pace and looks to reel in the leaders during the second half of the race.  Lately, that second half speed has not shown up and in fact, her last finish in the money saw her break to the lead out of the gate falling back to third.  It will up to N. Dumas to determine the best approach to get this mare back to her winning ways of yore.

PP#6       LIGHTNING LADY (IRE)              jmahls                    M. Olsen                3/1

LIGHTNING LADY comes into this race as one of the hotter runners in the field coming off a win, the 16f GUMMO BEAR Special, and a third in her last two starts.  Jockey M. Olsen, who took up racing after leaving the Jayhawks (good band, look them up, buy their music, thank me later), rides another mid pack lurker that looks to make up ground in the second half of the race.  Trainer jmahls just hopes that his/her runner continues to show that second half speed as it has disappeared in the past.  Fortunately, the six year old brown mare has shown to enjoy off tracks ending ITM in three of her four runs on them.  The yeilding turf expected for Saturday most certainly will play into this strength.

PP#7       NEXUS RIBBON (IRE)                    hullwayne             M. Buck                                3/1

The hullwayne trained six year old mare is another runner who is displaying good form coming into this race with eight straight starts ending ITM.  This streak includes a win of the sixteen furlongs SOUTH AROUND CAT Challenge.  NEXUS RIBBON is the only runner in the field that enjoys breaking for the front and hold on against all of the hard chargers at the end.  Jockey M. Buck will be up to ensure that this chestnut mare gets to the front out of the gate as she has shown a tendency of not finishing in the money if she is not in the lead at the first call.  NEXUS also is another runner that has shown the ability to succeed on off tracks with four ITM finishes in five off track starts.