Untitled Document<\/title><meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=iso-8859-1\"><\/head><body><\/p>\nThe New Jersey track plays host this week to the G3 Jerzey City Handicap<\/strong>. The race for 3yos and older has drawn a superior field. Perhaps the presence of Ermington Pegasus in the other graded stake over this distance (9f) this week has driven an unusually good set of horses to the Jerzey shore for the ninth edition of the Handicap. Whatever the reason, the 2007 winner will join such notables as Fly For Buda (2006) on the list of past winners of the Jerzey City trophy. The stakes record was set by Millie’s Gold <\/strong>in 2004; given the caliber of this group, it’s entirely possible that the mark of 1:46.4 will be overcome on Saturday.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nLilbitfarm’s<\/em> Quincannon<\/strong> is heavily favored by the oddsmakers. His 7-2 rating is well deserved, as seven of his last eight starts have ended with speed figures of at least 106. This 6yo son of Grand Slam seems to be maintaining his top-notch status as he matures. Nice to see the older handicap crew still beating up on the young whippersnappers. Quincannon hasn’t been visiting the winner’s circle as often his trainer would like lately, but make no mistake, this is one very dangerous horse who can pull off a big win. He loves to get out in front early, and has a strong tendency to dig down in the stretch for exciting, and narrow, wins. Really gotta like this guy a lot.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nBut Quincannon isn’t guaranteed an easy lead. Acote4<\/em> will send the speedy Dan’s Empire<\/strong> from the rail position. The 5yo son of Empire Maker makes just his second graded-stakes appearance after 36 lifetime starts. That previous try was in May 2006; D’s E placed third in the G2 Big D Park Handicap by just a length. He earned a trip to the Garden State based on a strong front-running win in an allowance last month. The 107 SP he earned is more than high enough to merit a shot at this race. Will give Quincannon a real run for his money – but which one will get the benefit of the lead, and will either have enough left in the stretch to hold off the closing charge? D’s E is 8-1 on the morning line. <\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nAlso 8-1 on the morning line is Lygerbomb’s<\/em> Androcles<\/strong>. He’s a G3 winner at 8.5, and has won at 9, but at the allowance level. He’s occasionally posted some high numbers throughout his 29-race career, but it’s only in his last 5 that he’s been consistently hitting 100+. Despite finding a new level, he’s not been turning it into wins. Indeed, the 5yo son of Cozzene hasn’t won since May 2006. Androcles has been kept to around a mile lately; extending to 9f might just be his ticket to the winner’s circle. <\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nYou know it’s an evenly matched field when so many horses are clustered together in the odds. We have four at 9-1. On the far outside of the starting gate is Afc2’s<\/em> Don Pedro<\/strong>. The trainer admitted he entered here to avoid “Superman” in Kentucky this week. Smart move. Not because Superman is elsewhere, but because when you have a horse as talented as this one, it behooves you to bring him along slowly. Afc probably thought his 5yo son of Danzig was about ready for retirement, but he gave him one last shot. After a moderately successful career on the turf, Don Pedro got a try on the dirt two starts ago. He loved it, based on the lifetime-high 104SP and 3 3\/4 length win. That merited a shot at a dirt stake, and once again a new lifetime high (107) and a win was the result. He’s shortening up from 9.5f here, but that shouldn’t present a problem. I really like horse in this race, and think he could set yet another high mark for himself.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nThe second 9-1 entry is the 4yo Belong To Me colt Half A World Away<\/strong>. Foxvbullet’s colt was superb as a juvenile, winning four grades including the Breeders Bowl Juvenile. At three he struggled, winning a couple of times but never really living up to his potential. Since turning four, however, he’s been perking up. Of six starts this year, he’s got four 100+ speed figures. Still lacks a win this year, but he’s placed three times and has to be considered good for at minimum a minor placing. At the 9f distance, he’s finished out of the top 3 just once. HAWA is also a front-runner, but I’m not sure he’ll be able to outrun Quincannon and Dan’s Empire. May not need to, if he’s returning to 2yo form when he won from stalking position several times.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nBreaking from just inside HAWA is our third 9-1 horse, Dornish March<\/strong>. Jonsnow2’s<\/em> Seeking The Gold colt has been brought along very cautiously, but at 4 years old the patience is paying off. March opened the year with three straight wins including a pair of listed stakes. His first step in the graded ranks last time out saw him run very well, if not well enough to extend his streak. He did equal his own lifetime high SP, and ran a respectable fourth to three top-notch classic division horses. The class should pose zero problems. This distance, might, however. March has tried 9 panels just twice, running second and fourth. He likes to be in the lead, but can happily stalk the pace when required. This is a colt to keep an eye on as he find his niche in the graded ranks. <\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nThe final 9-1 entrant is Wisjoel’s<\/em> Harpers Folly<\/strong>. The 5yo son of Storm Cat is winless since December, but he’s managed to take home a check in all seven races since. That kind of consistency is cherished in sim horses. Folly is two times a stakes winner at 9f, but this is his first go at a dirt route in graded company. While I like this distance for this horse a lot (and would love to see him try a bit longer), based on recent SPs he isn’t quite up to the challenge he’s going to get. A minor placing is more than possible, however. <\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nRiding a three- race win streak is Old Sukhotai<\/strong>. Blueriband’s<\/em> colt is 10-1 on the morning line. He’s deadly on the main track, winning nine times from 14 tries. Major drawback is a lack of wins at 9 or longer. His mama was a superb sprinter, so Red Ransom’s genes may have gotten the colt to do well at up to 8.5, but 9 seems to be his breaking point. Still, when you’re on a roll like this 4yo is, an attempt sure can’t hurt.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nAlso at 10-1 is my horse, A.P. Precedent<\/strong>, running from the Squirrel3<\/em> barn. The 4yo son of A.P. Indy has been sadly mishandled over the last year. When I finally put him back in at 8.5f on a fast track, he was so thankful he reeled off two straight wins with excellent SPs. The most recent win was in the G3 Perfectionistic, which he won by posting a 112SP. Pushing back up to 9f may be asking too much, especially given he’s probably going to bounce, but what the heck. <\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nAmybab2<\/em> enters Enamel<\/strong> at 11-1. The 4yo Theatrical colt has run four straight at 9f for a 1-2-0-0-1 record, with all four earning 102+ SPs. He’s at his best at this distance, with all five lifetime 9f starts earning his five best SPs. This will be the colt’s second try in graded company. The first, two starts back, saw him finish fifth in the G2 Eviscerator. He was further off the pace than he really likes, so if he can stay closer this time, he just might get his first graded placing.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nAnzstable<\/em> is represented by Sissonhill<\/strong>, a 5yo son of Danzig. The horse is in at 11-1, which may be somewhat generous given the number of lengths he’s lost his last few races by. A drop back to sprinting might be in order, given he won a G2 with a 110 under a mile last summer. Sissonhill’s pretty much unable to win off the lead, so he’ll be forced to run with the very fast Quincannon and Dan’s Empire. <\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nAt 17-1 is Burnin’s<\/em> Seeking The Brave<\/strong>. The 8yo son of Seeking the Gold is quite brave to be taking on this crowd. he’s actually quite accomplished, with multiple graded placings and several listed wins, plus $1.7 million in earnings, to his credit. In addition, back in the day STB posted an eye-popping 119SP. After 67 starts, however, wear and tear as significantly set in. STB is still capable of hitting 100, and has won as recently as December, but the old warhorse is overmatched here. <\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nThe field longshot at 30-1 is El Industrial<\/strong>. Backstretch rumors indicate trainer Semental<\/em> is annoyed at the lack of respect his Pulpit colt is getting, but the odds make sense when you look at the horse. First, he’s a 3yo making his first start against elders. Traditionally the youngsters are overlooked by bettors under those circumstances, especially during the first half of the year. Second, while he is<\/em> pretty accomplished, there’s only so much a horse can be expected to do with just six starts under his belt, especially when one ended in a well-publicized injury in a Derby prep. Third, a high SP of 104 is six points under most of the field, and 15 under at least one of his elders. It’s hard to think that El Industrial has a great chance of winning this race, but it should give him a solid foundation to build on as he begins his summer campaign. <\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nQuincannon<\/strong> and Don Pedro<\/strong> look the best to me, but Half A World Away<\/strong>, Dan’s Empire, Dornish March<\/strong>, A.P. Precedent<\/strong>, and Androcles<\/strong> all are more than good enough to take home the winner’s share of the $150k purse. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Old Sukhotai rides three-race win streak into Grade III event <\/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-4396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4396","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=4396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4396\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":4396,"date":"2007-06-16T00:27:17","date_gmt":"2007-06-16T00:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blacktypebugler.com\/?p=4396"},"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=4396","title":{"rendered":"Quincannon favored in Jerzey City Handicap"},"content":{"rendered":"