{"id":2806,"date":"2006-08-25T11:01:08","date_gmt":"2006-08-25T11:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blacktypebugler.com\/?p=2806"},"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=2806","title":{"rendered":"Rain or Shine? Or Maybe a Puppet?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It may not be Affirmed\/Alydar, or Easy Goer\/Sunday Silence, or any combination of Allied Assault\/Sunnybank Memorial\/Bristol Rover\/Horseshoe Bay, but Rain God <\/B>and Sunnybank Memorial<\/B> are starting to get REALLY familiar with one another. Saturday’s Grade I The Aslan Memorial Turf Classic 5th Running<\/I><\/B>, a 12 furlong grass race for 3 yr olds and up, will be the 11th time these two star five year olds will line up in the same race. The results have been impressive: Rain God: 3-5-2, Sunnybank Memorial: 3-3-2. Add to the mix that Puppet Regime<\/STRONG> has beaten both of these horses at one time, and you have yet another chapter in what’s arguably the most competitive and exciting racing class in the sim: Turf Classic. And this one should be classic indeed. The horses by Post Position:

PP 1 – Extortionist (Red Ransom x Sword Dance(IRE) x Irish Ruler). <\/I><\/B>When this guy is on his game, he reminds me of Sim legend Allied Assault. This son of vaunted distance sire Red Ransom comes flying out of the clouds when he comes to race. Witness his last two wins: At the halfway mark he was a combined 25 lengths behind the leader, and he won those races by a combined 2 1\/2 lengths (both Grade II races). The worry here for trainer ratt49 (16.2%) <\/I>is the level of competition Extortionist wins against. While he’s 4-0-1 in 8 career Grade II races, he has managed a 2nd, 5th, 8th, and 4th in his Grade Is. He’s certainly fresh enough, this being only his 3rd race all year, but with inconsistent numbers in the last year and a half, he’s going to need the race of his life if he wants to get in the money against these. 7\/2 might be a bit generous here.<\/P>

PP 2 – Empire Shaker (Empire Maker x Swain(IRE) x Cox’s Ridge) <\/I><\/B>Coming off of a solid 2nd in the Grade I Judgemont International, <\/I>the camp of owner\/trainer almightymi (13.0%) <\/I>is looking for some momentum to build on. The questions though might be in stamina: He’s coming back off of just 14 days rest, and the son of Empire Maker faded pretty drastically down the stretch LTO, turning a 6 1\/2 length lead at the last call into a 3 length defeat at the wire, and that was at 10.5 furlongs. His career speed numbers don’t give much hope to holding on against this level of competition either (career best of 103), and he’ll need to put together the race of his life to get a check here. Won’t be surprised if this one tries to go to the front early on.<\/P>

PP 3 – Val from the V.A. (Theatrical(IRE) x Robellino x Danzig). <\/I><\/B>The patwilliam (9.8%) <\/I>barn certainly has its work cut out for this entrant: Not only is he a 3 yr old against the elders, his top lifetime speed fig is 96, and he only has one non-maiden win. A 3% winning jockey up likely won’t inspire a lot of longshot bettors either. He has a versatile running style, and with only 9 lifetime starts, he certainly is entitled to improve, but this race, at least on paper, seems a bit out of reach for this guy.<\/P>

PP 4 – Rain God (Rainbow Quest x Dynaformer x Nijinski II).<\/I><\/B> <\/I>A slight morning line favorite, this guy is a flip-a-coin- pick-em choice with Sunnybank Memorial, and maybe Puppet Regime. Rain God’s hugely successful trainer kevoman (22%) <\/I>has his ace in good form, with great class, excellent demonstrated speed, and oh man, the consistency. He is working on a 22 race streak of triple digit speed numbers! If he’s showing any sign at all of slowing down, it might be in his killer instinct. Last year he won 7 times in 12 races, and this year, ‘only’ 2 in 8 tries. Of course he also has 2 places and 3 shows to go along with those 2 wins. He has a versatile style, although he usually runs his best races by stalking in 2nd or 3rd for about half the race before powering up. Has my money for the top three, with the top two more likely.<\/P>

PP 5 – Kielbasa King (Polish Precedent x Cox’s Ridge x Herbager)<\/I><\/B> Another good solid horse who may be in a bit over his head, he’s been Grade A prime cut in allowances, but (so far) ground up in stakes races (ok, that’s the end of the sausage references). Trainer horsechic7 (7%) <\/I>has him fit and ready for his best effort, but will that be enough? The distance won’t be a problem, as he runs his best at the 12-14 furlong range, but in with some of these, he might not last much longer than a hot dog at Coney Island (ok I lied).<\/P>

PP 6 – Seat Back Forward (Silver Buck x Affirmed x Never Bend) <\/I><\/B>An interesting long shot. Not so much because I like him to win, or even finish in the top five, but because of the effect this guy could have on the pace here, and maybe the results. Unlike the aforementioned Empire Shaker, who can be versatile with his style, this guy always goes straight to the front. That is, always when he runs a good race. If trainer studkenny2 (14.7%)<\/I> has him, and say, Empire Shaker, decide to try and wire this field, watch stone closer Extortionist’s eyes light up (or Sunnybank Memo’s, for that matter). And woe to any or all of the top three favorites if they try and go with him. If on the other hand, Seat Back goes forward all by himself for long enough, he may hold onto a piece. Not a likely scenario, but possible nonetheless.<\/P>

PP 7 – Sunnybank Memorial (A.P. Indy x Sadler’s Wells x Buckpasser) <\/I><\/B>With 41 races already under his belt, this Hall of Famer in waiting has nothing to prove. But he still loves to run, and he’s still doing a pretty darned good job of it, with 5 of his last 6 races resulting in a 1st or 2nd place finish. And all Grade I races too. Although pretty versatile, ‘Memo does his best running from well off the pace, and with a couple of possible rabbits to his left, ‘Memo may be in a perfect position to run by everyone in deep stretch. Trainer sunnybank (16.9%) <\/I>has his trophy machine perfectly positioned for another one. Personally, I’m just hoping it doesn’t traumatize Meat Loaf Loop too much if\/when Memo brings back more hardware.<\/P>

PP 9 – Puppet Regime (Kingmambo x Nijinski II x Mr. Prospector) <\/I><\/B>Truly a wild card, this guy has the pure ability to run by even the favorites in this race, if he runs his best race. He’s coming back off of just a 14 day layoff, but he’s also had plenty of time to freshen up before that (in a 98 day stretch before his last race, he only had one race). He boasts the best speed figures this year (in fact, he has the top 3 speed figs this year) in this race. Last year he showed a bit of inconsistency, but this year he’s only fallen down once, and that was 4 races back. Redhot trainer wrecks2 (28%)<\/I> has lightning in a bottle here, if the 14 day comeback doesn’t phase the puppet.<\/P>

My Picks – <\/I><\/B><\/P>

1) Sunnybank Memorial – Pace sets up perfectly for the win, but barely<\/B><\/P>

2) Puppet Regime – Looks like a win, just losing it at the wire.<\/B><\/P>

3) Red God – Tight, even race, just not enough to get the top two.<\/B><\/P>

But the reality is, if you’re going to bet this race, box these three for both the exacta and the trifecta. A wide open race between these three.<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rain God, Sunnybank Memorial, Puppet Regime Lead Clash of Titans in the Aslan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":392,"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-2806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2806","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\/392"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2806\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}