Look back over the history of the Movieland Shiny Cup, and you start to understand what kind of an impact this race has.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The big guns converge on California in mid-July each year, and the world stops to pay attention:\u00a0 <\/SPAN>the best older horses in the SIM line up for their crack at one of the most prestigious races run over 1 \u00bc miles on dirt, but more often than not, the big names have their hearts broken and a longshot ends the day with his name in lights.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>With this context in mind, 12 horses have gathered for a share of the $1,000,000 pot, and the field is, as always, deep. Trainer tnilsson<\/I> trains the aptly named ESTROGEN<\/B>, who will break from post 1.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>As you may guess from the name, Estrogen is a filly, and the only filly in the race, but she missed the memo informing the world that fillies rarely compete at this level with the boys.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>She\u2019s coming off of a solid third in the GI Out Of The City Handicap over this trip two weeks ago, and presaged that performance with a victory here in AVOCADO BILL<\/SPAN><\/B>, in post position 2, is counting on that hot pace that Estrogen figures to be a part of to set up his closing kick.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>His victory last time out in the Brooke Lynn Stakes (GII) was visually impressive, as he turned a 5 \u00bd length deficit at the third call into a handy 2-length victory at the wire, and he looks to repeat that sort of a run today for trainer ruok<\/I>, but trainers are scratching their head with the jockey assignment.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>R Hoffman is on board today, and he sports only one win this year from 41 starts.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The field is too closely matched for Avocado Bill to cruise on talent alone, so a poor jock may be his undoing, and he is a 6\/1 underlay in this spot. SILVER CANUCK<\/SPAN><\/B>, in post position 3, comprises one half of the most interesting storyline that this race has to offer.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>This stalker is once again on the top of his game after suffering through a dry spell last fall, and he\u2019s out for blood while looking to improve on his #5 divisional ranking.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Following his narrow victory in the California Handicap (GI) over this trip and track this spring, he shipped to Trainer burnin<\/I> has SEEKING THE BRAVE<\/B> coming into this race looking for nothing but a little respect: the 5\/1 co-favorite has been knocking on the door in top company, but hasn\u2019t quite managed to get the job done as of late.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He comes in off of a 2nd<\/SUP> place finish to competitor Search and Conquer in the New Hampshire Handicap (GI) with a stellar 114 speed figure, but he\u2019s also a speedster who figures to get caught up in the hot pace.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Seeking The Brave has been best when he can clear the field early, and he probably can\u2019t do it today. WOODY\u2019S SMURFS<\/SPAN><\/B> is a 10\/1 shot for trainer galaxystar<\/I>, and if this were just \u201cany other race,\u201d he\u2019d be a throwout horse on the basis of sub par recent form.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>That said, his last effort was a strong 4th<\/SUP> in the New Hampshire Handicap, and that race stacks up as one of the fastest speed-number races run in this division in the recent past.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>As the 23rd<\/SUP> ranked horse in his division, he obviously has too much backclass to completely toss. NOTHINGBUTEASY<\/SPAN><\/B>, on the other hand, can be completely tossed.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He makes his first try in graded stakes company here, and I don\u2019t care how much potential he may have, he\u2019d be hard pressed to outrun these seasoned campaigners while taking such a huge leap in class.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Trainer jayhawkhhh<\/I> can\u2019t be faulted for taking a shot, but 4 races ago this colt couldn\u2019t manage to run to victory in an $8,700 allowance race.\u00a0 <\/SPAN> And then we get to the big horse.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>CALL OF THE WILD II<\/B> has managed, in only 14 lifetime starts, to secure the #1 ranking in the dirt classic division for trainer gipper8<\/I>, and comes in off of back-to-back wins in the Sand Castle Classic and GI Maryland Special Handicap.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>His only loss in his last four starts was to (you guessed it) Silver Canuk in the GI California Handicap. After turning the tables on him in LENO\u2019S CHIN <\/SPAN><\/B>suffers from the same fault as Nothingbuteasy: a lot of talent but not a lot of experience at this level.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Further, consider that this star of the sunline<\/I> stable has been first at the first call in all but one of his 11 most recent starts, and you know how he\u2019s going to try and run this race.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He\u2019s a good horse, but he\u2019s going to run into more talented speedsters capable of running him into the ground who won\u2019t hesitate to take it to him on the chin.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>How long before they land the knockout blow is the only question. Next in line we find a horse that seems to be popping up all over the place recently: SEARCH AND CONQUOR <\/B>has been climbing the rankings in recent weeks thanks in large part to a 2nd<\/SUP> to Call of the Wild II in the Maryland Special and a win over several of today\u2019s other live horses in the New Hampshire Handicap.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>His 115 speed figure in the KISSING COUSIN II<\/SPAN><\/B> is trained by Sherwood<\/I>, and he\u2019s a talented colt, especially in ungraded competition.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He was solidly beaten in the California Handicap, and then a closing but non-threatening third in a GIII race last time out.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Needs to step up in a big way to have a shot, but its not completely out of the question. Cjt<\/SPAN><\/I> continues his ambitious scheduling with 12\/1 shot LEAVE THE REEF<\/B>, who, despite a resurgence last time out in the Jerzey City Handicap (GIII), seems like a tired horse.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He wasn\u2019t just beaten in the Maryland Special and New Hampshire Handicaps, he was thrashed, and a poor jock doesn\u2019t help him here.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>If he somehow manages to pull his a-game out of the bag, he\u2019s dangerous, but that\u2019s an unlikely scenario. Hulk Spa<\/SPAN><\/B>, at 31\/1, is trained by patb<\/I>, and is, to put it nicely, ambitiously placed.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>In his last graded stakes try, he improved over his penultimate try against that company: instead of trailing home last, he at least beat one horse.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Last time out, however, he was seen in northern Silver Canuk, second in the Sand Castle Classic, here for the rematch<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":369,"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-127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127","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\/369"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}