{"id":1729,"date":"2006-02-17T02:04:06","date_gmt":"2006-02-17T02:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blacktypebugler.com\/?p=1729"},"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=1729","title":{"rendered":"Old Waterford stake looks wide open"},"content":{"rendered":"

By ITCH<\/STRONG><\/P>

What kind of crazed sonofagun opens up both a TVG and Party Poker account in the same week?<\/P>

Why, your friendly West Virginia reporter, of course.<\/P>

Just in case you thought Drunken Morning Line Oddsmaker Charlie Hoops was a nut, we’ll let you know our idea of a good time: We like to sit at our computer with the television tuned to TVG. Windows we like to have open are the PPs from the Daily Racing Form, the TVG bet window and a table from a nice, no-limit Texas Holdem tournament.<\/P>

Action, baby. We love it.<\/P>

Probably has something to do with where we grew up, in Steubenville, Ohio, right across the river from the real-life Old Waterford, Mountaineer Park. (Well, not right across. East Liverpool is right across, but who in the hell would want to live there?) The three most famous people from Steubenville are Dean Martin, Jimmy the Greek and Traci Lords (real name, Nora Jean Kuzma). So, you have a singer, a gambler and a porn star. Kind of clues you in on what kind of town Steubenville is. Jimmy the Greek, whose real last name is Synodinos, and whose brother, John, once was mayor of nearby Wintersville, said the reason Dean Martin had to become a singer was because he was a lousy craps dealer.<\/P>

So, now you know why there was no West Virginia article last week. I was busy.<\/P>

I’m still busy, but I’m writing my article this week.<\/P>

The $35,000, 8.5-furlong OLD COMPTON STREET(IRE) CHALLENGE<\/STRONG> for 3yo fillies is about as wide open a race as you’re going to find. Every single one of the 11 fillies in here is running speed figs in the 80s. Six of the 11 have been first or second in a stakes race. The even nature of the field is reflected in Charlie’s morning line, in which he makes Ssutton’s <\/EM>FOREST ASSASSIN<\/STRONG> a tepid 5-1 favorite, and makes no fewer than four fillies as co-second choices at 6-1 each. There are a lot of trainers who quite rightly are thinking this is their race Saturday.<\/P>

As always, we are running down the contenders in qualifying order.<\/P>

In terms of stakes points, Nextbonus’<\/EM> BIG TIME STAR<\/STRONG> is a standout, with 25, compared with 13 for the next-best qualifier. She’s back with her friends here Saturday and can be expected to show a much-improved effort. That sprint against the boys last out here at the Spa of the Appalachians was just too short for her, and Jocko Maloney just couldn’t get her going fast enough. He got fired anyway, and you can hardly blame Nextbonus, as he’s got leading jockey S. Tate in the irons. Really, I am going to draw a line through the last two for Big Time Star, as the race before that was in graded company. With those two races out of consideration, Big Time Star makes perfect sense in here because she’s run very well in races at this class and distance. There is no reason to think Nextbonus can’t get off the schneid here in the West Virginia Stakes Competition, and speed up that slow 1-15 start the Canisminor barn is off to so far this year. Safe to say we are rooting for this class gentleman of the Sim.<\/P>

On the outside of the front row qualifying-wise is Wassie’s <\/EM>TRIGGER’S GIRL G<\/STRONG> out of his zz barn, who represents the first half of a very strong entry for the two-time defending West Virginia Stakes Competition champ. Like Big Time Star<\/STRONG>, she also tried the sprint here against the boys last out and never fired, finishing 10th. Before that, she won a stake this class and distance in California, earning a big 90 speed fig while she was still a 2yo, which is the best speed fig at this distance for any filly in the field, a very potent handicapping angle. Wassie is in very good shape in this race with the entry, as this filly likes to run on the front, and the other half, SWORD OF PGPG<\/STRONG>, is a closer. First and second would be eight points and a very likely third straight championship for Wassie. This filly has run two very strong races this class and distance and has every right to win Saturday.<\/P>

Qualifying third is the only non-contest filly in the top four, Simond2’s<\/EM> OCEANFRONT<\/STRONG>. This daughter of Malibu Moon has enough talent to be competitive in stakes races, showing a couple of times, but hasn’t quite been able to go over the top as far as winning or placing in a stake. Adding to her challenge in here is the fact that she likes to run on the front end, and there are several early-pace types in here, including the classy Trigger’s Girl G<\/STRONG>. The Simond2 barn is cold so far this year, at only 1-20. I am going to leave this one off my trifecta tickets.<\/P>

The fourth qualifier, Wassie’s <\/EM>SWORD OF PGPG<\/STRONG>, out of his dgdg barn, also looks a lot like Big Time Star<\/STRONG> form wise and gives the two-time defending champ a very strong entry here. She was kicking butt against fillies in stakes races going longer, then just couldn’t get going fast enough here in a six-furlong sprint against the boys. Two differences are that Sword of Pgpg has only had one off form race, and that her good races were at 7 and 7.5 furlongs and not a route as she will go on Saturday. Good races is an understatement. This filly has been running great, winning three stakes races in a row and second in another. Like with Big Time Star, we’re drawing a line through that last race. That’s not our concern at all. What worries us in this race is a combination of other factors. First and foremost is whether she can run as well at 8.5 furlongs as she did at 7 and 7.5. She also caught a bad post, 11th and widest of all. She got a stone cold jockey in C. Cox, who is 1-24 this year. And, the zz barn is off to an even colder start than Canisminor<\/EM>, winning only 1 of 18 so far in 2006. So, Sword of Pgpg has some challenges facing her, but she also has the talent to overcome them. We’ll see.<\/P>

Next is Aaafarms’ <\/EM>SNOWBIRD’S SONG<\/STRONG>, who’s won four straight in allowance competition, but was sixth beaten seven lengths in her only stakes try. She has won at the distance, and her speed figs are competitive, but it remains to be seen if she is a stakes-quality filly, and she hasn’t exactly caught a soft field here. This is another barn which could use some warming, at 1-11 so far in 2006.<\/P>

Sixth qualifier is Rockriver2’s <\/EM>DESEEKER<\/STRONG>. This daughter of Dehere was in terrific stakes form until she tried two Grade I races, which proved to be beyond her for now. She conducted a good turf experiment last out, winning in allowance company, and tries another new trick here Saturday: routing. She was going right to the front at 7 and 7.5 furlongs, so this one could be the speed of the speed, which would not be surprising considering that Dehere is her daddy. This is another barn that’s off to a fairly slow start in 2005, winning 2 of 22 starts.<\/P>

Finally, we get to the favorite, Ssutton’s <\/EM>FOREST ASSASSIN<\/STRONG>, clear down in the seventh qualifying spot. Now, what does Charlie see in this one? True, she is in good form right now, winning two of her last three, but those were in stakes competition. It’s been a while since she ran in a stake, six starts ago way back in 2594. She might do it, but others in here are more accomplished and she certainly does not deserve to be the favorite. Of course, I’m not saying she can’t do it. One factor clearly working in her favor is that Ssutton is not cold this year as several of the barns are. He’s 6-24 so far in 2006 for a nice 25 percent strike rate. One factor clearly working against her is the 0-16 Z. Erickson in the irons.<\/P>

Eighth qualifier is ShamranK’s<\/EM> PULPRADO(IRE)<\/STRONG>, who Charlie has dismissed at 21-1. This is a filly who ran six straight clunkers after breaking her maiden, which dipped her value so low as to qualify her for a 75 CPU-restricted allowance, in which she woke up three back. That win was parlayed into an N2X score, but she got clocked last out in open allowance company. Hardly encouraging for the jump to stakes competition. She’s got the lowest earnings per start and the lowest last-race speed fig, and would be a real surprise to hit the board.<\/P>

Dougmatt’s <\/EM>STONE COLD BIRDIE<\/STRONG> is an interesting price filly at 8-1, although the price isn’t really very long considering the classy fillies who are 6-1 in here. She’s interesting because she’s proven at the class, having won a stake four back going 7 furlongs. She ran this distance two back in a stake and was soundly beaten, but we can disregard that dull effort because it was on a sloppy track. This one I could see running a little bit Saturday.<\/P>

Hijacked’s <\/EM>RE WESTERN GROOM<\/STRONG> is not without a shot at 10-1, especially if the front end gets hot. She’s a stone-cold closer, and just did not have enough ground to get going last out in the six-furlong sprint. She could come a running, at least for third, which would score two points for Hijacked Ted in the competition.<\/P>

Finally, we have the longshot PORT ELIZABETH<\/STRONG> out of the urso<\/EM> barn. She does get the capable Z. Watters in the irons, and is making her second start back off a layoff off a decent third going nine furlongs last out. This would be a filly we might include underneath in the trifectas, as she could be sitting on a big race, and showed last out she can get the route distance.<\/P>

Good luck everybody!!!!<\/STRONG><\/P>

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A number of fillies appear capable of winning<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"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-1729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1729","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\/225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1729\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}