Spotlight Race of the Week-South Korea
In last week’s Spotlight featured race, I expressed my concern on the heavy 1-5 favorite Swallotail. He has performed well, but been aggressively raced. Turned out to be the right decision as I pegged 6-1 Mi Officer as my top pick. He performed well over the track and wired the field. Fort Darcy at 4-1 was my second choice and put in some late speed, connecting for the exacta. I threw the favorite Swallowtail in as my third choice, and that spot worked well as he put in a fair effort and completing my triple. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a look at the payoffs before they were pulled off the board. This was a claiming race and Swallowtail was the only horse to change stables after the race.
This week, I thought we’d explore a long distance route. In fact, a marathon of a race. Took me a while, but I eventually found a two mile race in South Korea which is a $15,000 Starte Allowance. It is a dirt race open to fillies and mares that are 3 years of age or older.
Beautiful sunny conditions are on the schedule for the weekend, which works out well for this dirt race. A field of seven will try to last the distance.
1. Poisoned Arrow 48-1-Has five career starts and comes off breaking maiden in last start running 10 furlongs. It was an easy win with a field of four, two were inferior CPU runners. Faces tough task here with added distance and need to enhance speed numbers which have topped at 71.
2. Amas 16-1-Hasn’t been on the board since last October. She has been running sprints for most of her career and will be doubling her distance in this race. Speeds have been running low to mid 70’s. This one tends to run on the lead or fairly close to it in the early parts of the race. Best races seem to come with off-track conditions, which aren’t happening for this race. Hard to see her maintaining the speed for this long of a duration.
3. Maelstrom Lepaca 4-5-Tagged as the favorite, this girl has never gone more than 10 furlongs. Speeds have averaged 93 over last three starts. She likes to run late in the race. It’s an unknown if she can handle this added distance, but she shows some patience and that will work to her favor and I think she has a shot here.
4. Quad Hill 59-1-Has raced on an assortment of dirt and turf surfaces this year, going to the post 12 times, hitting the board twice. This is quite aggressive, but she had a two month layoff, returning to the track in mid-August and finished second in a field loaded with CPU runners. The speed was far from great, but this was on the turf. Her numbers are looking better lately on the dirt. This is the second race back after a layoff, and she may have a shot to hit the board at very nice odds.
5. Soul of Lepaca 9-2 –This gal has run 12 furlongs with success in the past. She switched barns in july and has been running every two weeks. This more frequent race style has resulted in a drop of speeds from the upper 80’s to low 90’s down to the upper 70’s to low 80’s. She can probably handle the distance, but the frequent racing is bearing a toll.
6. Assistance 8-5 –Ran 10f on turf in February for first time finishing 2nd with speed of 89. She will extend in distance and runs equally as well on the dirt track. She had a brief rest during the summer and this is the second start after that break. She looks to have a shot here.
7. Gators Brahma 11-1 –This gal has tried 2 miles back in April and the results were disappointing. She doesn’t look to be a long distance runner. She has a long history of losing distance in the final quarter of the race running distances of 10 furlongs or more. She may be better at shorter distances.
This is a pretty open race as most of the field will be testing this route for the first time. Upsets are possible in this race, but I’m going with Maelstrom Lepaca who I think will take her time before making her move.
Assistance gets my second vote. The rest could work to her favor and may even get her to the wire first.
Third spot is wide open and I’ll give the mega –longshot Quad Hill a chance here. She recently returned after a much needed rest and has experience going the longer routes.