Untitled Document<\/title><meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=iso-8859-1\"><\/head><body><\/p>\nThe sophomores go a very long ways for the first time in their young careers in Saturday’s Monster Mash Stakes<\/strong>, a G1 in Nevada. The 11f stake will elevate at least one 3yo into contention in the New Yorker in 4 weeks, but who will it be? One of Given’s<\/em> trio of 3yos? One of the Lennbrenner’s<\/em> duo? Or perhaps Pigeon<\/em>, trainer of the current king of the older dirt router division, will win with one of his pair. And yet there are still 8 more legitimate contenders for the crown. <\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nGiven’s big three:<\/em><\/p>\nAt 11-1, Spookshow<\/strong> isn’t getting much love, but the colt’s big 5+ length win LTO speaks for itself. He got his first trip at 9.5 on a fast track and loved it, closing from way back to destroy the allowance field with a 97SP. The Kingmambo colt pretty much hates an offtrack, but on fast he’s stakes placed in his only try (at a mile). This is his graded debut. Spookshow’s mama, a Deputy Minister mare named Hatuibwari, hasn’t yet been bred for the year. If Spookshow blows up this race, a return to the King might be in order. <\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nWatergate Scandal <\/strong>was looking like a potential for the Bluegrass Derby earlier this year, but a couple of bad races saw him sit the big race out. The Empire Maker colt is entered at 9-1, and stuck in gate 15. The far outside is not where the trainer wanted him, after breaking from the outside for those aforementioned bad races. If Scandal gets to the lead right out of the gate, watch out. If he gets to the first call in front, he’s pretty certain to be around at the end. His mama, a Deputy Minister mare named Political Scandal, ran second in her only 12f start. Watergate Scandal is 4 times a stakes winner, but never finished better than fourth in graded.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nAlso at 9-1 is the Touch Gold colt Gold Cloak<\/strong>. His mama, Sea Of Memories, by Strike The Gold, adored a stretch of ground but never won over 9.5 furlongs. She was also very turfy. Gold Cloak, however, really likes the main track. He’s also one of the few of his generation of have tried a long distance. Last time out he went 11, albeit on the grass. A solid third in a listed stake should have been a great prep for this race. Gold Cloak is now twice stakes-placed, once on each surface (the other was in a 9.5f stake two back where he lead most of the way and faded in the stretch. <\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nPigeon’s pair:<\/em><\/p>\nSo he’s got the best older horse in the sim right now, and wants to extend that dirt route dominance to the sophomores with a pair of Meadowbank babies. Meadowbank Sky<\/strong> is more highly regarded by the bettors at 11-1. The Sky Mesa colt is the first offspring of Mining mare Main Attraction. The mare went two turns on dirt just once, and pretty much hated it, so perhaps Sky has inherited distance limits from mom. Then again, he’s a stakes winner at 9.5, and has 3 route wins from 7 tries. He generally likes to come from midpack, but is a touch slower than some of the other colts here with atop SP of 92.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nMeadowbank Ready<\/strong> is really being turned down by bettors at 23-1. He’s the only offspring of Arch Sculptor mare Communal Roof, and by the hot young sire More Than Ready. All of mom’s wins came at 10+ (including one 13f 5+ length win) but she preferred turf. Her son, however, loves the dirt. In three tries dirt routing, he’s won twice and run second once. A nice record for a really nice colt. Versatile colt, too, as he’s won both in front-running fashion and by stalking the pace. Making his stakes debut here.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nLenny’s duo:<\/em><\/p>\nThe best of the two entrants is the 7-1 Severe Warning<\/strong>. The Theatrical colt (scratch bred with an Alydar x Bold Ruler dam-side) has spent his entire career dirt routing, and has a great 6:3-1-0 record to show for it. He’s yet to win a stakes race, but he’s got the kind if fast-out-of-the-gate-and-hold-on mentality that’ll see him get his stakes win sooner or later. Top SP of 97 earned at 9.5 means he’s very competitive here. Placed second in sole listed try, and fourth in sole graded try.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nThe field longshot at 36-1 is I Hate Lenny<\/strong>, another scratchbred. This one is a Point Given baby, with his dam-side the excellent Blushing Groom x Nureyev combo. He’s really in here as an extreme flier, although he does tend to place more often than not with an 8:1-3-1 record. Top SP on dirt is a 73, earned at a mile last September. Since then he’s been on the grass. Distance may be a possibility, however. Last race saw him run second at 11 on turf to finish with a steady closing run to lose by just 2 1\/2. Of course, that was on a good track, and he ran a 66. Should be interesting to see what happens. <\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nThe single entries:<\/i><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nLaxe<\/em> enters the 5-1 favorite, Borzakovski<\/strong>. The colt, by The Cliff’s Edge, is the youngest son of B-grade Danzig mare Traba. He’s the third fastest colt in the field, with a 98SP to his record (and 4 more 90+ SPs to back that up). Borza has a pair of listed wins to his credit, but so far hasn’t broken through in graded. He’s been knocking on the door, though, with 2 seconds, a third, and a fourth in his last 4 graded starts. That last race was the 9f G2 Federico, where he closed from midpack to place third by 1 1\/4. Looks like more ground is his desire, but how much more? <\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nSo if Borzakovski is the third fastest, who is faster? That title belongs to winningday’s<\/em> Adobochubbycheeks<\/strong>. With a pedigree of Kitten’s Joy x Mr. Prospector x Sadler’s Wells, you’d think the colt would be a turf monster, but instead he’s run his best on the main track. He especially likes some wet conditions, as both his dirt wins have been on good tracks. But, his high SP of 101 happened on a fast track in the G3 Silver Fence in January where he finished third after jumping to an early lead. Adobo has never gone over 8.5, so his liking for 11 is a bit up in the air. He’s never won when he hasn’t wired the field, and there a ton of speedsters in this field. 6-1 odds. <\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nAt 7-1 is my colt, If You Dare<\/strong>. He’s a scratchbred, Touch Gold x Unbridled x Alydar. After a poor debut, he’s run top-3 in all 5 races since, and won his first stake last time out going 9.5 furlongs with a 99SP. He likes to come from midpack but tends to start his run a bit earlier than many closers do. The quick jump to graded could be an issue. <\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nRedseals’s<\/em> Caligula’s Rules<\/strong> is clearly looking for some more ground, and ought to relish the stretchout. The scratchbred Roman Ruler x A.P. Indy x Nureyev colt broke his maiden in his second start going 9.5, made it two in a row going 9, then jumped up to graded. He posted his best SP ever, 94, in the G2 Fountain of Ute, but was shuffled way back after a poor start and finishes seventh. Last time out he went in an 8.5f listed stakes lost by just under four, finishing fifth. The extra ground is just what he needs to get back on track. Could develop into a solid graded horse over the summer.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nQuesting Beast<\/strong>, owned by catspaw<\/em>, is a son of Rainbow Quest. The Beast’s mama is the Sadler’s Wells mare Pump Lactose, whose only dirt win was at 12f. Beast is a two-time winner (from eight starts), with his most recent victory coming in an allowance two back at 9. He closed from the back to win by almost 2 lengths, and still had some energy left. Last race was on a good track going 8.5; he finished fifth by just under six and was moving up. Lifetime high SP os 91 was earned last time out. <\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nAt 19-1 is Count Magoo’s Wood<\/strong>. Newmarket4<\/em> bred his colt from scratch, choosing to go with Viscount x Johann Quatz x Touching Wood. The colt has 2 wins from 11 starts, and has been improving with every extra half-furlong. His last two starts have been at the listed level, where he’s run third both times. Clearly needs some extra distance, but a top SP of 91 earned at 9f suggests he may not be fast enough to win this. <\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nThere must be some cool reason behind corzacan’s<\/em> 20-1 entrant’s name. Going To The Gap<\/strong> is a scratchbred; do they sell horses at the Gap? Maybe that’s where he found this grey Cozzene x Saint Ballado x A.P. Indy colt. The colt has a 14:2-2-2 record, and his only graded try (in the G2 Heat Less last time out) wasn’t so great for the colt as he finished ninth. Top SP of 87 (earned four times at three different distances) suggests graded races aren’t his thing. A long trip or two might be what the Gap cashier ordered, however. <\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nI think that the railhorse, entered by bmr003<\/em> at 22-1, may have been the victim of a typo. With a sire like Oratorio, the name Sreak To Me<\/strong> screams of either typo, or some in-joke for which I am not in. Sreak is the youngest baby of the stakes-winning Forty Niner mare Carolina Cat. Sreak spend his first five races on the grass, earning a paycheck every time but not really yelling “I’m A Star!” So last race he switched to the dirt, and in a 9f allowance ran second by a quarter-length with a lifetime high 91. Jumping to graded off that one race may be premature, but then again Sreak could like the challenge.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nSo 11 owners have runners here. What’s going to happen? Sheer volume says Given has the winner. But, Given has noted that pretty much every time I pick his horses to win, they get crushed. Since I have an entrant in this race, I could be an objective reporter, or put a hex on one of his colts. Ahh, reporters’ ethics. Let’s try breaking down the race, and see if I can jinx those three objectively:<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nSevere Warning<\/strong>, Adobochubbycheeks<\/strong>, Watergate Scandal<\/strong> will go for the front. Gold Cloak<\/strong> is likely to sit right behind them, with Meadowbank Ready<\/strong> right behind them. Both Severe Warning and Watergate Scandal have the speed to carry them a ways, but can they withstand the stretch runs of Borzakovsky<\/strong>, Questing Beast<\/strong>, Meadowbank Sky<\/strong>, or If You Dare<\/strong>? With the new challenges these horses are seeing (distance, class, surface, and various combinations of those), I have no clue. So, I’m ducking the question, and will say the winner has been named somewhere above in bold type. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long-distance test for 3yos trying to earn a New Yorker berth<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"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-4172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4172","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\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4172\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":4172,"date":"2007-05-12T00:46:03","date_gmt":"2007-05-12T00:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blacktypebugler.com\/?p=4172"},"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=4172","title":{"rendered":"Looking for a Monster in Nevada Mash"},"content":{"rendered":"