Alec and Stephen Grade III

California, the good life.  Sunshine and sixty degree weather during the winter.  What could beat it?  Many people vacation here for many reasons.  Some want to take a look at the infamous Alcatraz Prison.  Others may want to take a nice relaxing day of golf and play at courses such as Pebble Beach, or Spyglass Hills.  For ten sim trainers today, it is all about chances.  A chance to move up the stakes points ladder.  A chance at BP’s to breed their next big money maker.  A chance to win the Alec and Stephen Grade III stakes race.  That’s right folks we have a great day of racing for you today.  In our 12^th race we have three year olds going 6.5 furlongs on the firm turf.  Everyone is fighting for that piece of 100,000 dollars.  Without taking more time though, let’s meet the horses in today’s race.

PP #1.  Herecles comes into this race with six races under his belt.  He started off his career running his first four races on dirt, which resulted in two wins and a second place finish.  Some may ask, why the change?  In his first race on turf two races back he ran an 89 SP, which was a 9 point jump from his previous three.  SP’s continued to improve to a 95 last time out, and he looks to only further those SP’s today.  Iwonulost is the proud owner of this boy, and jockey L. Brock will be riding this 9/1 shot today.

PP #2.  Double Affadan is a 4/1 shot in today’s race.  He comes into today with a grand total of 6 races also under his belt.  His career has been entirely on the grass where he has gone 6-4-0-1.  SP’s have only been on the rise for this young colt out of the vertain3 stable.  In his last three races, he has won twice with SP’s of 96, 96, and 97.  Jockey A. Dominguez will proudly ride this co-favorite today.

PP #3.  New Divide, no not from Lincoln Park, but from pwong01 stable will be the long shot today at only 18/1.  This colt is a veteran in the field with 10 races under his belt.  He has tried everything from dirt to turf and sprinting to routing.  Jockey M. Staples hopes that this is the right distance for this guy as they go for the win together today.  As for New Divide, this guy has recently made the switch back to turf two races back.  He began his career on the grass before making the switch to dirt.  After a Jeckel and Hyde performance on the brown stuff, he decided to take his game back to the grass where he has not disappointed yet, running SP’s of 85 and 87 in his last two races.

PP #4.  Aliron is middle of the pack in total number of races in this field.  This colt has also spent his entire career on the grass where trainer zalduendo has not been disappointed.  His last three races may not have resulted in the greatest SP’s (97, 92, 85) but he has been running against stiff competition.  This is not this guys first trip to the graded ranks, nor do I think it will be his last.  He looks to bounce back after a lackluster showing in the listed stakes race last time out.  That race resulted in a 7^th place finish and, the 85 SP.  Jockey T. Bates will try to ride this 5/1 shot to the winners circle today.

PP #5.  Sismico is another co-favorite today at 4/1.  Coming out of the middle gate, this guy you can say is a veteran three year old.  He has been tested in many ways, and many times.  With 13 races under his belt, he has won eight and placed second twice. He has shown he can win, but owner alfalvi is looking for the race that puts this guy over the hump.  Today’s race could be that race, as this colt makes the switch back to turf.  After running his first 12 races on the grass, he ran one on dirt his last time out, and even though he won a listed stakes, his SP was only an 86 (over 10 points worse than his turf best) Jockey F. Gosset will be riding this boy today and hopes he can increase this guys winnings over a million dollars.

PP #6.  Declaring will be the first horse out of the gate from the upper numbered post positions.  This colt out of the redhill18 stable has had a pretty good start to his career.  He is a young gun who is not very tested, but is here today to prove that he can hang with the best.  With just 4 races under his belt, he has hit the board in every race.  He’s won twice while picking up a second and a third.  This will be not only his first graded attempt, but stakes attempt as well.  Jockey J. Fraser hopes that this guy can run his best against the more tested three year old boys today.  Declaring is a 9/2 shot in today’s race.

PP #7.  Roque Hard Ten is in post position number 7 today.  This 10/1 shot out of the clooch0918 stable is looking for a big turn around after flunking his previous test.  He has nine races under his belt, but has only hit the board in 4 of those while managing 1 win.  He looks to change his luck for the better today as he takes on a less talented field going from a 14 horse Grade I to a 10 horse Grade III.  SP’s have been up and down, but he has shown he can do it when he wants to.  Jockey F. Dekeyser hopes that he can get this guy his second win today.

PP #8.  Blazing Legacy is next in line today.  This colt has just 8 races under his belt, but the good news is that he has hit the board all but once in his 3 tries.  He looks for win number 2 on the turf today, where he ran a huge 102 SP last time out in a Grade II on the grass.  He has been run on the turf three times as I have mentioned, but SP’s are better on the turf and owner jhenry decided to stick with the grass for today’s race.  Jockey R. Simcox will hope that he can carry this 9/2 shot all the way to the winners circle and a piece of that 100,000 dollar purse.

PP #9.  The Quiet Ranger starts to round our field off for today’s race.  This colt is a 15/1 shot and has 5 races under his belt.  All have been on grass and he has three wins out of those five races.  His first test was his last race in the same Grade II that Blazing Legacy ran in.  He did not fair quite as well as he ran an 87 SP and finished 12^th in the 14 horse field.  He looks to change his luck today and so does owner baggio.  He will pray that jockey O. Brim can get it done today and shock the sim world and get this small long shot to win.                

PP #10.  Last but certainly not lest we have the boy named Skater.  One of only two horses in the race not to be bred in Kentucky (Also one of two not to be bred in the United States)  This boy has been running ok for owner seedly2 and a jump in race quality could be just the thing that this colt is looking for.  After winning his first two on the grass, SP’s have been on the decline in the next two allowance races, and seedly2 is looking for a jump in the SP along with a chance at picking up not only a Graded win, but a Stakes win as well.  He will get jockey A. Lewis to try to take him up the ladder.  Skater is a 14/1 shot in today’s race.

As you can all see we have a quality field for today’s race.  There are many horses that I think have a good shot at winning this race, and because the horses are so young any horse can win any given day.  It would be very hard to choose a winner for me, so I will just take my top three.  I feel that 4, 5, and 8 should all be the three horses that finish first, second, and third.  As for me I want to thank you for reading my article today.  If you would like to leave a comment on it, please feel free as any and all comments are appreciated.  This has been Dylan with your pre race preview and I want to thank you for reading.  Remember that for all of your sim race coverage you can head over to the BTB forum and get your fix.  Good luck to all trainers and let the racing begin!!