{"id":21378,"date":"2014-05-05T20:41:25","date_gmt":"2014-05-06T01:41:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blacktypebugler.com\/?p=21378"},"modified":"2014-05-05T20:41:25","modified_gmt":"2014-05-06T01:41:25","slug":"rocky-shocks-the-spring-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/?p=21378","title":{"rendered":"Rocky shocks the Spring Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

By ITCH<\/strong><\/p>\n

You thought Equinics was a good story?<\/p>\n

DARK MANDU ($100.90)<\/strong> did indeed get a nice, long look at the back end of MAGNIFORMA<\/strong> in the Grade I Spring Cup<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Then, he passed her.<\/p>\n

Rocky’s 4yo bay son of Mountain High gained Simulated notoriety at Equinics when he ran second at 180-1.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Dark Mandu did one better.<\/p>\n

He won a loaded Spring Cup with a huge effort in only his fifth career start. As he did last out, Dark Mandu pressed a pace set by a Sim Hall of Famer, Magniforma. This time, Dark Mandu turned the tables on the great mare, and went by at the head of the lane.<\/p>\n

Then, Dark Mandu dug deep and kept going through late stretch to hold off Magoo’s<\/em> NINE TWO FIVE<\/strong>, who carried home a sustained run, got by Magniforma, but could not catch the winner.<\/p>\n

The longshot result touched off a wild celebration somewhere in the hills of California.<\/p>\n

“I was jumping up and dancing!” Rocky said. “My wife thinks I lost it.”<\/p>\n

Rocky, who has won a lot of big real-life dog races in his life, never won a Grade I in the Sim. He was overjoyed, and his friends in the game felt the same for him.<\/p>\n

One sweet thing about this year’s running of the Spring Cup is the camaraderie it created in the chat room, both before and after the race.<\/p>\n

It had to sting Frankster<\/em> when they caught Queen Maggie. (Although his huge victory elsewhere with GIMME in a Grade I provided a ready tonic for the pain.) But, what does he say Sunday night when Rocky comes into chat?<\/p>\n

“Welcome Grade I winning trainer Rockster!” Frank said.<\/p>\n

A high-class race brought out the class of the trainers involved.<\/p>\n

RACE RECAP:<\/p>\n

DARK MANDU:<\/strong> Rocky’s horse took the Sim world by such quick storm that the game’s odds calculator could not keep up. With a 51 speed figure among his last four races, his odds were distorted at 49-1. However. Dark Mandu’s victory came as no shock to Simulated railbirds (except maybe Tees.) Among is most staunch supporters in chat before the race was Masterm, who said a Grade I win was inevitable for Dark Mandu because of what he had managed in his first few races. It is among the more remarkable beginnings to any Simulated horse’s career. In taking down the $2.5 million Spring Cup, Dark Mandu upped his average earnings per start to almost $400,000. This guys makes money faster than Floyd Mayweather. “I never dreamed it would come from such an unlikely breeding,” Rocky said. “It’s fitting that he ran in The Best Horse I Ever Owned because he is it.”<\/p>\n

NINE TWO FIVE:<\/strong> Away in good enough order to beat most of the field around the first turn while saving ground in the two path. Raced in company with Gushing through early and middle stages, then started getting away from that one as they raced through the clubhouse turn the second time. Advanced past Fox of Westwood in the backstretch, then became a clear threat to the leading pair. Advanced at a rate on the turn for home to make you think he was going to get there. Ran up on them midstretch, swung three wide, got past Magniforma and missed. Only a huge effort by Dark Mandu prevented the frog man jockey from winning.<\/p>\n

MAGNIFORMA:<\/strong> No, this will not be the Queen’s last race. “I would like for her to go out on on top,” said Frankster. “I will likely send her out again.” The Italian Stallion has been threatening to retire the great Magniforma for some time now, but allowed he’d like to see another race after the Spring Cup. And, why not? She ran very well. Magniforma ran her race. She was away first, just like always. Any concerns pre-race that she might have company early quickly evaporated. Then, she started to pull away from Dark Mandu as they entered the backstretch the second time. For at least a few moments, it looked like Magnforma had run them off their feet again. But, it was not to be and Dark Mandu was best on this day. She only got beat a length and a quarter for all the money. Even at the advanced age of 7, Magniforma remains a force to be reckoned with in the Sim. The breeding shed is coming, but will have to wait for another day. Frank says the likely sire for Magniforma’s first foal will be Giant’s Causeway.<\/p>\n

REEK:<\/strong> Away a few steps slowly. let the field get away from him and dropped down to the three path around the first turn. Content to conserve energy early in 13th, saving ground along the rail. Began to advance as he crossed the finish line for the penultimate time. Passed horses in the two path around the clubhouse turn, then started advancing wide down the backstretch. Forced into the five path on the turn for him as he passed a wall of horses and started a serious late kick. Rolled past Gushing at the head of the lane but had too much ground left between himself and the top three in the lane. Advanced to be much the best of the others but was no threat to the top three.<\/p>\n

THANKS DUDE:<\/strong> Took back out of the gate and dropped down to the rail. Content to save energy early in 14th. Had a good view of Lenny’s Reek in front of him on the rail. Raced in open space as the rider was content to wait. Reek got away from him a little bit and he did not start passing horses until the backstretch, leaving him a gigantic deficit to overcome. Split horses down the backstretch while commencing a rally. was forced five wide turning for home advancing outside a wall of four. Finished willingly to split horses in late stretch and get up to be fifth. Casino Keith reported that he was not totally displeased with his horse’s effort, having made up so much ground against a difficult field.<\/p>\n

FOX OF WESTWOOD:<\/strong> A second-straight victory in the Spring Cup was not meant to be. Away alertly enough that the rider of Magniforma had to wait a few jumps before cutting down to the rail. Raced forwardly in the early stages. Forced the eventual winner to race in the two-path for the early and middle stages. Did not cede ground to Dark Mandu until the final time around the clubhouse turn. Watched Nine Two Five go by at the head of the backstretch and knew it would not be his day. Showed his class by carrying on with good speed while outraced back to fourth. Began to lose more ground on the turn for home. Watched Reek go by in early stretch. Lost another spot when Thanks Dude went by late<\/p>\n

GUSHING:<\/strong> Of all the losing runs in the Spring Cup, the most disappointing might be by Balata’<\/em>s filly, who many thought was a serious threat to upset the apple cart of Magniforma and Dark Mandu. However, it just was not Gushing’s day as she bounced off those recent big runs. Balata said before the race that Gushing would get a nice, long break after the Spring Cup. Turns out, she’s got one more non-dirt track date before her trip to the farm. “Planning ahead never has been a strong point of mine,” Balata joked. In the Spring Cup, Gushing got a nice, ground-saving trip, and raced in company with the eventual second-place runner, Nine Two Five. They both took off when it was time to go, but Nine Two Five took off a little faster and Gushing eventually flattened out.<\/p>\n

MONTSHAFT:<\/strong> Away a step slow in 12th, dropped down to save ground in the two-path around the first turn. Raced in company with Outback Voyager in the early stages, then got his shoulder in front of that one the first time they turned for home. Knew he was in trouble when Reek went by as they swung into the backstretch. Passed Lord Chaos in the final turn and tried to advance along the rail, but watched Thanks Dude go by at the head of the stretch. Made up a mild amount of ground while well beaten.<\/p>\n

MONT VEGAS:<\/strong> Something funny happened with this normally speedy colt. Expected to be a strong pace factor and perhaps even get his head in front of Magniforma early, Mont Vegas instead was caught flat-footed at the gate and lost ground around the first turn while seven wide. Still was stuck four-wide down the backstretch the first time while 10th. Very tough trip four wide all the way around. Tried to advance when they passed under the wire the first time, but could make no gain. Reek went by as they started the turn for home and Mont Vegas was hopelessly beaten. Just never got to run his race.<\/p>\n

I BEN SCAMMED:<\/strong> The bubble burst in the Spring Cup for Atthewire’s<\/em> ultra-successful $50,000 claim. Away a step slow, I Ben Scammed raced in the three patch around the first turn before dropping to the rail in seventh, inside a wall of four horses. Hustled to keep his spot inside those four horses, started to lose steam the first time under the wire. Lost ground throughout to end up beaten almost 20 lengths.<\/p>\n

DEEP MAN:<\/strong> Raced two wide of that ill-fated group of four, all of whom ended up far back by the end of the Spring Cup. The 16-furlong experiment backfired, and now this talented 4yo chestnut son of Deep Impact must regroup and find his earlier form after running two ugly races in a row.<\/p>\n

OUTBACK VOYAGER:<\/strong> Unfortunately, how the mighty have fallen. Kyogle’s<\/em> great champion just was not up to running on Sunday. Winner of consecutive Grade 1’s last fall, Outback Voyager now has run three clunkers in a row. It just goes to show how cruel the Sim can be. For every winning moment in the sun, there are more days to deal with the sting of defeat.<\/p>\n

LORD CHAOS:<\/strong> Tanino Gimlet had huge success in the Sim this weekend, with progeny winning more than one graded race, but no go for the Super<\/em> gang with Lord Chaos. He just never raced much and was well beaten the whole way.<\/p>\n

STARBREAKER:<\/strong>\u00a0Trotter<\/em> knew he was placing his horse in a tough race, but he probably wasn’t expecting this dramatic of a bad result. Starbreaker raced in that ill-fated group of four and backed out of it worse than anybody.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By ITCH You thought Equinics was a good story? DARK MANDU ($100.90) did indeed get a nice, long look at<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21378","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=21378"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21380,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21378\/revisions\/21380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}