Fourth-Ranked Dead Zone Favored In GR 1 Monster Mash
Dead Zone will be striving to lock up his second consecutive Breeders’ Bowl Dirt Marathon berth here Saturday in the Grade 1 Monster Mash Stakes here in Portugal on Saturday.
Dead Zone will be not only the 2/1 morning line favorite, but he’ll also come in as the fourth ranked horse in this older males long dirt division in the $500,000 14-furlong event.
It’s been a pretty fantastic run for Dead Zone, who’s got three wins in his last six starts, including a couple of graded stakes wins in Asia this year. This is a very consistent animal that Given Stables is sending in here to Portugal on Saturday, one who has not dipped below the triple digit speed figure mark in any of his races since February of 2009. That’s a pretty incredible streak.
Dead Zone will be facing a pretty hungry bunch in Portugal this weekend, a bunch who are all hungry for the same thing–a berth in the Breeders’ Bowl Dirt Marathon.
There’s K’s Rachmaninoff, who’s really only gotten into the stakes scene in this division this year. He’s 3/1 for the race and ranked 89th in this division.
Then you’ve got the 7/2 morning line choice Tempus Uno, who is another deep closer like Dead Zone. He’s ranked 70th in this division, and he knows a win here will go a long way toward getting him into the Breeders’ Bowl for the first time ever.
And then we come to the speed burners in the race–Gaining Speed (4/1), River Spirit (5/1) and Maddog Unleashed (6/1). You can pretty much look for all of these to be tearing it up on the front end early here in Portugal this weekend. River Spirit, especially, will be one of those eager to push the pace early, since his stable mate is the deep-closing Dead Zone, who loves to come from way back in his races and would love nothing more than to see a few of these get involved in a speed duel and set some very fast early fractions here.
Here is the field for the $500,000 Grade 1 Monster Mash in Portugal, for horses three years old and up, who will be running a mile and three-quarters on the dirt this weekend.
1 — GAINING SPEED (CA) Owner: Willyam13 Stables (willyam14)
Odds: 4/1 (Momentum x Roberto x Round Table)
Gaining Speed will be looking for his first graded stakes win here and looking to improve on that number 32 ranking in this division here in Portugal on Saturday. He’s very lightly raced, with long rests sprinkled throughout his past performance charts. He’s never run the 16 furlongs that he’ll get here in Portugal this Saturday, but one thing that Gaining Speed has been doing lately is gaining momentum in this division. Gaining Speed really only started running in graded stakes events in December of last year, and this year, he’s got three graded runs in his last four starts–and he’s done pretty darned well in all of them. In April, he finished third in the 14-furlong Desert Stamina Cup in Dubai, where he used his early speed to control the tempo most of the way, before finally giving way to Like A Hammer and Beaster, both of whom are ranked in the top ten in this older males long dirt division. That was a pretty impressive performance for Gaining Speed, and it was also the longest race he’s run in his career. Then he came right back in mid-May to run in the $1,000,000 12-furlong Grade 3 TV Stakes in Japan. He opened up another huge lead on the field there early, before getting just nipped at the wire, losing by a nose to Vinfinity, who’s ranked #12 in this division. Gaining Speed threw a career high 113 speed figure in that race, probably the best performance of his career to date. Two starts back in July he ran in the 13-furlong Grade 3 Grumpy Old Man Marathon in Alabama where he popped a 107 speed figure there. Gaining Speed no doubt has a ton of early speed, and he’ll probably utilize his quickness on the front end to mix it up early with River Spirit most of the way this weekend in Portugal. Remember, it’s Gain first time at 16-furlongs, so that’s a bit of a question mark for Gaining Speed in this spot, but he keeps getting better and better at these long distance routes. A nice finish here Saturday would no doubt help him boost his chances for one of those top 14 coveted spots to perhaps get him into the Breeders’ Bowl Dirt Marathon in November. How he fares here should determine whether or not he can get the two miles come November. There’s no doubt that Gaining Speed has been running with the cream of the crop in this division and doing well against them.
2 — RIVER SPIRIT (KY) Owner: Given Stables: Fire and Blood (stormborn)
Odds: 5/1 (A.P. Indy x Spirited Away (Gone West x Sadler’s Wells))
River Spirit is a five year old son of A.P. Indy out of the Gone West mare Spirited Away, and this one has also got a lot of early speed. He’s the second entry from Given Stables Stables, and he’s ranked 65th in this division. He’s also the rabbit in here for his stable mate Dead Zone, who’s ranked fourth in this division and looking to make his second consecutive Breeders’ Bowl appearance. River Spirit run a two-mile distance once, and that was two starts back when he finished second in the Hardwoodfloor Dirt Stayer Stakes down in Argentina. That race was a pretty impressive start for River Spirit, who controlled the pace most of the way before falling second to Gato Del Lago, who is the second ranked horse in the older males long dirt division. Gato Del Lago came out of that race to win the Grade 1 Seattle Stayer earlier this month. Like a couple others in here, River Spirit is blessed with lots of early speed, as he has showed us in most of his starts. He comes in here as the hot horse, winning four of his last five starts, including the 11-furlong Again Sneak Dirt Endurance in Mexico last time out, where he won with a 105 speed figure. He bounced out to as much as a ten-length lead there before holding on to nip the #12 ranked horse in this division, Vinfinity, by a nose. This horse may be in here to set some fast early fractions for his stable mate Dead Zone, but let’s not sell River Spirit short. He’s not just a rabbit here. This guy has quite a bit of stamina to go along with that early speed. We’re not saying he can definitely beat Dead Zone. But this one can hang tough and run with the best in this division. If River Spirit can perform well here, or maybe even win, Given Stables could be looking at two horses in the Breeders’ Bowl Dirt Marathon in Kentucky. It’s a scenario that would play well for this duo come November.
3 — K’S RACHMANINOFF (KY) Owner: Pompeya Thoroughbred Racing Corporation (verdugote)
Odds: 3/1 (Giant’s Causeway (IRE) x Sadler’s Wells) x Mr. Prospector)
The five year old son of Giant’s Causeway had spent the first 16 races of his career being patiently brought along by Pompeya Thoroughbred Racing Corporation–in mostly allowance races–as is pretty much the way with this barn. K’s Rachmaninoff didn’t race in his first stakes race until June of his four year old season last year, when he finished seventh in the Grade 1 Razorback Route. He had split all of his time between New Zealand, Berkshire and Dubai running in allowance races before that. He had won six consecutive races before his owner dropped him into that 14-furlong Grade 1 Razorback Route last June. After that he was shipped off to Switzerland for three more allowance races, where he popped a 107 speed figure in a big win there. In fact, after the Grade 1 Razorback Route, his average winning margin in those three allowance races was nearly six lengths per race. Then, this year, K’s Rachmaninoff hit the stakes trail pretty hard. He started off the year in January with a second place finish in the 13-furlong Special Performance Special Stakes. After that, he took a couple months off from the races before he entered his second graded stakes event, the Grade 1 14-furlong Desert Stamina Cup, where he finished sixth. He followed that up with an off-the-board finish in the 12-furlong Grade 3 King Congie Marathon in Kentucky. Then he popped the highest speed figure of his career (110) in winning the 13-furlong Fighter Pilot Dirt Stayer Stakes, the only stakes win of his career. In his last two starts, both graded stakes events, he faced off against a couple of these he’ll be seeing here. He was fifth behind Gaining Speed in the Grade 2 Grumpy Old Man Marathon in July, before he followed that up with a fourth place finish in the Grade 3 Europe Stayer Stakes. He raced against three of these he’ll be seeing here today. Tempus Uno won that event, Dead Zone was third, and Maddog Unleashed was eighth. K’s Rachmaninoff is really the only one in this field Saturday who likes to lay sort of mid-pack in his races. He isn’t a front end speed burner like Gaining Speed, Maddog Unleashed or River Spirit. And he isn’t a deep closer like Tempus Uno or Dead Zone. That means you’ll probably see K’s Rachmaninoff somewhere in the middle of these two packs of horses, biding his time, before he makes his big move late. He shouldn’t have to come from very far off the pace, and this is a very winnable race for the Pompeya entry. This is pretty much a make-or-break race for the five year old son of Giant’s Causeway, as far as this year’s Breeder’s Bowl Dirt Marathon goes. He’s ranked 89th in this division, and his performance at this distance here in Portugal Saturday will go a long way toward his owner deciding if this horse really wants to run long.
4 — TEMPUS UNO (GER) Owner: Briant Breeding & Racing Empire (hewett)
Odds: 7/2 (Monsun (GER) x War Chant x Danehill)
Tempus Uno is a five year old scratch-bred son of Monsun who did something pretty incredible last time out. He had run in only three graded races his entire career, not really doing all that much in any of them. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, he took on the cream of the cream in this older males long dirt division in the 14-furlong Grade 3 Europe Stayer in Surrey back on August 13. He came into that race on three weeks rest, he was the third longest shot in the field, and he beat that field with the highest speed figure of his career (111). He beat Dead Zone (#4), who he’ll be seeing again here, and he also beat Stone Chicken in that race. And remember, Stone Chicken is ranked number one in this division. That amazing win bumped him all the way up to number 70 in this division. This is a pretty serious horse for Briant Breeding & Racing Empire that’s getting hot at just the right time. Tempus Uno has had some pretty nice speed numbers lately, if you’ll take a look at his past performance charts. While you’re looking at those past performance charts, take a look back at early last year. Tempus Uno threw together a string of races where he popped speed figures of 109, 112, 110, and during that streak he reeled off a couple of stakes wins at 10 and 10.5 furlongs. This horse is on the same kind of speed figure romp as last year, and he’s matured a lot since then, so much so that he’s running with–and sometimes beating–some of the top tier horses in this division. That 111 speed figure he popped last time out bodes well for his chances here in Portugal this weekend. There’s a lot of early speed in this race, and that should set Tempus Uno up well, because he’s definitely a late closer who loves fast early fractions to run at. He’s won two of his last three starts, coming from as far as 15 and 17 lengths back in both of those wins. You might want to keep your eye on this guy Saturday. He’s on one of those big speed figure rolls like he threw last year, and he can definitely run with this bunch….a very nice horse that could definitely pull another rabbit out of the hat here Saturday, like he did in Surrey his last time out.
5 — MADDOG UNLEASHED (ENG) Owner: Tazdevil Stables (bigmax3)
Odds: 6/1 Pivotal (GB) x Caerleon x Darshaan (ENG)
Here’s another scratch-bred that’s ranked pretty highly in this division. The five year old son of Pivotal owned by Tazdevil Stables was claimed for $75,000 back in September of last year, and the job these connections have done with this horse in a short period of time is nothing short of remarkable. After a switch to a few turf races, Tazdevil Stables put this guy back on the dirt about five starts back and stretched him out in distance. And what he’s done is win two of his five starts on the dirt and finished second twice. One of those second place finishes was in the $500,000 Grade 2 Big Show Stakes in Hong Kong two starts back, where he finished a very game second to Dead Zone. Madddog Unleashed opened up a nine-length lead on the field in Hong Kong in that race and finished with a 103 speed figure. That tied his career high in that department. He’s run this 16-furlong distance on the dirt twice in his career, and he’s won one and finished second in the other. He’s also run two miles on the turf and picked up a third place check in an allowance event in Italy last year on Christmas Day. This guy can definitely get the distance, and like a couple others in here, he loves to bounce out of the gate quickly and go for the lead. He’ll have to deal with River Spirit and Gaining Speed on the front end here, no doubt. But if he can rein in a little of that early speed, this horse could be really dangerous in this spot. Maddog Unleashed has 24 career starts, with ten wins and eight other in-the-money finishes. This guy knows how to pick up a check, and he’s finally found his home in these longer distance events. He will most likely pick up another check here, so watch this guy carefully. This is only his third start at two miles on the dirt, but he’s shown us he can run with the best two starts back. He might be another one to keep your eye on in this spot.
6 — DEAD ZONE (SAF) Owner: Given Stables: Fire And Blood (tripwire)
Odds: 2/1 (Daylami (IRE) x Darshaan (ENG) x Sir Ivor)
Dead Zone is ranked number four in this older males long dirt division and really is just stretching his legs here in preparation for his second run at the Breeders’ Bowl Dirt Marathon Championship in November. He’s had a very nice season, winning three of six races, including two graded stakes events. He won the Grade 3 Olympic Torch in China in February with a 105 speed figure, and then he came back two starts ago in July and crossed over into Hong Kong, where he scored huge in the $500,000 Grade 2 The Big Show Stakes. Both of those were 16-furlong races. He popped his highest speed figure (109) of the year last time out in the 14-furlong Grade 3 Europe Stayer in Surrey. He came from way back in that race to get up for third, just two lengths or so behind the winner, the German-bred Tempus Uno. A couple furlongs more and Dead Zone might have picked up his tenth graded stakes win there. Dead Zone won this Grade 1 Monster Mash a couple years back in 2009, and he relishes the 16-furlongs he’ll be seeing here in Portugal this weekend. If you think Dead Zone’s nine graded stakes wins are impressive, check out his past performance charts. He’s gone 24 consecutive races without dipping below the 100 speed figure mark. That’s incredibly consistent, especially for a horse who’s run in as many graded stakes events as he has during that period. The six year old dark grey son of Daylami is one of two entries here from Given Stables. The other is the five year old River Spirit, who’s ranked 65th in this division and will likely be the rabbit for Dead Zone here. Dead Zone likes to come with a late rush from far off the pace in his races, and he’ll probably do more of the same here with River Spirit pushing the early pace and trying to set up some fast early fractions for his stable mate Dead Zone.