Future Stars In Feature At Washington

PP 

Horse ID 

Horse 

Owner 

Jockey 

Odds 

Comments

1

105125

BLUE FER SURE

unreal

E Mathers

4/1

There’s no denying that his first outing suggests that he’ll appreciate 8 furlongs, and its fairly obvious that this one has the pedigree to succeed, but he’s got only an 8% jockey on board, and, just for kicks, he’s still a maiden.  I wouldn’t quite hang up my boots if this one came home first, but the odds boggle my mind: there are strong horses in this field, and too many horses regress from their first starts for me to have any confidence that this guy can notch his first lifetime win in stakes company.

2

69246

CODE NINE

novajoe

Q Simien

9/2

This one should be the morning line favorite; consecutive 83 and 84 speed figures have left him undefeated in two lifetime starts, and while the extra distance is a question mark given his eagerness out of the gate, he’s bred to handle at least a mile.    Unfortunately, he’s going to be hooked early, and I’d be surprised if he’s good enough at this point in his career to hold off the closers that seem to have the upper hand today.

3

96745

AD ASTRA

bigmoose

Go Warren

16/1

Speed figures are a cut below Code Nine’s, but he handled the stretch out to eight furlongs with aplomb last time out.  If he can move forward off of that one, he’s got a pedigree to die for and he could make an impact, especially on the tail-end of the trifecta.

4

102899

SWILKEN BRIDGE

super26

P Wolff

5/1

P. Wolff brings home 13% of his mounts, placing him squarely in the upper echelon of Washington jocks, and you can bet that he’ll be salivating at the chance to improve his percentages in this one if Code Nine gets hooked on the lead.  Stands to improve leaps and bounds off of his first try at 8 furlongs, and if he can pick up five speed points he’s an easy winner of this race.  Heaven knows that they’ll be going fast enough up front that if this colt has the class, he’ll have the opportunity to strut his stuff through the lane. 

5

34175

METETRON

tbgifted2

B Clancy

5/1

Beautiful first run, but you have to think that the reasonable route to go with this one would be to tinker a little bit with the jockey settings and back off of the early pace a little bit in an effort to leave something left for the stretch drive.  Wire-to-wire worked in his maiden, but here, he’d likely only succeed in cooking both himself and Code Nine.  Swilken Bridge would benefit, but this one would stagger home.  Beware of the fact that many horses regress in their 2^nd lifetime start off of a big maiden win; this one needs to prove he’ll repeat his effort before I’ll be a believer, but he should have a nice future ahead of him.

6

98909

DE POBES(AUS)

zatopeck

B Land

11/1

I wasn’t familiar with his sire until very recently, but it is my understanding that he was most talented as a sprinter; his son seems to be following in those footsteps.  A fantastically fleet-footed colt over five or six panels, he’ll be hard pressed the stretch that speed over eight, especially since he’ll find way too many horses out for the lead early.  Likely a toss-out here.

7

12052

ROYAL ADMIRAL

kwswps

K Murray

6/1

One of those colts with a pedigree that you just have to look at for a little while; its that beautiful.  His last effort was huge, and the biggest fear today is that he may regress a little bit while others will progress past him.  He’s bred to appreciate even more ground than this, but there will certainly be speed to run at.

8

98382

BACHELOR PARTY

super19

Bo Spitulski

6/1

Inconsistency is the name of the game for two year olds, and after a huge 87 speed figure, he turned in a lousy 75 last time out.  If he runs to the 87, he’s going to have a say in the victory, if he runs to the 75, he won’t.  The disaster last time wasn’t on account of not handling a distance of ground so much as not handling the class of his opponents (or just a massive bounce off of a lifetime best effort), so we’ll simply have to wait and see what happens here.

9

50546

CLARKEY

modbury

B Dimma

6/1

Mineshaft certainly is the sire with the best chance to take down this race, with both Swilken Bridge and this colt ranking as solid shots.  The biggest drawback to this one is that he’s the best candidate for a bounce in the field; even moreso than the horses making their 2^nd lifetime starts.  Horses don’t often jump 17 speed points (as this one did, from a 66 to an 83) and come back with another improvement.  If he can repeat his last effort, he can run in the money.  If not, look for Swilken Bridge to take the glory for their shared sire.