Welcome to the 7th running of the Rock\u2019s Texas Cooking Series! Established by the Sim\u2019s seniormost player (yes, even more senior than the guy who created the game), this series tests runners over a wide variety of distances. This week, the going is a classic ten furlongs. The forecasters are predicting rain, so it will be especially interesting to watch the horses who have proved themselves in the slop.
First up is vsmdinc2<\/I>\u2019s Globogym<\/B>, a 4yo son of Pleasantly Perfect. He had a nice Grade II win at three, but since then has not shown much in graded company. Though this isn\u2019t the toughest field out there, I don\u2019t see him as able to take on these guys. Landed an awesome jock, though, so if he\u2019s ever going to run huge, this is his best chance.
Next door will be Catmount2<\/I>\u2019s Safety Zone<\/B> at 5\/1. Safety\u2019s coming off a big win in the Minnesota vs Vermont Challenge. The son of Spinning World has finished third in both off-track appearances, so he\u2019s proved he can handle the surface well enough. Should be right up there at the end.
Then there\u2019s Teamt<\/I>\u2019s 27\/1 longshot, Even Steps Ted<\/B>. This three-year-old looks like he\u2019s in awfully deep here. He\u2019s won a couple of overnight stakes against his peers, but disappointed last time out in graded company. Now it gets even tougher as he takes on his elders.
Montalcino<\/I>\u2019s Chasing Dreams<\/B> has a win and a place on off tracks, which bodes well for this weekend. Taking a substantial step up here into graded company and I\u2019m a little concerned about his jock\u2019s 5% strike rate. Come-from-behinder will get a lot of gunk flung in his face, but that\u2019s nothing new. A definite contender to hit the board, though I don\u2019t really expect a win of him.
Next is Streakin6s<\/I>\u2019 Lakeside Dream<\/B>. This will be his first stakes appearance, despite it being his 36th start. The son of Pivotal often wins allowance races handily, but this is a huge step up. I\u2019d like to see some evidence that he can handle this company before backing him in a race like this. He\u2019ll probably finish respectably, but he can\u2019t count on a paycheck.
Halfway through the field is Wildone<\/I>\u2019s Alba Wild<\/B>. The lightly-raced son of El Prado is coming off an allowance win at this distance. Ran a solid second in his one off-track start, but hasn\u2019t yet shown the turn of foot needed to compete in graded company. He\u2019s not a bad horse at all, but his 30\/1 odds are probably about right.
Euroalien<\/I>\u2019s Oxys<\/B> will spring from the seven hole this weekend. The nicely-bred son of Woodman has been struggling in allowance company of late, so this race is likely to be too much for him. Watch for him to grab the early lead and serve as a rabbit for the rest of the field to chase.
It\u2019s hard to say anything bad about the solid favorite, Deltatiger<\/I>\u2019s Seattle Delta<\/B>. He\u2019s coming off two comfortable wins, an allowance and an overnight stakes. Very importantly, he\u2019s won three of six off-track starts, showing that he\u2019ll like the going just fine. He hasn\u2019t been great in graded stakes, but his form is dandy right now and this is a lighter field than other ones he\u2019s faced. His jockey this weekend is solid enough. Watch for him to settle midpack and then come roaring through on the stretch. He\u2019s not unbeatable, but he\u2019s earned his short odds.
Viper<\/I>\u2019s Twoblack<\/B> was an absolute monster at this distance in allowance company, then disappointed badly in the Vermont vs. Minnesota challenge. It\u2019ll be interesting to see what happens as he takes on a tough field again. I\u2019m a little worried that he may have signaled that he\u2019s not up to taking on the best fields, but his allowance runs have been so impressive that he\u2019s earned a second shot at the big time. This will be his first try on an off track, so that could go either way. Lots of questions for this guy, and it\u2019ll be interesting to see how they\u2019re answered.
Tarski<\/I>\u2019s Real Fruit<\/B> had some trouble in Vermont last time out, just like his next door neighbor. As for Twoblack, Real Fruit\u2019s last race could just be a fluke. Overall, he\u2019s been a solid competitor in overnight stakes. He\u2019ll need to step it up a bit here, but given that he has a win and a second on off tracks, this may be a great opportunity for him to do so. Solid jockey and his like for the track give him an opportunity to really shine this week.
Phenomenal Marks<\/B> is an interesting little horse trained by Pilot747<\/I>. He\u2019s run explosively from behind in his last two and his form has generally been progressing nicely. This is a big step up from the allowance company he\u2019s been keeping, but he\u2019s been signaling that he\u2019s ready for something new. Wretched jockey up and he\u2019s been indifferent on off tracks, but something interesting could happen here.
The field rounds out with Kelso<\/I>\u2019s George Cinq<\/B>, who\u2019s been decent in allowances and the occasional overnight stakes. Probably in a little deep here, but unlikely to embarrass himself. One of several perfectly nice horses in the race who\u2019s unlikely to win.
Good luck and may your horses come back safe and sound. <\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rock’s Texas Cooking Series Continues<\/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-3840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3840","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=3840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3840\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}