G3 Ice Cream Gold Gets Cold Response
Little did I know when I accepted the call to cover the first running of the G3 Ice Cream Gold stakes what I would find. The name of the stakes race intrigued me very much, so I willingly accepted the air ticket to New Zealand to cover this race. Maybe I should have stayed home. Never before have I seen such a small field for a graded race. Only four horses will be going to post for this mile turf race. Surely there are plenty of 3 year old fillies and mares out there that could have jumped into this race. Maybe all the owners are focusing the paths of their stock towards the big races in May and skipped over this event. Maybe it was the mediocre purse of $75,000. Whatever the reason, there are only four horses entered and one of them is a computer owned horse.
Oh well, lets take a look at this very short field. I hope it is a competitive one, after all, I came a long way to cover it.
1. Hotel Colorado 5-2
Hotel Colorado has won 4 of 5 turf starts for trainer Spiderman. She has a win in the non-graded Dancing Blade Stakes (8f) in November, wiring a short field in a speed of 84. She followed this up with a third in the non-graded The Jaca Special (8.5f) where she set the pace for most of the race and yielded the lead in the final furlong.
Hotel Colorado will have an excellent chance of getting an uncontested early lead, which will give her the chance to wire the field. She drops down a half of a furlong in distance, which should be beneficial. The draw of jockey is not advantageous, getting Goff aboard, who is already in a slump with no wins this year in 18 starts and hitting the board only once.
2. Eternity in Hell 4-5
Trainer Super5 gets the favorite for this race who has graded race experience. Her first graded race was in October, running in the G3 The Natalie (8f), wiring the field and was never seriously challenged. In November, she competed in the prestigious G1 Breeders Bowl Filly Juvy Turf (8f) where she was overmatched, at 20-1, but put in a respectful race sporting a speed of 93 and finishing 6th. In December Eternity in Hell ran in the G1 Dancing Blade Handicap (8f), another tough and competitive field, where she crossed the wire first at 9-1 odds, and a career speed best of 96.
Jockey Inzamam will get the call, and he’s off to a smoking start, hitting the board 65% of the time this year. I feel that Eternity will settle in to the second spot in the early going and keep an honest pace out of Hotel Colorado before making a push to the lead late in the race. Eternity in Hell is an experienced graded race runner, currently ranked 4th, and will be tough.
3. Spackman 99-1
Spackman is the computer owned runner in this race and comes in at the incredibly high odds of 99-1 in a 4-horse race. That pretty much sums up her chances in this race. Spackman has never raced before and the computer is skipping her over the maiden races.
Spackman is a scratch bred horse out of pretty much no-name sires which I won’t waste time on here. Don’t see much here, and even a show bet won’t pay much with other heavily bet favorites hitting the board.
4. Duchess of Skunk 6-5
Duchess of Skunk tried her hand in graded racing back in September, running in the G3 The Animale (8f). She finished fifth in a field of 12 with a speed of 78 in the race, which happens to be her only route race. She followed this up with a win in an allowance race at 7f, beating a tiny field in a speed of 82. Her latest race was in the non-graded The Profitable Colony Challenge (6.5f) where she finished 2nd but had a very nice bump in speed recording a 97.
I think trainer Beenskunkd will have his filly running third at the start with hopes that her speed from her last start will carry through to this race. Jockey Mate (17% win) will be in the saddle, giving her a decent shot to the winners circle. She does go back to running a mile, which she struggled at last year and the distance is a concern. But this is a short field with a computer entry, and she will be on the board.
Top pick to Eternity in Hell who has a distinctive class edge.
Toss up for second, but will give it to Duchess of Skunk who has a better jockey aboard and is riding high off of last speed number.
Hotel Colorado gets third, but could surprise if her jockey wakes up.