In a very rare stake start, record holder Stuck On Cards has been entered into the Saltystickysweet Turf Spint in Maryland.\u00a0\u00a0 This is a 5 furlong turf event with fast track expected as there is a chance of thunderstorms, but they are forecast for the night, well after the race concludes.<\/p>\n
Ten others will take on this record setter who has shown that he has durability.\u00a0\u00a0 Well, that’s about all he has as he is reluctant to die as we will see in a moment as we look at the field.<\/p>\n
1 STARSWITHSTRIPES\u00a0\u00a0 334\/1<\/p>\n
Has been racing in claiming race level most of the year with a spot start in MSW and starter allowance.\u00a0\u00a0 He hit the board with some frequency early in the year as a maiden but lost that touch after maiden was broken.\u00a0\u00a0 Steep odds come as he will wrestle with the listed stake level and bypass all the other levels in between.\u00a0 Speeds in the mid-60 range look ill-fated against the competition in this field, perhaps Stuck with Cards being the exception.<\/p>\n
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2\u00a0 ROADCITY\u00a0 7\/2<\/p>\n
A late runner who will be making his fourth start of the season.\u00a0 He’s been close in all three starts this year with a second and two thirds.\u00a0 Crossing the line first has been a challenge that he’s trying to overcome with the last win coming in April of 2017.\u00a0 He’s finished ITM 7 of 9 races since that win and shown he can compete.\u00a0 This race may be the right road for him.<\/p>\n
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3\u00a0 CITY OF GIANTS\u00a0 9\/2<\/p>\n
A throw away start in his last in the G2 Dancing North Cup where he finished well back while experimenting with the 12 furlong route on a yielding track.\u00a0 He’s done well on the off-track, so the long distance was the cause of the failure.\u00a0 He’s back to a distance he’s comfortable with.\u00a0 All year long, speeds have been 100+ with the exception of the graded race and he’s been ITM 4 of 6 this season which includes a pair of allowance wins. \u00a0 Should go well this time out.<\/p>\n
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4\u00a0 PAYTON CUNDUIT\u00a0 9\/2<\/p>\n
After starting the year with a 6th in a listed stake and then a 10th when trying the dirt for the first time, things have sweetened up.\u00a0 He finished third in an allowance in March, he marched back into the listed stake category and replicated the third place finish.\u00a0 His most recent start, which was also a listed stake in July, scored a win as the 5\/2 choice.\u00a0\u00a0 Looks to repeat.<\/p>\n
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5\u00a0 MOTH INTO FLAME\u00a0\u00a0 10\/1<\/p>\n
Five races have scored two wins this year with a second.\u00a0\u00a0 He’s been racing in the allowance group and his most recent start was a poor 8th finish, going a mile, however he did move up five spots in the stretch run and sliced his deficit by about four lengths.\u00a0\u00a0 More was expected out of him after finishing second at 7.5 furlongs and the smidge of extra distance should of helped.\u00a0 It didn’t.\u00a0\u00a0 Nonetheless, he’ll put his late run ability to the test as he gives the listed stake level a shot.<\/p>\n
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6\u00a0 PASTIS\u00a0 35\/1<\/p>\n
Winning a listed stake race to start the 2018 season off was a nice way to start his 3 year old season.\u00a0\u00a0 The speed of 89 wasn’t bad but he has not been able to improve the speed in three subsequent starts after the win.\u00a0 He finished out of the money in each start.\u00a0\u00a0 Horse may be in need of some class relieve to regain confidence.<\/p>\n
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7\u00a0 DECLARATIONOFDYLAN\u00a0 16\/1<\/p>\n
Taking a bit of a holiday in 2018, this entrant came back to the track in April and scored a quick win by a head at 13\/1 as he returned to the turf.\u00a0 Two months later he would hit paydirt again at 10\/1, wiring a field.\u00a0 Both of these were allowance races and he navigates into the starter allowance class.\u00a0\u00a0 He seeks his third straight and should not be ignored as the rest seems to have produced results.<\/p>\n
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8\u00a0 STUCK ON CARDS\u00a0\u00a0 “SCR”<\/p>\n
Those odds are correct.\u00a0 Our record setter has odds of “SCR”.\u00a0 According to the game creator, this means that a horse that has been scratched from a race has a better chance to win the race than he does.\u00a0\u00a0 So non-entered horses can beat him?\u00a0 Yes, they can.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This record he holds is for most career starts which will hit 364 when he enters the gate for this race.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And with only 2 career wins, his chances of finishing better than last are zilch.\u00a0\u00a0 He ran a rare 53 speed back in May, but other than that, speeds have been sub-20 all year. \u00a0 The tote board will explode if he wins.\u00a0 That is a huge “IF”.<\/p>\n
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9 HOT SHOES\u00a0 9\/2<\/p>\n
In five stake races this year, four have concluded with a finish of fourth or better.\u00a0 Out of the money only once this season which came in the G3 King Georgie Sprint where he was overmatched and finished 9th.\u00a0\u00a0 He’s competitive in the listed stake ranks and will be out on the front end early on.\u00a0 Hanging on to that lead will be the hard part as he often gets caught in the stretch run.<\/p>\n
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10\u00a0 RADIATE\u00a0 7\/1<\/p>\n
This 6 year old took all of 2017 off and nearly half of 2018.\u00a0 He returned in June and has raced in a pair of allowance and one listed stake race.\u00a0\u00a0 After a nice 96 speed in his return, he hasn’t been able to keep things up there and has dropped to the 80-range.\u00a0\u00a0 That’s a bit concerning as speeds will often improve after getting some of the cobwebs out when returning to the track.\u00a0 Maybe he needs a bit more than others but if it takes too long, he may need to drop in the racing ranks to find a better spot to be competitive.<\/p>\n
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11\u00a0 NICANATIVE\u00a0 4\/1<\/p>\n
After some success in 2017 that featured a pair of wins and a second and third in listed stakes he has struggled throughout the 2018 season.\u00a0\u00a0 In five listed stake appearances (in a mix of dirt and turf), he hasn’t had a top three finish.\u00a0 He’s finished fourth as his best result this year.\u00a0\u00a0 Speeds have been in the 90-100 range and fit in with the top runners in this field, but the results just have not been delivered.<\/p>\n
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My Picks:<\/p>\n
Stuck on Cards for last.\u00a0 You can bet the house on that, if you can find someone to take the wager.<\/p>\n
Otherwise I’m going with Roadcity for the top spot.\u00a0 He’s got good form and the late run could catch the early speed who may tire themselves out.<\/p>\n
City of Giants has very good chance to take top spot as he returns to sprint and listed stake level.<\/p>\n
Declarationofdylan has been surprising with each start since returning after layoff earlier this year.\u00a0 Could keep the surprises coming.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a very rare stake start, record holder Stuck On Cards has been entered into the Saltystickysweet Turf Spint in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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-46500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46500","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\/363"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46500"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46501,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46500\/revisions\/46501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}