{"id":368,"date":"2005-08-25T12:40:37","date_gmt":"2005-08-25T12:40:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blacktypebugler.com\/?p=368"},"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=368","title":{"rendered":"Spectacular field in California Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/font><font face=verdana size=2 color=black><\/p>\n<h1>California Classic:<\/h1>\n<p>14 trainers and a full house will be awaiting anxiously for the horses to turn into the final stretch of the California Classic. Then will the battle is about to start when the horses will start the stretchrun.<br \/>Very familiar faces and some outstanding big trainers have given attention to one of the most prestigious races in the California season on which what will be a great day of racing in sunny California. The stewards have done a great job in keeping the track very fast for weeks now. <\/p>\n<p><h2>The Odds:<\/h2>\n<h3>Lets take a look at the morningline for this race. <\/h3>\n<li>CALL OF THE WILD II 6\/1<\/li>\n<li>SEARCH AND CONQUER 7\/1<\/li>\n<li>KISSIN COUSIN II 7\/1<\/li>\n<li>SILVER CANUCK 8\/1<\/li>\n<li>WONDERBOY COUGAR(IRE) 10\/1<\/li>\n<li>ESTROGEN 10\/1<\/li>\n<li>SLITHER 10\/1<\/li>\n<li>HARDWOODFLOOR 11\/1<\/li>\n<li>PARKER 11\/1<\/li>\n<li>Rest of the field  12\/1 bar.<\/li>\n<h2>The Racecard:<\/h2>\n<h3>Here is the Racecard for the California Cup:<\/h3>\n<p><iframe width=100% height=800 border=0 src=http:\/\/www.yoss.info\/card\/index.php?id=0114><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>The Runners Exposed<\/h2>\n<h3>Now we will have a quick rundown of the entrants. <\/h3>\n<li><b>PP1: WONDERBOY COUGAR(IRE)<\/b> 9th ranked R Simcox (14% ). The entry from Belgium based breeder\/trainer karlch is running under the Zeco silks. He comes of a similar win at New York in 2538, where he won the prestigous Out Of The City Handicap -G1 in a rocketing 2:00 3\/5. That race was his first start in 14 weeks after a voluntary rest by his trainer. This lightly raced and carefully watched horse is looked to get into full swing now after his courages 3yo season. This will be a horse to be on your watch list for the future. He posted 3 110+ in his last 4 starts over 10f-12f and there isn&#8217;t another horse who can match this in this field. 10\/1 is a really really nice price for this colt. What is also remarkable is that this is the only &#8216;cheaply&#8217; bred in the field. I think he wouldn&#8217;t have cost more then 200 credits to breed. Very nice work zeco!!! <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><b>PP2: LOOSE CARSON<\/b> 126th ranked horse.E Donahue (12% ) .Trainer alleds has entered his stablestar but he is one of the outsiders of the field at 12\/1. A very nice horse but out of depth and out of his distance here. His attempts at 10f or further have flopped, it looks like he hits a wall after 1900 meters. He does come of a very nice stakes win in 106 over 9.5f LTO but that doesn&#8217;t look sufficient to take up this field for a placement.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><b>PP3: HARDWOODFLOOR<\/b>, ranked 24. Trainer jayvee booked  F Allen ( 9% ) as usual for his colt. They seem to get along very well together. Faithfull horse always battling for a check eventhough he runs in tough graded races. His last race was a trainings race i think. The distance didn&#8217;t suit him at all, and his trainer knows that. He pulled of this trick before in the beginning of 2005, where he was also entered in a 13f race, got smashed, but next race he won the California  San Valenzuala Breeders Bowl Stakes 8.5f dirt -G2 in 1:41 4\/5 also ridden by Fletcher &#8216;Flash&#8217; Allen. Question remains if he can pull of this trick again, because this field looks a lot tougher then back then and I do have some distance doubts for this horse.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><b>PP4: SEARCH AND CONQUER<\/b>. Trainer chibound of the Fabman Big oil operation has entered his #3 ranked colt into this race. Now as soon as you see the name Fabman or the Big Yellow F beware! There is always something funny going on. Take this, he booked jockey Next &#8216;Bill&#8217; Bonus who happens to be the owner trainer of another horse in this race. Now what are these 2 up to? Please don&#8217;t tell me that their racefixing has spreaded to graded races aswell! Is nothing safe anymore? Search and Conquer has skyrocketed into 3rd ranking by earning 256 stakes points in his last 3 starts. I bet that gave him a nice little push up. Its an awesome horse, enjoys the distance and a heart the size of Secretariat. In his last race he came second over todays conditions in the Movieland Shiny Cup -G1 in week 2552. The winner of that race is also in the field today so B &#038; B will probably be looking for a revenge. It looks like Fabman has another contender for the Breeders Bowl this year<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><b>PP5: LIVE BY THE SWORD<\/b>. The well known colours of the &#8216;T&#8217;- empire are also represented today but unfortanetely with a longshot. At  first sight with 25\/1 there is very little encouraging about this horse in this level of competition. He did win LTO but that was an allowance. Will get a very hard time coming saturday to effectively launch his closing kick, but I do think the 10f dirt will suit him better as the distances his previous owners where running him. It&#8217;s quite amazing that a horse being bred WAR CHANT x SADLER&#8217;S WELLS x CURE THE BLUES was never tried beyond 9 furlongs. I would sure wanna give this one a try at 12f or longer. He has the runningstyle for it, and he probably won&#8217;t fall back that much with a softer pace over longer distances. That being said, he need to improve bigtime on his second try at 10F races. I hope for Ted that he can &#8216;find&#8217; this horse. He is the fourth owner of this horse originally bred by kingab&#8217;s stable masterab.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><b>PP6: POLITICAL PATRIOT<\/b>. This 4yo colt is ranked #32. Raised and trained by focusforce he is the star of the stable. The focusforce stable belongs to the Thoroughbred operation of Next &#8216;Bill&#8217; Bonus, running under the gray-bordeaux colours that we all know when they fly by us. Besides being trainer\/breeder he is also a succesfull jockey. How he has still time to post all those colorfull messages on the MB is beyond me. (Allways read his fineprint!) As I already stated above, Next himself is riding the second favorite, while he has left the reigns of his own horse to the most succesfull apprentice jockey in California, P. Incay. POLITICAL PATRIOT came 2 lengths short in his last outing, but if that would have had that extra half furlong like in todays distance there is no doubt he would have won that race. With only twelve start this colt is relatively lightly raced (if relative at all) and is sure to give his owner lots of fun coming years. His running style suggest he wants to hit the long division later in his career, he has a huge closing kick. <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><b>PP 7  STORMZAPPER<\/b>  is brought in by the rosesinmay stable running under the famous blue-yellow silks of the powerfull epic-empire. Nine runs only for this mysterious 4yo colt. We can throw out his last effort on turf and a race he got injured and then he scored 4 wins 1 third. That has given this horse the reputation of all or nothing. If he is at it, beware, otherwise he is out. He scored huge when starting his career winning 3 in a row in huge sp&#8217;s for that class. Unfortunately he broke down in his 4th careerstart, which was a huge setback for his trainer and really a case of bad luck. Fortunately it was not a severe injury and Stormzapper was back in action in 9 weeks. He answered completely to the expectations in his comeback. He was shipped to Hong Kong for a Grade2 event in which he swept away the competition with a 1:47 1\/5 over 9f on the fast Hong Kong dirt-track at 46\/1!!!. Rumours where that Epic needed a second private jet to transport all the money home. Not much time to rest 3 weeks later in homestate Illinois he flopped huge although there were big expectations for this horse. And he still hasn&#8217;t regained form since. But don&#8217;t get fooled by his odds. He is a huge bet if he bounces back from his turf start. He sure has the class to spoil the dreams of other entries. I think he likes 10f better as 9f.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><b>PP8: CALL OF THE WILD II<\/b> . Gipper8&#8217;s huge 4yo colt is the number 1 ranked. That says something of the quality of this field, he is the favourite at 6\/1! And what an impressive colt he is, he started his career in the winter as a late 2yo with a smashing debut of 95SP on turf. We all know what face we pull when we see a horse we own debut like that. I bet gipper must have been in heaven. Strangely enough his next turf efforts were all very dissapointing despite getting a check in all starts. It was a logical move to try a dirt. After a hesitating start he finally got into full swing in the It&#8217;s My Birthday And I&#8217;ll Cry If I Want To Stakes-G1 in week 2195 which he won in a huge explosion of power in 1:47 3\/5 (117SP) over 9f destroying a field of classy 3yo colts. I think thats where trainer gipper realised he had something really special because he gave the horse immidiately a half years of rest after that. After a trainings race CALL OF THE WILD II was back on his Graded path, he scored the Toilet Scrubbers Anonymous Handicap-G2 , Sand Castle Classic-G1, Maryland Special Handicap-G1. Of course the  Sand Castle Classic sticks out, it&#8217;s the richest dirt race with a purse of $6,000,000. The toughest competition showed up that day to snatch the 1st prize of $3,600,000.  Of course he is the logical favorite, his reputation has gone where no one has gone before, despite coming 3rd in his last race, the Movieland Shiny Cup -G1. Top jockey Frankl Gosset has without a doubt thankfullt accepted the honour of guiding him.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><b>PP9: ESTROGEN<\/b>. The only female to take it on the colts.  At 10\/1 she is an outsider by the bookies but trainer Tnilsson couldn&#8217;t care less about that. Homebred by her trainer, who also was the lifetime owner of her gamedam. That will give extra joy and pride in owning this mare. Estrogen also ran in the Movieland Shiny Cup -G1 where she was pushing for the lead for most of the time before losing 8 lengths in the last 2 furlongs finishing 4th. She is one of the best stayer mares around, and has won a G1 turf race against the colts with flair. Admitted: that G1 turf win was a win launched out of the sky. Her previous and only turf start as a 3yo was claimer worthy. But coming with age she has proven to be grown into a very versatile mare who has class written all over her. In all her starts you can find her near or on the lead. She will probably be the pacesetter for today. Her latest start was a very narrow escape after an heroic run on the lead with 10 lengths in front of the field.  Only half a length was left passing the wire but it needs to be said that she wasn&#8217;t pushed at all for the win and she was never in any real danger since the 3rd in that race came 8+ lengths. A brave mare and I wouldn&#8217;t be surprised at all if she picks up a check again today.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><b>PP10: ROCK CUTTER(IRE)<\/b> Liblelady3 entered the only 3yo colt to take up the glove against the older horses. like all horses in this field beautifully bred, but he is looking at a tough task here. He was guided through his conditions with great care and he didn&#8217;t dissapoint, in 6 starts he was out of conditions and he followed that up immidiately with a stakes win in 106 over 9f against older horses. His next and last race was a G1 against his fellow 3yo colts, the  Swamps Stakes-G1 in which he ran a very respectable third against Anticosti and Fly For Buda, the #1 and #2 ranked 3yo dirt Classic colts. I am sure this horse will be surely missed in the Travelers Stakes, especially since the #1 and #2 have decided to skip the Travelers Stakes in NY this week. He sure needs to improve to be competetive here, but being so lightly raced there is much room for that. Rock Cutter is an interesting contender in this race for sure, and one to add to your watch list for later. Great job so far for trainer liblelady.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><b>PP11: SILVER CANUCK<\/b>. Nearly 56k away from the $3,000,000 earnings barrier in 20 starts. Not bad for this 4yo colt of trainer pher. Former winner of the Princess Cup in a 120SP as a 3yo, this was one of the top 3yo performers last year. A level he continued this year by finishing 2nd in the Sand Castle, after which he was given a well deserved 4 months rest period to enjoy the spring. His last start was also in the 10  Movieland Shiny Cup-G1 , in which he run a 5th fading in the stretch. He had a good excuse for this below par performance being his first appearance at the track after the mentioned 4 months of rest. He was definitely in need of that race and it will done him good. His last win dates back to week 2419 prior to his rest. He beat a full field in the California Handicap-G1 over todays conditions with a sharp sprint in the strech winning going away with a 1\/2 length. He was ridden then by Frankl Gosset who preferred another horse in this race. But todays jockey is T Baker, the 2nd ranked and on a winning streak this year with 17.7% win. He has had plenty of rest to recover from his return, and if he is back to his game a worthy contender.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><b>PP12: KISSIN COUSIN II<\/b> . Trainer sherwood brings his stablestar back on the track to face various opponents he beat last time in the Movieland Shiny Cup-G1 at 8\/1. This 4yo son of Sadler&#8217;s Wells has a very nice record of 17 starts and 9 wins. After a hesitant careerstart, he started to bloom as a late 3yo, missing the classic season with only 4 runs. But in 2 of those starts he already pumped up a 110+ over 9.5-10f. Hunting season started this year, 7 runs and only beaten twice. In the California Handicap-G1 he could never come into pace and lost 12 lengths, bravely enough he battled back to 5th place. It is still unsolved why jockey T Bates let this trailing behind the field happen but it was an understatement that sherwood would never give a ride to T Bates again. Now sherwood has contracted highclass jockey  M Staples (16% )  for his temperamentfull #10 colt. On his first mount for his new employer Moore Staples rode KISSIN COUSIN II to his first Gr1 win in the Movieland Shiny Cup-G1 During the intense celebration that went on in the winner circle after that win, one gentleman in the crowd shouted &#8220;Hey, are you cousins too?&#8221;. Sour grapes for T Bates though, no hugs for him. With winning this race Kissin Cousin beat almost all dangerous contenders here. He is the logical choice of these horses and will definitely be on the lookout for a repeat of his victory. A class act!<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><b>PP13: SLITHER<\/b>. Trainer peeps of the overly succesfull GR Simsters has sent SLITHER of the peeps6 stables into the arena A 4yo DEPUTY MINISTER-GONE WEST son so he loves the distance. His last race was in the Smackdown where DelPenn was gently reminded of the existence of GR Simsters. He run a very good second there gaining ground in the strecth. It was a recovery from two minor G1 tries, that both where not very encouraging. His latest win was in the Statewide Pinhead Guild Stakes -G2 over 9f. He ran a fast 114 back then so there is no lack of speed. Still I think Slither might have a little loss of form compared to that last win. Nothing unusual: he has only been active for less then 11 months and has already 14 starts: he is near to one start every three weeks, then its not a shame if a horse gets a bit tired running in graded events. A Lewis ( 16% ) has accepted the ride of this unpredictable colt.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><b>PP14: PARKER <\/b>. Roys&#8217;s be1ststable has entered her stablestar PARKER. He is #15 ranked and one of the more experienced horses in this race with 23 starts. Roys has brought him back in top notch form, another Sadler&#8217;s Wells son, he was campaigning mostly in the long division this year, where he scored several Stakes wins and Graded places before he was taking home the Roys Mansion for a rest. Surpringly enough he complete exploded on the 9,5f returning after rest: He comes of a well deserved Gr1 win in a race which couldn&#8217;t be named more appropriate Gotta Fix The Sprinklers Classic -G1, one of roys her daily tasks in Arizona. Amazing fact: Roys Mansur rode her PARKER that race she was one of the few breeder\/owner\/trainer\/jockey to win a Gr1. PARKER has scored a very impressive 3yo campaign, Graded wins in the Equinics(121), Cribart Series(116), to top it off with a 3rd place in the Breeders Bowl Classic-G1. Great achievements to have in his pocket and taken into consideration his last start, he is also a very dangerous horse if he is on his top of his form. Today&#8217;s jockey is O Brim ( 10% ) with a lifetime earnings of nearly $20 millions. Experience enough to guide this horse to a surpise.<\/li>\n<p>This is dazzling. An awesome field of horses that will guarantee a wave in the crowd coming saturday. A superb field where every horse  seems to have something going for him. Have fun watching this race, and to all participants: good luck and thank you for bringing your horse to California<\/p>\n<p>With my pleasure<br \/>yochem<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>14 have lined up to treat racing fans<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":469,"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-368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368","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\/469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}