Spotlight Race of the Week-Missouri

On to the 5^th week of the Spotlight racing series and its been pretty successful with my top pick winning 3 of the first 4 weeks.  The one week my top pick missed, the second choice picked up the pieces and took the win.  Last week, we saw Sir Echo win by 3 in a conditional allowance.  27-1 Announcement surprised all as an 11 year old , racing back-to-back races.  Announcement rarely runs as this was only his 8^th start, but first on the turf. 

This week the “Spotlight” race is in Missouri and is pinpointed on race #9.  This race is an allowance dirt race for fillies and mares only, age 4 or older.  The race is restricted to horses that are non-winners of 2 races lifetime and will be at a distance of a mile.  Looking at the morning odds, the field looks competitive with five of the ten entrants at odds between 4-1 and 5-1.  No guarantees, but I’ll try to find a winner…her it goes:

1.  Affray   5-1-been racing in allowance conditionals for some time, however, not the non-winner life.  Squares off with horses with similar attributes and may benefit with this change.

2.  Genius Johnson   8-1 –Nicely bred Smarty Jones mare that just hasn’t produced results.  She moves back to dirt after a pair of unsuccessful grass runs.  Genius looks overmatched at the allowance level and speeds have been inconsistent.  Will probably make a nice breeding mare someday with her bloodlines, but I doubt she will win this event.

3.  Xtra Beep Beep  5-1 –A nice Unbridled’s Song mare who has a pair of races with speeds of 70 and most recently 87, both at this track.  She broke her maiden with the 87 speed with a gate to wire victory and is in a position where she can realistically repeat.

4.  Sparrow  5-1 –Sparrow was overmatched in last start facing Non-winners of 2 over past year.  She’s back where she belongs but speed numbers don’t give a lot of promise.  She may have better opportunities in the lower claimer levels.

5.  Sleepy Hollow G   20-1 –Times have been tough for Sleepy Hollow who took 17 races to break her maiden this past July.  She hasn’t hit a speed over 80 yet, which will be the target in this race.  Since her win, she’s finished well back in last 7 races, but now comes into the NW2L condition which is more appropriate for her.  She races with only 3 weeks between races, and her speeds have recently dropped below 70.  She looks like she’s sending signals for a longer rest between races which may just be the thing for her.

6.  Pleasure Rush   9-1 –Pleasure has one of the better records in the field, in the money 9 of 15 starts.  She comes off a win in her last start with a speed of 81 going a mile, but the catch here is that was back in the spring of 2007.  Trainer Lonespeed has returned to the track after a long break and is welcomed back.  This 8-year old may still have some spirit in her, but it may take a race or two to get her back into the game.

7.  Beeeeefcake  7-1 –Another nicely bred horse, this one out of Strike the Gold, who jus hasn’t shown her ability yet.  She has one race with a speed over 80 and that was a year ago November.  She’s been sidelined since this past January and will resume her career in this race.  The rest may have done her some good, have to wait and see.

8.  Cloverfield   5-1 –Comes into race after setting career record speed of 89 in last outing finishing 3^rd with good late speed versus better.  Prior two starts were speeds of 80 in each.  May find this spot to be a good one!

9.  Phone BJ   4-1 –Back in February, Phone BJ hit a speed of 92 at 7 furlongs finishing second.  She was then sidelined until October and returned with speed of 73 and was overmatched in field and most likely a bit out of shape from the long break.  :November start in Non-winners 2 Lifetime showed improved speed of 83 with second place finish at 7.5f.  Adds small amount of distance going into this race which benefits her late run.

10.  Hushwing Vulture   19-1-A dark cloud has hung over Hushwing Vulture for a long time who has one win in 49 starts.  I know that feeling as one of my stable inherited a horse that was 1 for 80-something.  He retired with a 1 for 100 record.  Hushwing seems to be on that course too.   The allowance level is too much for him and he may find better luck in the lower end claimers.  Would be a nice payday if Hushwing finds a way to light up the board.

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Xtra Beep Beep gets the top honors from me in this race.  Very lightly race with only 2 starts but a speed boost of 17 between two races shows quite a bit of promise.

Phone BJ gets the second nod with nice improvement in last and could be a signal of better days ahead.

Cloverfield almost got second selection but jockey C White changed my mind with only 5% win record.  A repeat speed of 89 from last race would get the win in this race.