Job of the Hut Entrants: Set Up for $5 Mill March

The Jabba The Hut

Grade II

A mile and one eighth

Firm Turf

$250,000

All horses, 4 years old and up

With five of these arriving in the desert with multirace win streaks and nearly all of them in good form regardless, the field is fit and ready for this turfy contest on the big preview day in Dubai.  The best finishers are entitled to dream of a repeat showing in the $5,000,000 Sand Castle Fee Duty four weeks hence.  It’s a tough call, but I’ll go with BAD BEAT(GB) to close the deal.

PP  Horse ID  Horse  Owner  Jockey  Odds 

1 135718 DW DUBAI(ENG)  stormracin  M Kidder  7/1 

He’s a 5-year-old Generous son with the supremely expensive Dubai Millenium as his damsire.  He won his only stakes entry (last June at Nevada) other than a couple of smackdowns he received in Smackdown events.  Otherwise, he rolls out a steady stream of mid-100s in allowances, generally with good results, as evidenced by his ten wins in 26 tries.  Now seems as good a time as any to try stakes again, since he’s coming off another allowance win.  His recent races have been a bit shorter, but overall his record shows he’s as good at this distance as any, so the extra furlong should not be an obstacle.  Worth a look at the odds.

2 112598 BAD BEAT(GB)  davemac  D Lakencher  5/1     

Three straight allowance wins say it’s time to return to the graded stakes pool after a valiant swing at the 2006 Breeders Bowl Juvenile Turf and a forgettable run in the Royal Calm last year.  His recent 108 and 113 are the fattest speeds of his 28-race career, and although he’ll likely be dead last as usual early, it doesn’t seem to hurt him.  Watch out in the lane.

3 16938 FOUND A TREASURE(KY)  billgulch  A Cross  11/1  

Hmm, never heard of this trainer “billgulch”… anyhow, this treasure is light on experience, having hit the track only in his 3-year-old year as a Dynaformer out of the multiple graded winning he-mare FORBIDDEN TREASURE.  He suddenly got faster last fall after idly switching from turf to dirt and back again.  He too arrives off an allowance win pattern, this time a pair in Michigan.  He likes a mid-pack position but can keep them honest up front if necessary.

4 121865 DIXIE DYNAMITE(KY)  redrum  Q Cassell  13/1 

Did great stuff speeding nine panels last November in the It’s My Turn, taking that stakes down on the front end all the way.  That seemed to signal big things for the late-developing Dixieland Band horse, but the last two have been less than sparkling, including checking in last in the Well Resume in Surrey four weeks ago.  Not sure he has what he had last year, and looks unlikely to steal it in the front ranks.

5 94504 OUR LITTLE SECRET  slim  S L Ledwith  9/2    

Slim only gave this guy a total of nine races in his first three years, but he’s been busy since switching to the turf in 2007, and seems to thrive on the work.  Turning seven hasn’t seemed to slow him down much: his 107 in the Strange Brew to kick off his 2009 campaign is about his par.  He tried a frontrunning style for that contest, and while it didn’t work for him that time (finished fifth), it shows a useful versatility.  This old Bertrando boy could be in the mix at the finish.

6 119463 SIMPLY SMASHING(IRE)  wtas10  H Harzheim  4/1

“As fast as you can, as far as you can” seems like an odd approach for a turf router, but it has been a productive one for the El Prado 6-year-old.  He’s been a real win machine since the $25k claim from testcase1 (wait, doesn’t that have something to do with this billgulch character?).  Although he doesn’t always preserve the win after building his huge leads entering the stretch, he almost always finishes in the money, so maybe you’d better expect that again today.

7 113725 DEBONAIR DANCER(JPN)  1nagstable  I Alton  6/1    

Top-earning Boston Harbor product of his birth year, but not a stakeswinner as yet.  He’s been banging around at the fringes of stakes using a stalking style; if he can preserve a good position for the stretch, his best can win it.  He just looks a little light compared to some of these, and I’ll take a stand against him.

8 138651 KEPLER SADDATH(JPN)  bobo  T Tippett  7/1  

Bobo had him dip a toe back into the turf last out for the first time since his forgettable debut, and wow!  A 112 speed in a big win at this distance in India a mere two weeks ago.  The Rock of Gibraltar 4-year-old looks to move into the elite in this classification.  He’s capable of a smart move into contention after racing back early.  That ought to work here, but he’d better be the genuine article and not a one-race fluke to win it.  Tippett is hot lately and will likely help the cause.

9 152689 OTTO HAACK(KY)  oahaack  A Witter  8/1

Trainer namesake is another dawdler and also benefitted from a switch to the green.  A trio of races on the stuff has netted two dominating allowance wins and a strong stakes second last out to fellow longshot MAVERICK’S CAT(KY).  The Seeking the Gold blueblood might be in front of BAD BEAT(GB) in the early stages, but no one else.  That said, if he puts up a 111 like last time in Wisconsin, he’s probably at one end of the exacta or the other at a tasty price.

10 168508 KING IN YELLOW(KY)  calaveth4  W Bayless  25/1    

A Kingmambo 4-year-old who debuted in July of last year and just found his stride last out in a Floridian allowance at this distance.  The high triple digit speed was a revelation, but was it a major step forward in performance, or the result of the trainer switching to a speed tactic against lesser runners?  If the latter, it’s hard to picture him getting the better of accomplished and seasoned speedball SIMPLY SMASHING(IRE).  With only 8 races so far, his best may be yet to come.

11 154019 SAVE GINNY(ENG)  ascroft  G Ayso  20/1    

Another 4-year-old stuck on the outside, and another one who popped a big win just a couple of weeks ago.  There’s reason to believe he’d be just as happy with another furlong or two, but the pair of recent wins he’s bagged were right around nine furlongs.  Like the mirror image of KING IN YELLOW(KY), he’s a true closer but not the best one in here.  Ayso is ice cold for 2009, and a wager on GINNY is a wager that the allowance wins stand for bigger improvement than is obvious in his form.