The bluebloods may be riding high after last week’s Bluegrass Derby<\/EM>, where top honors went to a son of perennial leading sire Gone West and the runners up were sired by a pair of hot young stallions.\u00a0 Meanwhile in Tennessee, the 2007 edition of Knightmare<\/STRONG><\/EM>‘s Bargain Bred Racing Series kicks off this year’s attempt to prove that it’s not all about the pedigree.\u00a0 Only time will tell if this year’s class includes a younger version of millionaire graded stakes winner Pepe’s Pipes<\/STRONG> (Singingintherain) or classy graded stakes winning mare Starinsky<\/STRONG> (Star Programmer).<\/P> The Bargain Derby will be contested at 9.5 furlongs on the fast dirt course, and is restricted to three-year-old colts that were acquired for no more than 100 breeding points.\u00a0 Twelve will start on Saturday, with morning line favoritism going to Flagit<\/STRONG>.\u00a0 He’s a son of The Road Boss, out of a mare by one of my own cheapie favorites, Avenue of Flags.\u00a0 The Winhunter<\/EM><\/STRONG> entry broke his maiden in his second start over this Tennessee track and came within a quarter-length of winning an owner-restricted stakes in his fifth.\u00a0 He’s only gone a route of ground ones and finished sixth there, but the 88 speed rating was just one shy of his best.\u00a0 The Bargain Derby reunites him with B. Wallace, who was in the irons for his very first start.<\/P> But nothing is certain when you’re dealing with bargain breds, and no horse is a lock.\u00a0 Second choice William Thomas<\/STRONG> is a worthy challenger indeed, a slim brown son of Yonaguska and a Cahill Road mare.\u00a0 His career began overseas and he broke his maiden in Japan, then shipped to Idaho for a professional win in stakes company.\u00a0 He’s gone a mile twice: once on an off-track and once last time out on the turf, where he dominated a small field, though he doesn’t boast as much stamina in his pedigree as the favorite.<\/P> Three colts weigh in at 6\/1, and we’ll start down on the rail with Empire of Damascus<\/STRONG> (Damascus Storm x The Prime Minister mare).\u00a0 The Bargain Derby will be his stakes debut, but he’s shown quite a bit of promise in his four-race career so far.\u00a0 Never off the board, he won his maiden race at second asking and long odds with a handsome 93 speed rating.\u00a0 Stretched to a mile for his first allowance, he flattened out a bit in the stretch but still managed third, then dialed back to show a steady late charge at the sprint distances.\u00a0 Robert Lott rides this entry for the expansive CVBear Racing Empire<\/STRONG><\/EM>.<\/P> Both of the success stories mentioned above were sired by Storm Cat sons, and Lgbost Stables<\/EM><\/STRONG> will hope to do the same with Silver Clouds<\/STRONG>, by One Nice Cat and out of a Hoist the Silver mare.\u00a0 This colt was a $10,000 pickup for the barn, plucked out of a maiden claiming race in his third start.\u00a0 He won that event and promptly proved himself more than just another claimer by running a strong second in allowance company.\u00a0 He has classy stamina to burn in his female family and was the easy winner of a two-mile starter allowance three starts back.\u00a0 The speed figure there was slowish, but he was much the best, and proved in his last start that he can flirt with 90 if the spirit moves.\u00a0 Rates a very serious chance in a field thus far short on proven distance types.<\/P> Random Youngster<\/STRONG> wears his pedigree on his sleeve and in the racing form, too.\u00a0 He’s by Bert’s Bubbleeator and out of an Artaius daughter, giving him a double dose of “solid” chef-de-race Round Table.\u00a0 He took a long while to get his legs sorted out, remaining a maiden until start number seven, but has missed the board only once in four starts since.\u00a0 Last out was an allowance at the Bargain Derby distance and he turned in a solid third after losing track of the free-wheeling eventual winner.<\/P> Jacobite Tolltaker<\/STRONG> is another Storm Cat grandson, by Bernstein and out of a Bet Big mare.\u00a0 A gawky sort, he was slow to develop and didn’t make his first start until December of his two-year-old year.\u00a0 But he was a steady learner, improving his speed ratings each time out and never moving backwards in the finish order, and broke his maiden on the front end in his fourth start, going nine furlongs.\u00a0 Jumped straight into restricted stakes company, he couldn’t keep up with the hot early pace and faded to a well-beaten eleventh.\u00a0 There’s less speed in the Bargain Derby, but J. Nussbaum isn’t to be relied upon to help ‘Tolltaker manage his.<\/P> Truth in advertising with Wonnaby Great<\/STRONG> (say it out loud).\u00a0 The Portrush son out of a Manlove mare has stamina influences scattered throughout his pedigree, but he’s only raced at the sprint distances himself.\u00a0 Stakes-placed as a two-year-old, he’s only made two starts so far in 2007, which makes me wonder if maybe he’s a little bit fragile.\u00a0 Toss his last, where he struggled over an off-track.\u00a0 He still may be a little slow for these, but it’s hard to say what will happen with so little evidence of how he’s matured at three.<\/P> Like the favorite, Who’s The Boss<\/STRONG> is an Argentine-bred son of The Road Boss, though this one is out of a Groom Dancer mare.\u00a0 He earned a check in all three races before winning his fourth, but then struggled a bit, rebounding only in his last start, a five-furlong allowance, where he did show determined effort to finish third.\u00a0 The bright brown colt has never been beyong a route of ground, and S. Mitcho is having a subpar year.<\/P> For better or worse, Cat’s Debut is a piece of sim history, and his daughter Mujastrophic<\/STRONG> (out of a Mujahid mare) will try to carve out a spot of his own.\u00a0 The token filly in the race, she carries multiple lines of Storm Cat and has done most of her running on the turf.\u00a0 She’s an allowance winner there, and interesting due to her stalker\/closer style and the career-best speed rating she earned last out while third going nine panels.\u00a0 She hasn’t seen the main track since last September, but her speed ratings match up pretty well with her average turf race.\u00a0 It would take her best, but she may be a sleeper at 14\/1 odds.\u00a0 E. Dempster seems to think so, and is a capable jock.<\/P> Runzotti<\/STRONG> (Running Stag x Manzotti mare) is a maiden with five starts under his belt and $950 in his bank account.\u00a0 He’s thrice finished fifth, passing horses last at 8.5 furlongs, and his top speed rating is an 80 earned in his second start.\u00a0 Tried the turf last out to no avail and his slowest race yet came at nine panels; 19\/1 seems a little stingy, alas.<\/P> But rounding out thefield is Igottatellyatone<\/STRONG>, a brown son of Notable Cat out of a Roxbury Park mare.\u00a0 He’s started just once, in a six-furlong Maiden Special Weight, where he flashed speed and then faded to seventh, earning a 54 speed rating.\u00a0 Dingleberry Farms<\/EM><\/STRONG> wins at a credible clip and he hasn’t proven himself hopeless yet, but it’s a pretty big leap for the little guy.<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bargain Derby strikes back<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"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-4156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4156","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\/93"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4156\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}