The second edition of the Monjeux Challenge<\/b> will feature 8 older horses going\ta mile on Northern California’s turf course.\u00a0 The grass is firm, the forecast\tis for sun, and the race promises to be an exciting one.\u00a0 Favorite Bearly\tLimp makes start #50 at the age of 7, while the other senior horse in the\tfield is the mare High Esteem who is going for her 26th lifetime start.\u00a0 The\tveterans face such younger horses as graded-placed 4yo Transylvania.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
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Bearly Limp(IRE)<\/b>, the 7-2 morning line favorite, is still going strong\tat 7.\u00a0 Trained\tout of the jimmyv24<\/i> barn, the Black Tie Affair son is a perfect 3 for\t3 in 2006.\u00a0 His last stakes start was at a mile in the Halo Hank Bonanza\tthree back.\u00a0 The Bear won it by one but was so unchallenegd the speed figure\twas an uncharacteristically low 98. Bear can win on the lead, or he can stalk\tthe pace, so his versatility will serve him well.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
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At 4-1, Abe Hollandia<\/b> is pretty well-regarded by the handicappers with\tgood reason.\u00a0 Also a son of Black Tie Affair, the hollandia3<\/i> charge\tis coming out a decent run in the GII Lone Star Mile last out where he finished\ta tiring fourth.\u00a0 The two races previous, however, Abe won in fine fashion.\u00a0 The\t6yo has a lot of early speed so expect jockey young but talented jockey C\tWinter to rush Abe out of the gate in a bid to wire the field.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
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Transylvania<\/b>, trained by waremblem2<\/i>, also ran in the Lone Star\tMile last out but ended fifth.\u00a0 He was never seriously a factor in that\trace, but when Transy wants to run he’s pretty darn good. He’s a Peintre\tCelebre son out of a Seeking The Gold mare with a good record on grass:\t18 starts, 3 wins, 2 places, and 5 shows for just shy of a half-million in\tearnings.\u00a0 The 4yo colt’s last trip to the winner’s circle was in July\tafter he ran in a big race in the DelPenn\/GR Simsters Smackdown, so he’s\tshown he has the class to beat graded winners.\u00a0 The question is if he’ll\tdo it in this race.\u00a0 I’d say he’s due for his next win, and would not be\tat all surprised if he pulled it off.<\/p>\n
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Like Transylvania, Crimsonite<\/b> is also set at 9-2 on the morning line.\u00a0 He’s\ta striking light gray son of palace Music out of a stakes-placed End Sweep\tmare.\u00a0 Trainer donrawl01<\/i> sent this graded stakeswinner out last in the 7.5f Wasatch Mountain Stakes, where Crimsonite ran a tactical race\tto win by 2 with a 104SP.\u00a0 If he can keep up with Abe Hollandia at the\tfront of the pack, and if he still has the energy at the top of the stretch,\the has a decent shot here. <\/p>\n
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Awesome Giant<\/b> is one of those equine prodigies trainers love to have.\u00a0 The\t4yo Giant’s Causeway colt has an impressive 11:4-1-1 record, but he still\thunting for that first stakes win.\u00a0 Looking at his past performances he’s\tprobably not going to get it here, but a third isn’t out of the question.\tI’d really like to see trainer victoryrun<\/i> try his colt at 10 furlongs\tor so.\u00a0 His running style (he’s a deep closer) and typical race end (just\tcoming up short) suggest a mile is probably too short to expect great things.\u00a0 Still,\the did run second by a narrowing half-length in his last start in the mile\tContagious Lord Handicap, so there is some hope. He’s 5-1, with decent jockey\tK Dodds riding. <\/p>\n
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Craftfly’s Seeker<\/b> is coming off a nice allowance win in Utah at a mile.\u00a0 Trainer\tshazfly<\/i> seems to have decided that his 5yo horse must have enough confidence\tback after that win to try again for that elusive stakes win. The son of\tCrafty Prospector has 7 wins on 37 starts, but hasn’t yet managed better\tthan second in stakes company.\u00a0 If he truly is back in form, it’s possible\the could pull it off in this race.\u00a0 However, the 7-1 odds suggest he’s\ta couple of strides slower than Abe Holandia and Bearly Limp.\u00a0 I’d expect\tSeeker to hang out with Awesome Giant in a relaxed closing style throughout,\tbut to fall a good four lengths short at the wire. <\/p>\n
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The oddsmakers have also assigned 7-1 to Yowza<\/b>, a 4yo son of Pine Bluff.\u00a0 Trainer\t8ballfarms<\/i> has decided that a mile is Yowza’s best distance, and he’s\thad his last 8 starts at this distance.\u00a0 He’s actually had some success,\twith a pair of wins in allowances and a second in a stakes in those last\t5.\u00a0 Yowza has won when he’s been on or near the pace, and when he’s closed,\tso like Bearly Limp, the versatility can’t hurt.\u00a0 He doesn’t look to have\tthe same fleetness of Abe Hollandia, and if he tries to challenge him he’ll\tbe quickly outclassed.\u00a0 His best bet is for jockey L McNeil to hold him\twithin striking distance of Abe and hope that he can outlast the closers\tin the stretch.<\/p>\n
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The horse breaking from the far outside post is also the field longshot at\t16-1.\u00a0 High Esteem<\/b> is a very well-bred 7yo – she’s by Rahy out of\ta Seattle Slew mare. Like Craftfly’s Seeker, High Esteem has had a break\tfrom stakes sompany but is returning after rebuilding some of that esteem.\u00a0 Unlike\tSeeker, High Esteem’s trainer doa<\/i> is sending his mare up in class off\ta pair of seconds rather than wins. Both of those races were at 9, so I do\texpect the horse to enjoy the furlong drop.\u00a0 Enjoy it enough to be competitve\there?\u00a0 Not likely.\u00a0 It’d be a surprise to find her finishing\tbetter than fourth.\u00a0 Unlike Bearly Limp, year #7 hasn’t been so kind to\tthis mare.\u00a0 She’s good enough to run pretty well in allwoance company,\tbut I’m afraid her best years are behind her.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
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So how will the race unfold?\u00a0 Look for Abe Hollandia to break first and\tattempt to outrrun the field.\u00a0 Crimsonite will be chasing Abe hard.\u00a0 Bringing\tup the rear should be Awesome HGiant with Craftfly’s Seeker not far ahead.\u00a0 Mixing\tit up midfield will be Bearly Limp and Transylvania.\u00a0\u00a0 Yowza is expected\tto try to challenge Abe, but he’ll tire by the top of the stretch.\u00a0 High\tEsteem should break well but simply doesn’t have the speed to be a serious\tthreat.\u00a0 As for order of finish?\u00a0 Bearly Limp should manage a half-length\tvictory by holding off a late charge from Transylvania.\u00a0 Abe Hollandia’s\tearly efforts will see him faltering a bit in the last sixteenth and finishing\tthird. <\/p>\n
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Favored Bearly Limp looks to extend win streak to 4, but he will face talented opponents looking to spoil his record.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"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-2308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2308","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\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2308\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}