A purse of $250,000 is up for grabs in The Cougar Bite Classic, part of the Bargain Bred Racing Series this week in New Jersey. A fine field of 9 diverse bargain bred runners will try to take home the top prize. But make no mistake; this is a high quality field with allowance, stake and graded winners entered in the 10 furlong turf test. <\/p>\n
REV’S HERCULEAN (HIGH BRITE X HERCULEAN)
Capricorn trains this ultra consistent runner. He has been in the money in 9 of 11 starts this year, and has earned purse money in every outing! Has blossomed into a solid turf router this year, as a 4 year old running his high SP# of 91 recently. Present owner bought the colt out of an auction midway through his 3 year old season, and has done a very nice job with him. <\/p>\n
JAVA KINGDOM (KINGDOM OF SPAIN X MI SELECTO)
This hard knocking 5 year old horse ran a solid 4th in the recent Bargain Arc race, over the same distance on the lawn. He\u2019s won 9 of 26 races on the green stuff, and is multiple stakes placed. As a 4 year old, he reeled off 5 straight wins for jdoggtx, after the crafty trainer picked him up in a $2,500 claiming race. This horse likes the distance, and has posted a lifetime best SP of 97; major factor in this one. <\/p>\n
WICKED SABER (PETERSBURG X THOWRA(FR))
Only 1 career win, but the 5 year old horse has been in the money in 15 of 22 life time turf starts. He was 3rd last out for a $13,500 tag, but had several nice allowance placings earlier this year. Lilscoobi picked him up in a $7,500 claim last year, and promptly posted 3 straight 3rd place finishes in an allowance and 2 stake events. Form is currently a bit off however, and will have to improve to be competitive. <\/p>\n
PEPE’S PIPES (SINGINGINTHERAIN X IRON)
Bred and owned by Dundey5, who sends out the Bargain Arc winner in search of his second straight bargain race score. The colt has done very nicely in his short career, winning 8 of 13 races on turf and over $260,000 in purse money. He is a grade 3 winner, and was a decent 4th recently in a grade 1 event. The 4 year old has a lifetime best SP# of 109, which justifies his 3-2 odds. I think he will be challenged here however, and may find it hard to repeat his 5 length Bargain Arc winning performance. <\/p>\n
SANDY PAUNCHI (FIGHTING FIT X TATE GALLERY)
This 7 year old war horse has 67 races worth of experience, and has hit the board in 35 of them. He has in excess of $300,000 in earnings and is a multiple stake winner on the grass. Currently trained by writer, he enjoyed his best year as a 5 year old, posting a lifetime high SP of 104, running in predominantly stake company. He would need to recapture some of that past glory to contend here, but he has run well of late winning 3 of his last 6 claiming starts. <\/p>\n
HAPLESS (FRENCH ENVOY X STRIKE GOLD)
This solid 4 year old has 6 wins to his credit and purse earning of more then $120,000. Excellent pick up by justeng from a 10K claimer 5 starts back; he has really come into his own. He has 2 wins and 2 seconds in his 4 starts since, running in starter allowance company, with his last out producing a career best 98 SP#. That success has all come over the main track, but he shows some nice lines on the green stuff as a 3 year old. Big chance today, and seems the likely spoiler for the favorite if he can make the switch to turf. <\/p>\n
CLIPPED WINGS (AKAABER X STORM CREEK)
Another Bargain Arc starter, this 4 year old colt was 6th in that event. He then bounced back with a very nice win against starter allowance foes. He ran a 90 SP# that day, winning easily over 9 furlongs on the turf. The horse did not run much in his first 2 seasons, but has come around nicely since being picked up by lgbost9, and concentrating on turf racing. Probably needs to improve a bit more to be a major factor here, but could be in the exotic bet picture.<\/p>\n
CLEARANCE CLARENCE (STORM OF INDYA X NORTHERN HAL(IRE))
Bred and owned by vimes, this 4 year old continues to improve. He was 3rd in the Bargain Arc, and ran 2 excellent races at 10 furlongs on the turf prior to that. The first was an easy win in his 3 year old debut, an MSW and the second in an allowance race earlier this year, posting a 96 SP#. Very consistent horse and has been running against solid competition. Major player in this race I believe.<\/p>\n
SHARPEN THE AXE(NZ) (DON EDUARDO (NZ) X UNBRIDLED SUCCESS)
Only a 3 year old, this colt has run well on the turf this year, winning 4 races already. Looks to be nice claim for susie, in the start before last, which was a win over 9 furlongs against older in a solid 88. May be in a little too deep in this race, but the colt has a promising future.<\/p>\n
Picks:<\/p>\n
1st – Pepe\u2019s Pipes #4
2nd – Clearance Clarence #8
3rd – Hapless #6
4th – Java Kingdom #2<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
8 others try to take their bite!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":154,"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-1146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146","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\/154"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}