{"id":1713,"date":"2006-02-16T09:50:15","date_gmt":"2006-02-16T09:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blacktypebugler.com\/?p=1713"},"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=1713","title":{"rendered":"Look of Eagles – Washington Winter Hopes"},"content":{"rendered":"



It\u2019s a winter of discontent here in Washington as the Super Bowl starved fans of the Seattle Seahawks drift back to their Starbucks and mutter to their neighbors about what could have been. Amidst all the talk of NFL conspiracies and phantom flags, the Seahawks and their fans know deep down that they let a Super Bowl victory, and the resulting immortality, slip out of there fingers. This attitude might be mirrored in the faces of a couple owners Saturday after the Celestial Quill Memorial<\/EM> for older fillies and mares. Several fillies have a chance to get their first stakes win, and with a short five horse field, failing to come up with a big performance will leave plenty of time for reflection.

Follow the Path<\/STRONG> is one such filly. A regally bred daughter of Sadler\u2019s Wells, she has three career wins, all in turf sprints. Follow the Path has never routed on the turf, so she may relish the two turns. The last time she saw a mile was in her first career race, though that was on the dirt. This will be the first stakes race for Follow the Path so we\u2019ll have to see how she adjusts to that. She tends to run toward the back of the pack, making a run at the leaders as they turn for home. First time in a turf route and first time in a stakes race leave plenty of questions but she has the class to answer them.

Gone Skiing<\/STRONG> is the favorite in the race. Will the Winter Olympics karma lend an assist and bring this Gone West filly home to the winner\u2019s circle? OK, so maybe you aren\u2019t watching the Winter Olympics either, but Gone Skiing certainly will flirt with victory Saturday if you tune in. A winner of six races, Gone Skiing, like Follow the Path, started her career on the dirt and has since moved onto the turf with good success. She has won a stakes race at 8 furlongs, which is the reason she\u2019s been installed as the favorite. Gone Skiing registered a 98 SF in that race. She\u2019s also won a stakes at 8.5 furlong. A confirmed frontrunner on the turf, she\u2019ll take the lead in the Celestial Quill and attempt to run everyone else into the turf. Almost a lock to finish top 3.

Tete Proverre<\/STRONG> has won four straight races and eight of her last nine. Even more impressively, six of those have been at a mile. A former claimer, Tete Proverre has won five races since being claimed by Mitch23<\/EM>. \u201cShe has always been a winner. This filly just goes out there and competes. She sits back and lets the race unfold then finishes strong every time out,\u201d said the focused trainer. Class is a huge question mark for Tete Proverre, she\u2019s never run in anything larger than a 24K NW2x. However, it\u2019s difficult to ignore her consistency at a mile and she\u2019s won 10 of her 21 career races. I don\u2019t know if she can close on the stakes caliber speed that Gone Skiing is going to exhibit, but she will probably never have a better opportunity to make a top 3 in a Stakes.

The older mare Miss Gracie<\/STRONG> is the long shot in the field. She won a turf stakes at nine furlongs last year, but interestingly hasn\u2019t tried a Stakes route since then. A recent allowance score at 7.5 furlongs suggests she is sharp for Saturdays race. Miss Gracie will lock up with Gone Skiing early on and will keep the race honest. Could certainly put it together and win with a good trip.

GR Emperess<\/STRONG> is an intriguing entry. This Empire Maker filly has never won a stakes race, but is placed in a GIII at 8.5 furlongs. She has always been a steady runner but has never broken through to the next level. This will be only her second start on the turf. She had a third place showing in an 8 furlong allowance race early in her three year old season and hasn\u2019t tried it since then. An unknown wild card, she could run a huge number and win going away or she could run an uninspiring 4th. Like Follow the Path and Tete Proverre this is a golden opportunity for her to get her first Stakes victory.

This race seems like it will play out in a pretty straightforward fashion. Miss Gracie and Gone Skiing are going to duel for the lead. The one who gets it will have an excellent chance to go gate to wire on the field. The three horses chasing them, Follow the Path, Tete Proverre and GR Emperess have never won a Stakes race. GR Emperess has shown she can close in the stretch from the stalking position she assumes, but that has been on the dirt, it\u2019s unknown whether or not that will carry over on the turf. Tete Proverre and Follow the Path will need to run down a Stakes caliber frontrunner for the first time. Should be exciting drama and we\u2019ll which horse seizes the glory and which will be left muttering about what could have been.
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Runners try and avoid Seahawk blues<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":459,"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-1713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1713","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\/459"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1713\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}