Salfly’s Wells Memorial honors retired marathoner

Virginia turns over the track to the marathoners this week, with the second annual running of the Salfly’s Well Memorial.  The race committee in Virginia has lenthened the race this year, a more fitting tribute to it’s namesake, who I remember well for some of his beautiful marathon runs.  The race goes to thirteen furlongs of turf this year, and invites all horses four years old and older to participate.  The turf will be rated as firm for the event, which carries a $30000 purse.  The race draws a short field of three, with the Virginia Horse Pool supplying a fourth to fill out the field.  Oddsmakers are calling this one a toss up, with three entries sandwiched between 6/5 and 2/1 odds.  The horse pool horse takes the longshot money at 8/1 odds.  Bettors on advised to pocket their money for this one and just enjoy the show.

PP 1) Iron Chariot(KY)  Sired by Roman Ruler, Trained by sgb.  Iron Chariot is a five year old horse, making his twenty ninth career start here.  This will be only his second career try at stakes level, and he is still seeking his first win at this level.  His last ten starts have seen him go 1-4-1-1-0 with five 100+ runs, capped by a 107.6 speed earlier this season.  HIs last start was a fourteen furlong open allowance in Jamaica, where he limped home sixth in a field of eight.  He performed adequately in eight dirt starts, but his true love has always been turf running.  HIs preferred distance is in the nine to ten range, where he’s been running quite well.  His last race was his only start beyond twelve, and he was less than impressive, even though his pedigree says he should be able to get the distance.  It’s a possibility he was slightly injured in his last start, though his trainer is being close lipped about the matter.  He is a midpack to deep closer, and other than a couple misfires, his close has been quite consistent.  Besides the possible injury, he also got a faster than normal break in his last, paying for it at the extended distance.  Until he proves he can get the distance here, I can’t recommend him in a race this long.

PP 2) New Jungle King(KY)  Sired by Street Sense, Trained by junglelove.  New Jungle King is a four year old colt, taking trip number twenty five this weekend.  He has four stakes wins to his credit, including one at Twelve furlongs.  His record over his lat ten starts is 3-2-1-2-0 with seven 100+ runs, topping out at 103.8 which he achieved twice earlier this season, both times at twelve furlongs.  His last start was an eleven and a half furlong open allowance in Alabama, where he pasted a field of seven by three and a quarter lengths.  After two dirt starts to open his career, he switched to turf and never looked back.  He’s really blossomed as a marathoner runner, and in runs at twelve furlongs and beyond, he’s 3-1-1 in six tries.  He is a deep closer, and outside a rough trip in a very fast graded level field, his close has been excellent.  He’s performed quite well against some top flight competition, and he is the only horse in this field to have proven himself at twelve furlongs or more.  Those two important factors make him my bet in this race.

PP 3) Meeting Abandoned  Sired by Montjeu, Trained by foxon.  Meeting Abandoned is a four year old colt, seeing action in his twenty sixth career start here.  He has one stakes win to his credit, coming two starts back at ten and a half furlongs.  Overall in his last ten, he’s gone 3-1-0-2-1 with seven 100+ speeds, his best a 110.1 in his stakes victory two starts back.  His last race was in the Grade 3 Chicago Handicap at ten furlongs, where he fired way too late to be effective, finishing eighth in a field of twelve.  He is a very surface verstaile colt, and his career has been a nearly even split between surfaces.  While he has had more wins on dirt, his earnings are a nearly even split between the surfaces.  The ten furlong range has been his bread and butter so far, though he has shown the ability to get a bit further.  At his only run at twelve though, his speed took a big hit, and he ran arguably his worst outing among his recent starts.  He’s a deep closer, who is used to making up very large gaps in the second halves of his races, which should give him a bit of an advantage in this filed consisting primarily of closers.  Sometimes an extra half furlong can make all the difference in a race, and although he is favored here, I can’t lay a bet on him here until he can show me something beyond the twelve furlong mark.

PP 4) Again Gamble  Sired by Political Polly, Trained by Virginia Horse Pool.  Again Gamble is a lightly run eight year old, making only his eleventh career start.  He has one stakes run, but didn’t even come close.  His ten starts have left him with a 3-1-2-1-0 record with a best speed of 96.2 way back in his three year old season.  He comes into this one having not run in five years.  On top of that, this will be his first try on turf, as well as his first run beyond nine furlongs.  He’ll likely play the rabbit in this one, but if he isn’t panting and stumbling by first call, I’ll be quite surprised.