North Dakota plays host to a short field for \u2018The Admiral Sickly Challenge,\u2019 a 9 \u00bd furlong race over the fast dirt for 4 year olds and up. All entries will be trying to bring home the bulk of the $30,000 purse as they come down the stretch Saturday. Quit eating the hot dog and pay attention. Ok, here we go.<\/p>\n
(PP1 \u2013 7\/1) Perfect Fit, of the Phillyfarm stable, is one of the co-long shots of the race. This Red Ransom X Seattle Slew X Pass The Glass 5 year old has never fired over a 98 SP # in his career at this distance. Of his 31 career races, Perfect Fit has run 25 races on the dirt with only 3 wins, but has hit the board in 15 of those 25 races. Of his 26 career races routes he has 3 wins and 16 in the money finishes. Those low SP #s won\u2019t be good enough here since three of the entries average a 100 SP # and another entry has topped a 100 SP # in his career before today. Perfect Fit may finish in the top five, but it will only be because he is in a very short field.<\/p>\n
(PP2 \u2013 9\/2) Auror World, of the Auror stable, is one of the three entries that averages a 100 SP # at or near this distance. This Spinning World X Storm Cat X Forty Niner 5 year old horse is the second highest ranked Dirt Classic entry in the race currently holding the # 242 ranking. Although he typically runs in longer races, the last time Auror World ran a 9 furlong dirt race he fired a 103 SP # and just ran out of ground as he was closing on the leader coming down the stretch and had to settle for a 3rd place finish. His most notable recent race was his entry in the Equinics (G1) race going 2 miles. Auror World finished in 4th, firing a 94 SP #. If he fires like he did in his last race at this distance he could be in the winner\u2019s circle.<\/p>\n
(PP3 \u2013 7\/1) Northern Link(IRE), of the Acote stable, is the other co-long shot of the race. This Sligo Bay(IRE) X Northern Baby X Unbridled 4 year old colt has the lowest average SP # in the race and the lowest career high SP # in the race. He is also the only entry to have run for a claiming tag in his career. Northern Link(IRE) loves to run at this distance, but he is clearly overmatched here. He could be a very competitive allowance or starter allowance horse at this distance, but his numbers aren\u2019t good enough for Stakes company, even in a short field. I would be surprised if he doesn\u2019t finish last today.<\/p>\n
(PP4 \u2013 5\/2) Bob\u2019s Orchestra, of the Claim stable, is the second choice according to the morning line odds. This Stravinsky X Avenue Of Flags X Carnivalay 4 year old colt is the top ranked Dirt Classic entry in the race currently holding the # 170 ranking with 46 Stakes points. Although he only has 2 career wins in 18 career routes, Bob\u2019s Orchestra has hit the board in half of those 18 races. No other horse in the field has come close to his career high SP # of 111, which he fired in a 2nd place finish in The Northern Derby (G3) as a 3 year old. Bob\u2019s Orchestra is looking to continue the form he showed his LTO as he fired a 109 SP # at this distance finishing up just shy with a 2nd place finish. Extremely deep closer, look for Bob\u2019s Orchestra to run like a Yugo early and like a Formula One race car as the pass the third call. Definite top three finish and if it\u2019s a slow pace will be a tough one to cross off as definite winner today.<\/p>\n
(PP 5 \u2013 7\/2) Second Act, of the Betdahouse stable, is making his debut for his new stable today just weeks after being purchased in the auction for over $2 million dollars. This Kingmambo X King\u2019s Wailea X Golden Act 5 year old has only finished out of the money once in his last 7 races. He doesn\u2019t have as high a SP # average as the top three horses in the race, but he can top a 100 SP # on occasion. Second Act will be attempting a return to Stakes company today for the first time since his 3 year old season. He absolutely loves this distance. The only question is how he will respond to his new trainer and his return to tougher company. Interesting choice today. Could upset one of the top three today, but not a clear cut choice to hit the board. Up to you on how you play this one.<\/p>\n
(PP6 \u2013 2\/1) K\u2019s Inkognito, of the Kuovadis stable, is the morning line favorite and for numerous reasons. This Sadler\u2019s Wells X Mr. Prospector X Nureyev 4 year old colt has the top jockey aboard today in W. Von Wedel who has a 22 % win percentage. He also has be bluest of blue bloodlines in the race. Add all that to the fact that K\u2019s Inkognito has won 6 of 10 races on the dirt and 6 of his 12 distance races. In his last 8 races, the only time he fired less than a 100 SP # was when he ran over 10 furlongs. His last two attempts have been at the 9 \u00bd furlong distance when he wired a field of 4 year olds in a higher level allowance race and then in his LTO when he ran 2nd in The Mr. Pro Challenge. K\u2019s Inkognito runs his best when he is either in the lead out of the gate or just off the shoulder of the leader. If he drops back of the lead pack today he could be in trouble since he doesn\u2019t close as well as some of the deep closers. If he up front, though, he could put enough distance between himself and any chance any horse in the field could catch him before the wire. I would bet this one to win all the way.<\/p>\n
Bigbaba<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Winner is in Disguise<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"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-1977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1977","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\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1977\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}