A field of twelve is lining up for the start of the Smallville Cup this weekend, where brave young horses are attempting to earn more laurels on the Derby Trail. Who will be faster than a speeding bullet and who will find the challenging nine-furlong course to be their kryptonite? Stay tuned and find out.<\/p>\n
Farad<\/i>\u2019s Jibe<\/b> will break on the inside for the race. He\u2019s a solid colt who likes to come from behind and has run well in overnight stakes. His speed figs are right up there with the best in the race, but he disappointed in his first graded outing. I expect him to be just a bit short on class for this race, but he\u2019s not totally out of the picture.<\/p>\n
Kiri<\/i>\u2019s And Humble Too<\/b> has a properly Clark Kentish name. He\u2019s been smoking the competition in allowance company, but hasn\u2019t fared as well in graded stakes. He\u2019s a bit of a puzzle \u2013 he earned huge numbers as a juvenile, but as a sophomore has run only 2 4-horse allowances. Sure, he won them, but he beat a whole lot of nothing. This will be his first real test as a 3yo and it will be interesting to see how he has matured. It\u2019s possible he\u2019s quite good; we just don\u2019t know yet.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s appropriate that the Buffy8<\/i> stable is represented in a superhero-themed race. But will Spitfire MK<\/b> I show the strength and spunk of the Chosen One? He rounded off a nice 2yo campaign with a graded win, then took a stake through the heart in the Carolina Niner Stakes. This will be the colt\u2019s first start since that 7th-place finish. This weekend, the trainer will find out if the colt just needed a tuneup or if that was a sign of things to come. My money\u2019s on that race being a tuneup, but we\u2019ll know soon enough.<\/p>\n
Eddie RU Kidn<\/b> is a nice up-and-coming colt for Rrlogan<\/i>. The son of Eddington finished a solid 4th in his first graded attempt, running only 1 \u00bd lengths behind the winner. I think he\u2019ll be right there, though I\u2019d be more enthused if he\u2019d won either of his previous stakes races. He\u2019ll try to win from the front, but I suspect some of the classy horses behind him will wear him down.<\/p>\n
Auror<\/i>\u2019s Be Auror Song<\/b> was a solid fourth in his only graded outing, the very tough DPCD Eruption Stakes. Since then, he\u2019s run big races in two overnight stakes. He can run fast enough to win this race, so the only question is whether he can handle this competition. His jockey isn\u2019t all that good, so he won\u2019t get much help there, but he\u2019s a classy colt with a real shot.<\/p>\n
Attenzione<\/b> is one of two Superstables<\/i> entries in the race and is the longer shot of the two at 15\/1. The son of Dixieland Band hasn\u2019t yet shown the turn of foot need to win this race, but he is certainly improving as he stretches out. I don\u2019t think the extra \u00bd furlong over his last race will make enough of a difference, but he\u2019ll be interesting to watch as the races get longer and he matures. He\u2019ll be flying late, but it\u2019ll probably be too late. <\/p>\n
Seedly<\/i>\u2019s Plucky Hero<\/b> has the perfect name for this race, but he\u2019s a true underdog at 28\/1. He\u2019s won two straight allowances, but this is a huge step up and he has an uphill battle. He\u2019s going to need to step into a phone booth and come out in spandex and a cape to have a shot here.<\/p>\n
Mavrkstbl4<\/i>\u2019s I Do and Adieu<\/b> is looking awfully good for a horse with only three races under his belt. He had a powerful debut last year (he only finished second, but scored a 91 fig). Then he won a MSW handily and came back next in an overnight stakes, where he narrowly defeated the field with a 95 fig. He has two questions to answer \u2013 can he handle the step-up in class and can he handle the extra furlong? Hard to say, but so far he\u2019s looking like a horse to watch very seriously.<\/p>\n
Psychotic Gold<\/b>, running for Super12<\/i>, is the one serious Derby horse in this field. Ranked 6th among Derby contenders, he shows up at most of the big races and\u2026.finishes second or third. His 3yo debut was disappointing; he placed third in an overnight stakes. At 9.5 furlongs, it may have been too long, or he may have peaked too soon, or he may simply have had an off race after a 6-week break. Now that he\u2019s tuned up, this race will tell us a lot about how he\u2019s looking for the Derby. With a top jockey aboard and no other major contenders present, he has no excuses this time around.<\/p>\n
Yang<\/i>\u2019s Meridian Court<\/b> is a talented son of Street Cry who finished second in graded company last time out. He\u2019s been improving steadily and that last race was a great way to start his sophomore season. If he can run up to that last race, he\u2019s going to be right up there with the best. Unfortunately, he has a pretty bad jockey aboard, but he may be talented enough to overcome that.<\/p>\n
Andros<\/i>\u2019 Demptos<\/b> finished just behind Meridian Court last time out in the Grade 3 Thousand Island. He\u2019s been on the board one other time in a graded race, so the son of Smarty Jones is capable of handling a tough field. In this wide-open race, the late-charging colt will benefit from having a skilled jockey aboard. I suspect he\u2019ll also like stretching out just a bit more here.<\/p>\n
Finally, Simsters5<\/i> presesnts the filly, Braddock<\/b>. While she has a terrific record in allowances and against her own sex, her only graded attempt was disappointing. I think this daughter of Giant\u2019s Causeway is a really nice filly, but is in too deep here.<\/p>\n
Good luck and may your horses come back safe and sound<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kansas Grade III <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"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-3741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3741","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\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3741\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}