We are bursting with turf classic action this weekend with the three main features being the Coalminer Cup down under, the Ark De Triumph in Europe and here in North America, the Turf Classic.<\/p>\n
All too often this race has been the poor relation of the other two on this annual bumper weekend, but slowly that reputation is being turned around, as last years renewal was won by the legendary Sunnybank Memorial. This year, the race is privileged to welcome back the defending champion as he takes on 11 other opponents. Let\u2019s take a closer look at the protagonists.<\/p>\n
1. \t\tGUCCI TO TRY \tloisblack \tL Gunn \t17\/1<\/p>\n
Lightly-raced 4yo by Sadler\u2019s Wells who looked like he was destined for bigger things at the beginning of the year when he took a 2 mile allowance race by 10 lengths. He has won another 2 from 6 since that annihilation but his last 2 runs tell the story. Both graded events where he never got a sniff of the eventual winners and ended up 10+ lengths behind at the finish. I would say that is about his level and he would need a vast improvement to gun for the win here.<\/p>\n
2. \t\tBLACK SAM MAMBO(IRE) \tfattx \tC Seppy \t99\/1<\/p>\n
Should provide a nice day out for connections. Odds-on to finish distanced.<\/p>\n
3. \t\tCORTEZ(IRE) \tslipknot22 \tN Lawton \t11\/1<\/p>\n
I was fortunate to cover his Sydney Derby victory where he looked the likely successor to Saturday\u2019s opponent, Sunnybank Memorial. He followed up that win with another smooth success in the Adelaide version and teetered on the verge of super-stardom, but then the wheels came off in the English Derby where he finished a tired-looking horse. He subsequently came out and won the Irish Derby but the win was devalued by the absence of English Derby victor Lex Luthor. The pair got to grips with each other again in the Owner\u2019s Stakes where Cortez ran a strange race, not at all in keeping with his previous three Derby victories. I\u2019m prepared to write off that run as an experiment gone wrong and he can\u2019t be judged on his last outing over an inadequate 9 furlongs. The score between Cortez and Lex stands at 2-1 to Lex, but it should not be forgotten that it is Cortez that is the number one ranked 3yo in this division. Improvement is required for Cortez to play a part on Saturday but I\u2019m confident that if he reverts to his normal stalking style, that improvement will be forthcoming.<\/p>\n
4. \t\tMINESWEEPER \tsongcycle \tN Painter \t11\/1<\/p>\n
Cast your minds back exactly a year ago and you will remember the eclipse of Horseshoe Bay by another of his generation in the Coalminer Cup. Minesweeper was his name, and the sim world was in-waiting to proclaim a new champion. No-one back then could have predicted Minesweeper\u2019s subsequent career. 13 races have provided just one victory in an allowance race. There have been flickers of the talent that carried him to three graded successes last year but they have been all too infrequent and it\u2019s possible the horse may have fallen out of love with the game. No one doubts his talent but is he as genuine as he might be?<\/p>\n
5. \t\tSUNNYBANK MEMORIAL \tsunnybank \tB Child \t2\/1<\/p>\n
Two years ago to the day, \u2018Memo was riding a record-setting 7 graded-wining sequence into the Ark De Triumph. At Longchamp that day he proved he was not a machine and could have his off-days like any other horse. Fortunately for trainer sunnybank and fans alike those \u2018off-days\u2019 have proved to be a very rare occurrence, much to the dismay of those other trainers who have aspirations in this most coveted division. His achievements are now the stuff of legend and although he had a \u2018wobbly\u2019 patch toward the end of last year and the beginning of this, he seems to have found a second wind in his career and can be considered as good as ever. Having won back-to-back Man Of War\u2019s last time out, he now seeks to make it a double-double by winning this race for the second time in as many years. The odds-makers believe he can do it!<\/p>\n
6. \t\tTHE VANGUARD \tvanguard \tP Hilton \t17\/1<\/p>\n
This 4yo son of Sadler\u2019s Wells has been kept well and truly under wraps by his eponymous trainer, venturing to the track on only 7 occasions. His last run was a major development in his career where he attempted to wire a G2 field and only got caught in the shadow of the winning post. A valiant attempt for one so inexperienced. With that run under his belt he can only improve but this is a tough ask for a horse without even a stakes win to his name. I\u2019m sure his time will come but I am doubtful it will be this Saturday.<\/p>\n
7. \t\tCLOUDSCAPE \tjdawg08 \tR Engel \t36\/1<\/p>\n
This 4yo filly was claimed by current connections for $50k on her penultimate run. In her one run subsequently she ran last of 5 over a mile in an allowance race. It would take a blind leap of faith to be convinced that she is likely to be anything but an also-ran on Saturday.<\/p>\n
8. \t\tA WHOLENUWORLD \twfstables \tR Haffner \t5\/1<\/p>\n
This son of miler Spinning World has yet to score on turf after 3 attempts. However, if you look at the small print you\u2019ll see he has been unlucky enough to come up against some of the best turfers around at the moment. His last run makes particularly good reading where he just failed to hold the top two horses in the turf classic division. The question mark therefore is not his class but his stamina. He has run over the trip on dirt and he wasn\u2019t entirely convincing. It might be a different story on what looks to be his more preferred surface and if he can get clear of the field early, he will lead them a merry dance.<\/p>\n
9. \t\tERMINGTON SHOVHOG(AUS) \tjdawg11 \tJ Mannion \t99\/1<\/p>\n
A 2nd entrant from the trainers group of stables and this one has even less chance than Cloudscape. Will be battling with Black Sam Mambo for last place.<\/p>\n
10. \t\tTENPIN GOLD \ttenpin6 \tG Rolling \t5\/1<\/p>\n
It\u2019s taken a long time for this horse to realize his potential and in the meantime he has contested two claim races, both of which he won unsurprisingly. Trainer tenpin6 must be thanking his lucky stars that the horse returned to the stable both times because now he has a real talent on his hands. The winner of a G2 earlier in the year, he also put a lot of speedsters to the sword in the Windy City Turf Classic-G1, eventually managing to finish 4th. Very rarely is he beaten away from the gate, which is bad news for the other confirmed front-runner A Wholenuworld. Either one of these two gives way to the other or they will end up running each other into the ground.<\/p>\n
11. \t\tARKANSAS TRAVELER \tlenny10 \tL Hoskins \t10\/1<\/p>\n
It seems like this guy has been around a lot longer than is actually the case. He really only broke through to the top echelon in the summer of last year and managed his first graded success 9 months ago. Without question his biggest and best success was in the Judgemont International where he put away a decent field. It was his only visit to Epsom and maybe he really enjoyed the stiff gradients. The flat track in New York may not see him to best advantage but he is a good honest type that will run his race and he looks booked for a minor placing.<\/p>\n
12. \t\tJUMPIN’ JAVA \twaradmiral \tP Davis \t7\/2<\/p>\n
Two-time graded winner who will be having his first start over the trip on Saturday. His two graded wins have been very impressive but sandwiched in between the two was a less-than-stellar effort in a G1 over a similar distance. To be fair to him, I don\u2019t think it was the G1 class that beat him as much as recovering from a massive effort on his previous run. If history repeats, then it\u2019s likely he will bounce in this race, which is unfortunate, as we might not get a true idea of his worth over the classic distance. He is certainly worth persevering with over this trip regardless of the outcome on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Summary<\/p>\n
The analysis has thrown up many questions that need to be answered. The tactics for Cortez, the inconsistency of Minesweeper, the inexperience of The Vanguard, the stamina of A Wholenuworld, the front-running battle of Tenpin Gold with A Wholenuworld and the likely bounce from Jumpin\u2019 Java. Putting all those into the melting pot I anticipate the following finishing order:<\/p>\n
1.\tSunnybank Memorial
2.\tCortez
3.\tArkansas Traveler
4.\tTenpin Gold<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2018Memo hot favorite to extend all-time G1 winning record<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":116,"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-3084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3084","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\/116"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3084\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}