Fill’er Up

NZ, Race ID 4204.8913 : Gas Station Mile Grade II   All horses, 3 years old and up, One mile on the Firm Turf Course, Purse : $187,500

PP 1 – 9/1 PASAME LA BOTELLA(ENG) ID# 142216 P Chamberlin (34 – 3 – 5 – 6 – 9%)

Pasama La Botella was bred from an “H” mare and is looking for his first graded stakes win. He was facing some top competition last year with eight of his eleven starts in graded stakes. His best finish was a second place finish in The Diolated Stakes at 8.5 furlongs. He took a breather the last start of the year finishing first against an allowance field which he won easily. Now he’s back to try graded stakes for the first start of the new year but he seems more likely to hit the board than win the race.

PP 2 – 15/1 GAVOTTE(KY) ID# 91100   M Shaw ( 5 – 0 – 1 – 3 – 0% )

Gavotte was bred from a “C” mare and is making his second start of the year today. He finished fifth in a listed stakes at 9 furlongs and is now cutting back to 8 furlongs for today’s race. His top fig of 112 comes at 8 furlongs but I don’t know if he can duplicate that figure. He is a young horse that hasn’t finished worse than second at 8 furlongs but this will be his toughest competition to date. He is certainly an intriguing prospect at 15/1.

PP 3 – 9/1 TIGERS ARE COOL(KY) ID# 100683   GD Mate ( 47 – 8 – 5 – 10 – 17% )

Tigers Are Cool is a scratch bred who was claimed by his current owner for 125,000 early in his career. Since the claim he has reeled off several allowance wins and even a listed stakes win. He likes to run near or on the lead so that may pose a problem today as there looks to be a couple of other speed horses in the race. If the track came up a little wet I might’ve gave this horse a better shot as he seems to like an off track but since it’s firm and with the competing speed in today’s race I’m not sure a win will happen today.

PP 4 – 9/1 GUNG HO(KY) ID# 153288   W Dishman ( 10 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 10% )

Gung Ho is a scratch bred trying graded stakes for the first time in his career. In his last race he posted a career best speed figure of 113 in winning a listed stakes at 8.5 furlongs. This horse didn’t seem to like 8.5 furlongs early in his career but as he matured and got older he now seems to like 8.5 furlongs. But today’s race is at 8 furlongs. If he is getting older and faster regardless of distance the speed figure he put up last race will be competitive here but he may want that extra half a furlong.

Pgfillys Lemondrop was bred from an “A” mare but she has yet to produce a champion like herself. Pgfillys Lemondrop started his career on dirt and has tried turf the past couple of races but seems to race better on dirt. Not likely today.

PP 6 – 10/1 CRAZY SCOOB ID# 73196   X Saxon ( 8 – 2 – 2 – 0 – 25% )

Crazy Scoob is a scratch bred and the oldest horse in the field at 7 years old. In his advanced age he seems to have lost a step as he was winless last year in nine starts. In his prime he was a very good miler horse and has a couple of graded wins to show for it. He is another horse that like to be on or near the lead and I’m just not sure he will be able to hold on today.

PP 7 – 19/1 SURLY(KY) ID# 186200   N Chamberlin ( 10 – 0 – 1 – 0 – 0% )

Surly is a scratch bred who is 4 years old and lightly raced with only eight starts. Six of those starts have been on turf and he has four wins to show for it. He seems to be on the improve and is coming off a listed stakes win at a mile. He has a nice racing style for today’s race and is at good odds of 19/1. Even if he doesn’t win today’s race he looks to have a nice future. Only negative is the crappy jockey.

PP 8 – 4/1 BUSY QUICK(KY) ID# 131757   B Jungnitsch ( 9 – 1 – 2 – 1 – 11% )

Busy Quick was bred from an “F” mare and is the favorite in today’s race. He has 15 straight triple digit speed figures with a lot of them being near or above 110. He is raced primarily at 8 furlongs and is well deserving of favoritism having competed at the graded stakes level for most of the past two years.  He has several competitive finishes but only one graded win to show for it so while he is fast and likely to hit the board he may not win the race and could be a play against since he’s the favorite.

PP 9 – 14/1 DREAMSONGS(ENG) ID# 91413   S Dahl ( 13 – 3 – 0 – 0 – 23% )

Dreamsongs was bred from a “G” mare and has won half of his 18 starts. He is on a 3 race win streak at 8 furlongs and won a graded stakes his last start out. He beat older horses as a three year old to finish out his career in the G3 Honery Queen’s Plate. If the pace is fast like I’m expecting than this horse will have a great shot to win.

PP 10 – 11/1 THE HEDONIST(GB) ID# 84572   P Rosportz ( 22 – 1 – 2 – 1 – 5% )

The Hedonist was bred from a “B” mare and is coming off a subpar effort in a listed stakes race last start out. This horse looks to be very inconsistent as he seems to put forth a top effort every once in a while. If he brings that top effort today he could possibly win but trying to guess when than race is coming is the hard part.

PP 11 – 7/1 RAINBOW POPSTAR(JPN) ID# 163072   O Rann ( 38 – 6 – 4 – 1 – 16% )

Rainbow Popstar is a scratch bred and the co-second choice in today’s field. His last three races have been against graded stakes competition with his best finish a third in his last start in the G3 The Nippon Mile. This type of horse is always hard for me to figure out as he has some nice speed figures in listed stakes competition but doesn’t seem to duplicate them in graded stakes. Not sure what to expect from this horse.

PP 12 – 7/1 CHINCHILLA(IRE) ID# 147371   T Mooney ( 27 – 0 – 3 – 1 – 0% )

Chinchilla is a scratch bred and the other second choice in today’s field. I like this horse a lot better than the other 7/1 second choice Rainbow Popstar. He never fired his last race out in the G1 Kong Kong Mile but before that had 5 straight wins at 8 furlongs including a G2 win. He is a deep closer and will need that fast pace I’m expecting to increase his chances of winning. Another horse with a winless jockey though.

PP 13 – 13 28/1 DESERT RIVER(IRE) ID# 81130   N Jacke ( 8 – 0 – 0 – 3 – 0% )

Desert River is a scratch bred and was a former claimer now competing in grades stakes. He was able to surprise 3 starts ago and win a listed stakes race but I don’t see any surprises to today and do not think he’s ready for this level of competition.

PP 14 – 9/1 BANNER(IRE) ID# 146025   F Inzamam ( 49 – 7 – 13 – 12 – 14% )

Banner was bred from an “H” mare and is coming off a disappointing finish in the DPCD Penn Mile last race out. Before that race he finished third in the Breeders Bowl Mile and was competing in graded stakes throughout the year. Some races he goes to the lead other he rates but most of his wins come when rating so I think it is better if this horse sits just behind speed and pounces, which today he just might do.

Handicapper’s Picks:

At first glance I thought there was more speed than there actually is after reviewing the race a second time. With that being said I’m going to go with #14 Banner who I think might be able to sit off the two speed horses and get a nice stalking trip. For 2^nd I’ll take the youngster #9 Dreamsongs. I think this horse will be a star later in the year but maybe not just yet. For 3^rd I’ll take #8 Busy Quick who usually runs a good race but doesn’t win often. This was a tougher race than I expected and a number of other horses have a shot to win. With a better jockey selection I might’ve chosen #12 Chinchilla or #7 Surly.

1^st: 14

2^nd: 9

3^rd: 8

Handicapper’s Record:

Picked the winner last week in the Pablo Verces handicap, though the co-favorite (6/1) did win the race so I am 1 for 1 on the year. Let’s see if I can make it 2 for 2 but this was a toughy to handicap.