{"id":4168,"date":"2007-05-11T20:21:32","date_gmt":"2007-05-11T20:21:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blacktypebugler.com\/?p=4168"},"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=4168","title":{"rendered":"Taking a LONG WALK in Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Lone<\/st1:PlaceName> Star<\/st1:PlaceName> State<\/st1:PlaceType><\/st1:place> has decided to break out the checkbook on Saturday with two top notch Graded Stakes races.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN>In the first one, we trot out the long distance runners in the Grade 2 Long Walk Handicap<\/U>.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The race is over a mile and three quarters on a fast track.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>$250,000 will be the purse and all horses 4 and up get to see how much they can add to their earnings.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>So let\u2019s break it down and see who can make this long walk seem like a stroll in the park.<\/P>

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LITE’S OUT <\/B>(5\/1) We just saw this 5 year old run a smooth 2nd<\/SUP> in the Rock\u2019s Texas Cooking Series<\/U> just a few weeks back on this track.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Trainer texasace<\/I> brings him right back to try and find the winner\u2019s circle Saturday.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>In the 2nd<\/SUP> place finish this one ran a career high 107 speed figure.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>That leaves us with the question if he will bounce or if he can repeat that big number.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>If he does bounce, I would think he can run at least a 98 speed figure from his past performances.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>This one is a tough horse to figure.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>If he runs back to the 107 he will surely rise up the marathon ranks.<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

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OXYMORONIC(IRE) <\/B>(10\/1) Trainer theleague<\/I> brings this 4 year old colt in from the same race that LITE\u2019S OUT<\/B> finished 2nd<\/SUP> in.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>This one had a rough race that day and finished last place.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>That is surely not an indication of how good this horse is.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He has finished in the money in 9 of 15 at the route distances and has won two lesser stakes.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>On his best, he can run a figure of around 98 to 100 and I expect him to bounce back and be in that range on Saturday.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>I am not if that will be good enough to win this Grade 2 race though.<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

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TOUCH AND STOP <\/B>(4\/1) This 6 year old ships in from Vermont<\/st1:place><\/st1:State> to try and get back to back wins.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Last out, he won the Secret Capote Cap<\/U> in gate to wire fashion with a 100 speed figure.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Without question this one will find the lead and try to take them gate to wire.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>A year ago in one of the Rock\u2019s Texas Cooking Series<\/U> races he ran won going away with a 108 speed figure at this track.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>That was one of his best races ever.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The big question that looms with this one is if he can take these horses gate to wire over this distance.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>That is what trainer dlynche<\/I> is counting on.<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

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TUNAMAN <\/B>(6\/1) Trainer togasans <\/I>ships his 4 year old colt over from Louisiana<\/st1:place><\/st1:State> to try and get a piece of this one.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>In his last race he ran a solid 2nd<\/SUP> on an off track with a speed figure of 97.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>I think that was a bit slow as he has won a Grade 1 race over 12 furlongs with a 105 speed figure.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The negative I see here is the fact that every race that he has ran over 12 furlongs has resulted in pretty large drops in speed figures.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>I think the extra furlongs will be his biggest enemy on Saturday.<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

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NO NAG HERE(IRE) <\/B>(10\/1) This 7 year old form the sesho17<\/I> stable ships in from Tennessee<\/st1:place><\/st1:State> off back to back wins.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>In the Phone Until Phones Cap<\/U> he sat off the pace and won the 14 furlong race with a 94 speed figure.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He has a few smaller stakes wins under his belt but his speed figures are too low to win this Graded race.\u00a0 <\/SPAN><\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

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LIGHT HAWK <\/B>(22\/1) Here we have a 4 year old colt from the stable of graywolf10<\/I>.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He comes in off a 3rd<\/SUP> place finish in an allowance race with a speed figure of 93.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>It will take a ton of improvement for him to find a piece of the money today with this huge class rise.<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

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DARWIN(GB) <\/B>(7\/1) Wellington<\/I><\/st1:City> ships this 5 year old in from Idaho<\/st1:place><\/st1:State>.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>In his last race over a off track he finished 3rd<\/SUP> in the Smart Slew Memorial<\/U>.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>His speed figure was a 96 in that race over 12 furlongs.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>On his best, he can run figures above 100 but he has not been able to do that in almost a year and his numbers seem to decline past 12 furlongs.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>This is a tough task.<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

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YEV’S LEPRECHAUN(IRE) <\/B>(8\/1) This 5 year old exits the same stakes race as DARWIN<\/B><\/st1:place><\/st1:City>.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Trainer vilfly<\/I> must feel that the 7th<\/SUP> place was a result of the off track.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>This horse is an interesting one.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He showed that he could run pretty good at a distance with his 94 speed figure over 16 furlongs two races back.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He has a few 100 speed figures over 11 furlongs so he may have an outsider\u2019s shot at some of the money here if he likes the distance.<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

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LAUDUM <\/B>(6\/1) This 4 year colt ships in from the District of Columbia<\/st1:place><\/st1:State> for trainer zoshka<\/I>.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>I am willing to forgive his last two performances and go four races back where he won the Your Hawks Cap<\/U> at 13 furlongs.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He was in a serious groove and ran a 102 speed figure that day.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>After three straight 100+ figures he jumped up in class to a very tough Grade 3 race and did not do well.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>This race is not as tough as that one and he is a contender.<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

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GRAND SLAM CLASSIC <\/B>(24\/1) Trainer tyedye<\/I> ships this 5 year old mare in to do battle with the boys.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>I think the odds on this one tell most of the story.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>She has her hands full.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>She tried the boys last out and ran a 63 speed figure.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>She has been able to run as high as 98 but that was against the ladies in allowance company.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>This is a very tough challenge for her.<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

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GNOME ROME<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> <\/B>(8\/1) This 6 year old from the redspeed<\/I> barn comes in off a win in the Smart Slew Memorial<\/U>.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>That race was on an off track and he managed a solid 100 speed figure.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Saturday he stretches out in distance and tries to get two in a row.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Lately he has ran seemed a little off form before the win last out.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>This horse is the kind that seems to just throw big races every now and then.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>I cannot find a rhyme or reason for it but it just happens.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>So if he runs a good race he is a contender for the money.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>That is anyone\u2019s guess.<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

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My take: \u00a0<\/SPAN>This one is a tough one to predict.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Will GNOME<\/B> ROME<\/B> run his best?\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Did LAUDUM<\/B> catch a light field?\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Will TUNAMAN <\/B>handle the extra distance and show his class?\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Will LITE’S OUT <\/B>bounce or become a top ranked router?\u00a0 <\/SPAN>With all the questions I am going to try and bet on the one thing I am confident that will happen.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>TOUCH AND STOP <\/B>will get the lead.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>There is not a lot of early speed in here and I am just going to call for a gate to wire win.\u00a0 <\/SPAN><\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anyone’s guess in this Grade 2<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"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-4168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4168","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\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4168\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}