{"id":1269,"date":"2005-12-02T11:34:11","date_gmt":"2005-12-02T11:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blacktypebugler.com\/?p=1269"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"oldbtb_1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/?p=1269","title":{"rendered":"Oh, Those ‘Tricky’ Texans"},"content":{"rendered":"

This weekend in <\/SPAN>Texas<\/SPAN><\/st1:place><\/st1:State>, the Sim offers a turf sprint for juveniles, the $55,000 Tricky Selection Special, for two-year-olds running five-and-a-half furlongs.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The namesake for this race specialized in grass sprinting, and did well for himself in allowance company at those shorter distances.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Previous races named in Tricky Selection\u2019s honor were won by Celtic Biter and Sober The Second in 2004.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>This year, the juveniles have their say.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>It\u2019s a compact field of five making the dash over firm going in the Lone Star state.<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

\u00a0<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

Topsider Kailey<\/SPAN><\/B> [Kailey Senor x Topsider] is a unique homebred, one of just three horses sired in the whole of the Sim by Kailey Senor, and he became his sire\u2019s first stakes winner, with a wire-to-wire score last out in a Jamaica stakes race. \u00a0<\/SPAN>He has improved his results with the discovery of a running preference: this colt likes to make the lead, and has improved his figs by going to the front in middle-distance sprints (six-and-a-half furlongs).\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The representative of the stable of maidendash<\/I><\/B> has won two straight, and should be alive in this spot, but he won\u2019t get lonely on the front end here, and it\u2019s a good furlong shorter than where he\u2019s usually been at his best.<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

\u00a0<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

Ojai Green(GB)<\/SPAN><\/B> [Almutawakel(GB)-Green Thunder, by Thunder Gulch] has had a lengthy two-year-old seasons; he debuted on February 26 and has been on the move ever since, with ten starts to date on the season.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Start #11 should be as challenging as the first ten, as he only has a maiden win on the season.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Trainer ojai4keith<\/I><\/B> returns him to the grass for the third time; previous tries have been mixed blessings, with a second two back in a grass stakes and an eleventh in allowance company marking his other efforts.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He was on the lead in the former, and sank like a stone in the latter, but neither really inspires a lot of confidence in his future on the grass.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He should also be on or near the pace in this, but he appears to be better suited for longer on the dirt.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Yet, a couple of things to keep in mind: the dirt-to-turf angle can be an effective training tool sometimes, and there\u2019s not a lot of horses he needs to beat here, just four opponents.<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

\u00a0<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

Kirby Country<\/SPAN><\/B> [Cat Country x Fast Play] is making his tenth start for the barn of kirby66<\/I><\/B>, and this two-time stakes winner has found a home on the grass.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He\u2019s a stalker who has an affinity for the five-and-a-half panel distance, winning his first two tries at the distance to start his career.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>His numbers are fair, into the 70s regularly, and his recent efforts found him getting a bit too close to the flame of the pace.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>A better rating job improves his chances against these, but some higher figs in the past performances would make a handicapper feel better.<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

\u00a0<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

Mr. Kirby<\/SPAN><\/B> [High Yield x Forty Niner] is lightly raced for trainer golong<\/I><\/B>, with three starts thus far and just a lone maiden win, all starts coming in <\/SPAN>Puerto Rico<\/SPAN><\/st1:place>.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>His one turf race came at this distance last time out, and earned him a 69 for the trouble, which falls under most of these starters\u2019 best figs.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He should be in stalking mode here in his stakes debut, too, but better days still should lie ahead upon a return to what appears to be his preferred surface, and maybe some added ground will rally to his cause.<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

\u00a0<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

Conspiracy<\/SPAN><\/B> [Palace Music x Dayjur] is no silly, willy-nilly ol\u2019 entry for pooh<\/I><\/B>, but at two starts he\u2019s the most lightly raced of these, his maiden win coming last time out with a 78 on dirt.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>This is both his stakes and grass debuts, and it\u2019s a relatively easy spot to give it a go and see what happens.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He has a pedigree for sprinting and turf racing, wired them last out, and there\u2019s no reason on paper to suspect he might not be able to handle these conditions.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Still, he\u2019s compressing these starts over a four-week span, with every other week off, which isn\u2019t often done with juveniles even this late in the year.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>And, as many know, sometimes just because the pedigree screams \u201c<\/SPAN>TURF<\/SPAN><\/st1:stockticker>\u201d doesn\u2019t make it translate necessarily to turf success.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>With his speed, he should be leader of this quintet for a spell.<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

\u00a0<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

My selections:<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

\u00a0<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

  1. Kirby Country<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/B><\/LI>
  2. Topsider Kailey<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/B><\/LI>
  3. Conspiracy<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/B><\/LI>
  4. Mr. Kirby<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/B><\/LI>
  5. Ojai Green(GB)<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/B><\/LI><\/OL>

    <\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

    Good luck, and happy racing.<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Could Texas Be ‘Kirby Country’? Four Other Juvies Say, Not So Fast…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"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-1269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1269","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\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1269\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}