This week’s Saturday feature at Japan is the Grade 3 $800,000 CBC Sprint, a 6-furlong dash for all horses 3 years and older. Nine are entered, featuring the #17-ranked turf sprinter, HAGUENAU<\/b>.<\/p>\n
SOLEDUCK RIVER<\/b> is a 5yo by Fusaichi Pegasus trained by cocoabeach<\/i>. He has a solid performance a few races back in a graded stakes at this course, but seems to have regressed some since and will need to turn his form around to compete with this bunch; this is reflected in his 16\/1 win price as set by the CPU handicapper.<\/p>\n
NEIDERREITER<\/b> is a seeming dirt-bred by Hard Spun who has found a home in turf sprints. Has been on fire lately, going 2 of 3 in turf stakes. However, the nywinger<\/i> trainee takes his first crack at graded-stakes company. The shorter distance should help, but he’ll have to be at his best to make a dent at 6\/1.<\/p>\n
HOPE AND SPEIGHT<\/b> has a nice record on dirt, but has found a new racing life on the sod. The 5yo son of Speightstown has yet to miss the podium in a grass race, and he barely missed in a grade 2 7-furlong affair a few races ago. The fireslam<\/i> trainee also was 2nd to S R GIANTS at Japan in a February allowance dash. Gets respect as a 9\/2 2nd choice in the betting.<\/p>\n
SHEIK DJIBOUTI<\/b> was tried in stakes company early in his career and bombed badly. Trainer rackme32<\/i> was smart enough then to back off from the stakes crowd with his Rock Of Gibraltar colt, but that trainer has caught a “case of the stupids” since his runner got hot at age 5, and sends him across the globe for this effort. Of course, I can say these things about this trainer, because he is in fact… me. That 118 speed figure from a few races back has black-type dancing in my head… \ud83d\ude42 Apparently, the same thing is obscuring the CPU’s judgment as he gets ridiculous 7\/2 favoritism.<\/p>\n
SCOTCH MIST<\/b> is the only stakes-winner to come from little-used New Zealand sire Falkirk. The 4yo colt is trained by looseones<\/i> and goes off at 9\/1 here. He won last time out on his favored “good” course, but doesn’t get that benefit today and will need a big effort in this spot.<\/p>\n
S R GIANTS<\/b> is a 4yo trained by lordpye3<\/i> going off at 7\/1. The Key Of Luck colt nabbed his first graded-stakes trophy last time out when he got up in the very last jump to eke out a nose victory in a grade 2 at Berkshire. He’s been running well overall lately, and has an allowance win over HOPE AND SPEIGHT<\/b> on this racecourse.<\/p>\n
HAGUENAU<\/b> has won a pair of graded stakes races and is ranked #17 in the older-horses turf sprint division. The 5\/1 shot has also been close-up in his three other graded tries, and has also amassed five non-graded stakes wins while earning $927k under the watchful eye of leesnyder.<\/i> The 4yo Deep Impact colt usually stays well back then unleashes a strong stretch drive.<\/p>\n
SHATTER ZONE<\/b>, co-2nd choice at 9\/2, is a 5yo son of Encosta De Lago with a pair of graded 3 titles in his holster along with a $701k bankroll. Comes into this sharp with his last being a grade 3 win. The gipper9<\/i> trainee has a huge 116 speed figure at this course, in a November grade 3 win. Looks to be holding all the aces, will be tough to beat.<\/p>\n
ARNOLDTOWN<\/b> has 8 wins and a pair of 2nd’s in his last 10 starts with one stakes win. A 4yo colt by lightly-used Kentucky sire U S Ranger out a Fantastic Light mare, the sprinter3<\/i> trainee is certainly at the top of his game with 4 straight wins, and travels halfway around the globe to make this spot. This is quite a class climb, but the colt is very talented. Your guess is as good as mine… Gets juicy 8\/1 odds.<\/p>\n
Okay, time to handicap this wide-open affair…<\/p>\n
I’ll take SHATTER ZONE<\/b> on top; has the stalking style that seems to fit this, and loves the course.<\/p>\n
HAGUENAU<\/b> will be charging up there late.<\/p>\n
S R GIANTS<\/b> and HOPE AND SPEIGHT<\/b> should be battling for the 3rd spot.<\/p>\n
Good luck all!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Non-Stakeswinner Sheik Djibouti Surprising 7\/2 Fave<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":247,"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-10265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10265","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\/247"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10265\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}