{"id":3199,"date":"2006-10-21T09:30:01","date_gmt":"2006-10-21T09:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blacktypebugler.com\/?p=3199"},"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=3199","title":{"rendered":"Nine to one? Are you kidding?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By ITCH<\/STRONG><\/P>

It is with no small amount of trepidation that we bring the Gaelic Charger to the Spa of the Appalachians here Saturday.<\/P>

With no likely runners for any of the regular stakes this quarter in West Virgina, we decided to buy a stakes race for MAOL DHOMHNAIGH<\/STRONG>, and dubbed it The Old Waterford Stakes.<\/P>

Everything seemed to be going perfect when we found a not-so-tough stake against older horses last out in Mexico. Maol Dhomnaigh ran great, showing a strong closing kick to win it in a fairly short field of six by three open lengths and earning a nice speed fig of 106.<\/P>

The only problem? Maol Dhomnaigh (Gaelic for this writer’s last name, Maloney) has only come up ready to go for this race. This makes us real nervous, because the last time Maol Dhomhnaigh won a stake, actually, two in a row, it seemed to take something out of him and we had to back off for a while. He’s come back stronger than ever, but did that win last out take something out of him? Obviously, he’s not at his best today because he’s not sharp. We thought about backing off his effort to protect him, but decided against it and we’re going for it 100 percent. He’ll need his best to win, because there are some tough horses in here.<\/P>

Interestingly, even though the race is open to older horses, most of the entrants are 3yos. Kind of a weird thing.<\/P>

But first things first.<\/P>

What in the name of Kentucky bourbon was Drunken Morning Line Oddsmaker Charlie Hoops thinking when he made SILVER COURT<\/STRONG> 9-1? Are you kidding me? 9-1? He must have been so drunk he was sleeping. Ts1442 Tom surely took this as a disrespecting of his horse, like he needs any extra motivation to kick all our butts with this classy horse. Silver Court is a proven graded stakes runner. His 132 stakes points tower over his competition in this field. I know this is a turf race, but Silver Court embodies one of the most potent handicapping angles anywhere but the polytrack at Keeneland: the speed and class drop. This 3yo son of Silver Ghost has been second in a Grade I four back, and set the pace in a Grade 1 last out before tiring. He’s gonna make the lead easy here on Saturday and doesn’t have near the class of runners chasing him this time as he has against the best of his generation in the last four. It would surprise me absolutely none at all to see this one break on top and just keep going. Old S. Tate in the saddle also is a real booster as the leading jock is extremely potent on speed horses. Tate will have this one still running in the stretch, you can bet on it. At the ridiculous price of 9-1, you can bet on it and make a lot of Simulated dollars. This horse should be the favorite.<\/P>

Lostcode qualifies second with HIGHEST LOVE(IRE).<\/STRONG> This brown 4yo son of High Chapparal has had a very productive Sim career on the turf, running up $420,000 in career earnings in 31 starts. He’s been off the board in his last four stakes starts, but there is plenty of back class there, as you might guess from all that money earned. In fact, this horse has won a stake in each of his 2yo, 3yo and 4yo seasons. As a 2yo, he was third in a Grade I; as a 3yo, he won a non-graded stakes, and did it again earlier this year. Lostcode, a terrific Sim vet closing in on the 100-win club with 92 victories in only 543 starts, changed tactics last out in an apparent effort to shake this horse up a little. Highest Love has always been a late runner, and lostcode had him pressing the pace in second last out going 9f. He finished fourth, but his interest early in the race could be an indicator that Highest Love is getting sharp.<\/P>

PERFECT KARMA<\/STRONG> for remedy is next. This is one of the several developing 3yos in here with a world of potential. A brown son of Pleasantly Perfect, Perfect Karma is having a terrific year, missing the board only once in nine races. He’s really blossoming late in the year here, moving forward to three straight speed figs 100-plus in his last three. He handled the jump into facing his elders quite nicely last out, thank you very much, second in the Wooden Nijinsky Challenge going nine furlongs in Kentucky. There were only four horses in that race, so very nice job by remedy in finding a good spot. There are 11 horses in this race, so you would think it would be a little tougher test for Perfect Karma. This is a good horse in good form, and there is absolutely nothing to indicate he won’t run another good one here today. Remedy is a sharp Sim trainer, winning 70 career races at a nice 17 percent clip, and a very good 52 percent ITM career mark.<\/P>

Chuckrock has a real nice 3yo filly in the next spot, with BLAME CANADA<\/STRONG> out of his zambrano barn. This filly has won three stakes on the grass this year, two of them going 9.5 furlongs and one going a flat mile. She’s had success at several different distances on the grass, a sure shot indicator of high class. Chuckrock has thrown several challenges her way, all of which she’s met, with the possible exception of graded company. It’s a new challenge today: her first race against the boys. She comes into it off a little bit of a layoff, having been on the rest since 2958. She does concede a little bit of a speed figure disadvantage, never having busted the triple-digit barrier. However, with this filly’s turf ability and staying power and class, she may be able to step up her game here today. She is facing the double challenge of facing boys and her elders for the first time in the same race. Whatever happens, a very, very nice filly indeed.<\/P>

The second half of the Ts1442 entry is another 3yo facing his elders for the first time. CRYPTOTRICK<\/STRONG>, a brown son of Cryptoclearance, initially would appear to be in some spotty form, but let’s consider that three of his last four starts were in Grade 1 and Grade 2 company. The last time Crytotrick raced in a non-grade stake, five back, he was second. So he gets the check mark for class here, and could improve a good bit off the drop. His placing in that stake five back was at today’s distance, another plus.<\/P>

C’MON(GB)<\/STRONG> for hansg has a very nice career mark of nine career wins from only 31 career starts, with very good earnings of $454,000. This one must have had some stakes points slip off his total recently to be qualified clear down here. Reviewing his career record, we find that this 4yo son of Diesis is a two-time Grade 3 winner. He won his second Grade 3 early in his 3yo season, then waded into the deep Grade I end of the best turf horses of his generation. The result was seven straight fanny tannings in stakes company, and hansg has been trying to rebuild this horse’s confidence ever since. He’s one of those real late kickers, and he’s managed to win two this year, but not in stakes company. His most recent race is encouraging, a nice third in an Ohio stake this exact distance. He’ll be flying late.<\/P>

What would a big stakes be in West Virginia without a spoiler from the Super Empire? DEVIL TO PAY,<\/STRONG> from the super3 barn, ain’t much as far as super horses go, but we’ve seen them come here and win before with their second string. This one is an allowance horse who was fifth last out in his first-ever open stake. Put it this way: If the Super Empire beats us with this boy, they’re really sticking it to us.<\/P>

Wassie has an interesting entry here in STRIKINGLY G<\/STRONG>, the last horse in the race with any stakes points. Strikingly G has only four, but notice how well he responded last out when switched to the turf. This horse is out of Wassie’s Grade H Kingmambo mare Mamboville, who has two of three offspring stakes placed. (Darn good). With Danzig as the DDS, this one has real good turf breeding to go with the sire Cat Thief. Strikingly G is dangerous in here because he exploded to a 104 speed fig in his first start on the turf last out. He could come steaming in the lane with a major move. <\/P>

The final two entrants have nary a stakes point and probably have to be considered outsiders on that fact alone.<\/P>

MODERN PHYSICS<\/STRONG> is the second half of the Chuckrock entry. This one is in bad form for a while now and would be a major shocker.<\/P>

DEVIL’S CROWN<\/STRONG> for Iggy0476 is a claimer and wandered into the wrong neighborhood here.<\/P>

GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY!!!!!!<\/STRONG> <\/P>

\u00a0<\/P>

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\u00a0<\/P><\/FONT><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ts1442’s Silver Court gets major dissing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"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-3199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3199","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\/225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3199\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}