Last week was a tough field to handicap as an older group of 4 and over competed in a maiden special weight race.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Many in the field raced frequently, more often then I care for so I went with those that seemed to have decent rest.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>My top pick Pennachio tanked and finished a well-back fourth.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN>My second choice, My Own Jules cut all the fractions and got caught at the wire, beaten by a quarter length and finished third.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>13-1 Stampcity was my third choice and he showed no competitiveness at all, finishing well off the board. Ok, we know who finished second but who won?\u00a0 <\/SPAN>That went to A Phoo Bet who pressured the leader throughout the race and took over in the late stages paying $19.30 for the win and connecting in a $52.10 exacta.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Immediately after the race, A Phoo Bet was retired and bred over. Salty Pleasure got the third spot, not tiring as badly as others, but well behind the top two, capping off a trifecta that paid $133.90. This week, Washington is the site of the Spotlight race with a focus on the first race, a Local Bred Race.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Just like last week, we are looking at a wet track.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The race is a $5,000 claimer open to all 3 year olds and up, going a distance of a mile on a sloppy dirt track. 1. \u00a0\u00a0<\/SPAN>Stone Cat\u00a0 <\/SPAN>\u00a0<\/SPAN>5-2\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN>-Best speeds have come at mile distance.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Returns to mile after trying sprints and turf.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>This will be first start on off-track so performance is an unknown on messy surface.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>However, making the move to\u00a0 <\/SPAN>a mile sure looks like a good move. 2.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Can\u2019t Be Sanbec\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN>83-1\u00a0 <\/SPAN>-Speeds have been way below others in this race.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Drops back to claimers, which is better fit.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Comes back to dirt and mile where best speed was established.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Doesn\u2019t look like much on paper but is making second start back after significant race and may like the mud. 3.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Nacho Chachin\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN>9-1\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN>– Horse took nice rest between November and beginning of February and put in decent 2nd<\/SUP> in turf claimer and speed of 76.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Returned last week and overmatched in allowance, but big drop in speed to 67.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Returns to dirt with one week of rest which concerns me with his readiness.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He has done fairly well on off-track with a third and fourth.\u00a0 <\/SPAN> 4.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Beaver Country\u00a0 <\/SPAN>9-1\u00a0 <\/SPAN>– 3-year old with decent 2-0-2 record in 6 starts.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Has improved speed number to 80 over last three races.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Had tough time in allowance back in September going mile.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Big drop to low claimers here from allowance and has a win on off track.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Bears watching. 5.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Billings Bad Boy\u00a0 <\/SPAN>10-1\u00a0 <\/SPAN>– On the board 12 times in 14 races, but has never been in field over 6 runners before.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>\u00a0<\/SPAN>On the board three times on off-track, again misleading with small fields.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Drops out of allowance local breds to the claiming ranks, a level where he has picked up his two career wins.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Will be tested here. 6.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Otto B\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN>5-1\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN>– Makes return after a 2-month layoff.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>May be a bit rusty and need this race to get into swing of things, which could make him dangerous next time out.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Has one win going route in 22 starts, but 7 seconds.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Was running speeds in upper 70\u2019s before rest break and could get piece of the pie.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Has a second on off track in two outings. 7.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Mah Chachin\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN>14-1\u00a0 <\/SPAN>– Returns to dirt after pair of runs on turf where he earned a win.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Has had mixed results on dirt and from the standpoint of speeds, they are looking better on the turf.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Never raced on an off track and if he finds a liking to it, he could turn an upset.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>This is first race back since August and most likely will see this race as a tune-up for him. 8.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Awesome Rahy\u00a0 <\/SPAN>31-1\u00a0 <\/SPAN>– Horse has had hard time breaking through 70-speed level, putting him at disadvantage.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Looks to be at proper level but may not like the rain.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He tried the wet turf surface in last start and results were not good.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>My thoughts are that the sloppy dirt track won\u2019t work to his benefit either. 9.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Local Mi\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN>6-5\u00a0 <\/SPAN>– Has been popping speeds of mid to upper 80\u2019s lately which has come on the turf.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Returns to dirt for first time since September, where speeds were lower, but in sprints.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Has one race on sloppy track which he won with speed of 85 last June, and that came on this very track.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Capable of cursing here.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>\u00a0<\/SPAN> The favorite Local Mi looks very good here and gets 30% winning jockey Radzinski aboard.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>This race is his if he wants it. Beaver Country has been showing improvement in speed over recent races.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Gets a good jockey in Simien who has won 25% of starts this year.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Nice payoff could be coming from this one. Stone Cat keeps showing that he likes the mile distance.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He\u2019s set up well here and as long as the wet track doesn\u2019t bother him, he should score a spot on the board. Local Breds Take to Slop<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/363"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10024\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}