It’s rare to see a field of sophomore fillies so evenly matched in talent \tchallenge a stakes race.\u00a0 The Cougar Smash(IRE) Memorial<\/b> will see \tjust six fillies run, but these six fillies are so similar in depth of talent \tthis should be an excellent race, although a very difficult one to handicap.\u00a0 The Memorial represents the first time \tany of these fillies have been run this far, so it’ll be a true test of talent and conditioning. <\/p>\n
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The betting favorite at 5\/2 is Noia’s<\/i> Negreira<\/b>.\u00a0 She’s \ta nice Gone West filly out of a Theatrical mare.\u00a0 Negreira has 10 starts \tand two wins\u00a0(both on turf) with the last in her first start of the year \tat 7 furlongs. She hasn’t been slacking off this year, however, as she has \tpicked up a third (also on turf) as well as a string of seconds on dirt including \tone in a stake two starts back.\u00a0 Since the switch to dirt four starts \tago, Negreira seems to have found her calling, and the speeds do support \ther entry here.\u00a0 The distance is a major question, however.\u00a0 She’s \tnever seen more than a mile on dirt, and her front-running style has seen \ther falter in the stretch twice now.\u00a0 Her pedigree suggests she can get \tthis distance, but without some experience at it I can’t see betting her \tto win.\u00a0 To place or show, however, is not out of the question.<\/p>\n
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The War Emblem filly War In Heaven<\/b>, set at 3\/1 on the morning line, \truns for the aptly named waremblem8<\/i> stable.\u00a0 She lightly raced \twith just\u00a0 six starts, but two of those have ended in wins.\u00a0 Both \tof the wins came at 9.5 furlongs, which is the farthest this filly has run.\u00a0 Her \toff the pace style and handy win margins suggest more distance would be to \ther liking.\u00a0 The speeds haven’t been stellar (87 and 91 for those wins) \tbut against this field that could well be enough.\u00a0 Definitely one to pay \tattention to as she matures.<\/p>\n
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This field features a mini-GR Simsters intra-league play, as the third betting \tchoice, Ball Four(IRE)<\/b> is also trained by a simster (lenny4<\/i>).\u00a0 Ball \tFour is a lovely bay Balingarry filly with an excellent race record of 4 \twins from 11 starts.\u00a0 She’s coming off a string of three straight wins \tin allowance company between 8 and 9 furlongs. Like War In Heaven, \ther speeds have not been stellar, but the 90 and 91 she put up in her last \ttwo starts are more than adequate to draw some support her way.\u00a0 She likes \tto lay a couple of lengths off the lead and should be considered dangerous \tby the rest of the field.<\/p>\n
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Bubble Dancer<\/b> represents one of the more experiences fillies in the \tfield with 15 starts under her girth.\u00a0 She’s got six wins to show for \tall that track-time, including 3 stakes wins.\u00a0 Those three, however, have \tall come at 7.5 furlongs.\u00a0 Does she have the stamina to handle 12?\u00a0 Pedigree \tsays maybe; she’s by Cat Thief out of a Seeking The Gold mare.\u00a0 Race record \tsays unlikely; she finished dead last by 17 at 8.5 albeit in a GII as a 2yo, \t lost by 7 in a listed stake in her first start of 2006 going a mile, and \tlost by over 7 going 9 in a listed stake 3 starts back. However, she’s closed \tfairly well a few times this year, and it’s possible she’s building up the \tbase to go farther.\u00a0 Given the field has no marathoning standouts, this \tis a decent field to test Bubble’s routing aptitude.\u00a0 Good move by trainer \tcatfish<\/i>, although one that probably won’t end with his filly winning \tat 9\/2 odds. <\/p>\n
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Joining in on the Simsters fun is Gladstone<\/b>, trained out of the Simsters-member \tbarn wistful2<\/i>.\u00a0 The Birdstone filly is one of two 5\/1 longshots. \tShe’s the only filly with experience going more than 10 furlongs, but even \twith that it’s difficult to make a strong case for her to win.\u00a0 She has \tfive wins from 12 starts all in small allowance fields.\u00a0 One advantage \tfor this filly is a measure of versatility; she’s won both from the lead \tand just off of it.\u00a0 She hasn’t shown any inclination to take the lead \tin her last couple of starts, but with a distinct lack of a speedball here \tit wouldn’t be a shocker to see her lay just off Negreira’s flank through \tthe first half before taking over. Like the other fillies she hasn’t yet \tput up significant speed figures.\u00a0 Like the other fillies, she may not \tneed them to win here. <\/p>\n
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The final filly will break from the inside post.\u00a0 Urso’s<\/i> Port \t\tElizabeth<\/b> has won one-third of her 12 starts.\u00a0 Her two tries at 9.5 \t\tsuggests an ability to handle 12 furlongs, although again it’s a question \t\tof speed.\u00a0 Her \t\tlifetime high is 82, which is not encouraging.\u00a0 The Cape Town filly is \t\tcoming off a poor effort in the GIII Timber Stakes, so at the least she’ll \t\tenjoy being entered against fillies similar in talent.\u00a0 Not likely to \t\taffect the final placings, but a possibility to earn a paycheck. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It’s rare to see a field of sophomore fillies so evenly matched in talent challenge a stakes race.\u00a0 The Cougar<\/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-2643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2643","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=2643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2643\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}