This Saturday, six fillies will compete in the second annual HORNED GINGER Special<\/B>.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>HORNED GINGER<\/B> never attempted a stakes, so it is perplexing that this race should be named after her.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Perhaps her personality made her an unforgettable claimer around the Woodbine track.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Some good two-year-olds came out to play last year, with the field including the winner SWORD OF PGPG<\/B> who won three stakes in a row in her two-year-old season and is now competing successfully at in the allowance ranks, ELFIN MAGIC<\/B> with five stakes wins in her three-year-old season and STAGECOACH DREAM<\/B> a four-time stakes winner.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>None of last year\u2019s runners were able to win a graded stakes, but perhaps this year\u2019s field will ensure that doesn\u2019t become a curse.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The 2006 field contains: \u00a0 TIMELESS TRUTH<\/SPAN><\/B> \u2013 trained by ceejaygee<\/I> \u2013 5\/1 \u00a0 ALY\u2019S NUGGETS<\/SPAN><\/B> \u2013 trained by lionhunter<\/I> \u2013 5\/1 At 4-3-0-0 this one has proven she likes to go all-or-nothing.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>I believe she raced above her head last time out in a grade I stakes, though she seemed to enjoy stakes-level competition and rose to the occasion with a huge improvement over her prior three races.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>I question her consistency and would have tried her back in an allowance race to test her ability to carry the improvement into other races, but her last race was over this distance and surface and a repeat performance here could put her in the top three. \u00a0 FAST LIKE WHOA<\/SPAN><\/B> \u2013 trained by mightandpo<\/I> \u2013 2\/1 At 6-5-0-1 this horse has to be respected around the track.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>She\u2019s also thrown huge SP numbers in her last two at 6.5 and 7.5 furlongs respectively.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>For once the bookies, jockey (top jock B Renfroe<\/I>) and myself will agree that one of the other horses will have to combine a brilliant race plan and huge improvement to beat this one. \u00a0 THE ROAD WARRIOR<\/SPAN><\/B> \u2013 trained by giantputz2<\/I> \u2013 9\/2 With two huge wins stakes wins the last two tries, if anyone can overtake FAST LIKE WHOA<\/B> I like this filly.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>She only ran a 81SP last time out, but I don\u2019t believe she was pushed to her limit.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>A stronger field here should sharpen her performance, although I would have liked to see her try a route since she improved so much with the extra furlong. \u00a0 PEGASUS PRAYER<\/SPAN><\/B> \u2013 trained by pazbarn<\/I> \u2013 3\/1 With only one race under her belt, this filly broke her maiden convincingly last time out.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Although the bookies believe she\u2019ll improve with the extra \u00bd furlong and stiffer competition, I\u2019m concerned.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>There are horses in this field that I expect will throw mid to high-80\u2019s in this race, and PEGASUS<\/B> will have to rise to the occasion on Saturday to make it into the top three. \u00a0 SALMONELLA GOLD<\/SPAN><\/B> \u2013 trained by doctahg2<\/I> \u2013 4\/1 Doctahg2<\/SPAN><\/I> looks to have a promising filly in this one.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>She\u2019s won both times out of the gate, coming from behind in each with a convincing stretch kick.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>She\u2019s also liked being stretched out, running 6.5f last time out.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The extra \u00bd furlong is definitely a good thing, as last race she had plenty of steam left.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>I think she\u2019s got a shot at the win, and believe she\u2019ll most likely crack the top three. \u00a0 As the odds show, this looks like it will shape up to be a close race.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>There\u2019s a few here that may repeat last year\u2019s runners \u2013 running well here, but even better in their three-year-old seasons.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Watch ALY\u2019S NUGGETS<\/B> if she\u2019s close to the lead around the turn \u2013 she\u2019ll quit if she doesn\u2019t think she\u2019s got a shot at the win.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>In the stretch keep an eye on SALMONELLA GOLD<\/B>, FAST LIKE WHOA<\/B> and THE ROAD WARRIOR<\/B> \u2013 the three I expect to take top billing.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The rest of the purse could go to any of the other three contenders \u2013 with only one horse being out of the money I expect all the jockeys will go gung-ho so they can collect a piece (however small) of the $75,000 pot being offered.<\/SPAN><\/P> \u00a0 \u00a0 Can This Year\u2019s Field Top Last Year\u2019s Alumni?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"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-3146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3146","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\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3146\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
This is a first time stakes runner, but \u201cRuthie\u201d has picked up two wins at this surface \u2013 her maiden and a 2L allowance race in week 2944.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>She tried a route last time out, but is wisely being tried back at 7f.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>If she can shave off a little time (I\u2019m really talking a little, probably on 3\/5 of a second) from her allowance win she\u2019ll be in a good position to run second or third.