This week\u2019s road trip begins here in 1. NEW YORK THUNDER<\/B> \u2013 seppy<\/I> \u2013 This four year old colt\u2019s recent form clearly shows a current liking for the middle distance and sets him up nicely here. Not quite making it into shared favouritism I find a little bit of an injustice give his stellar run three starts ago at the very distance of this week\u2019s race. It could be said that he\u2019s minimally lost the edge in his last two, but still found a very comfortable win last time out, and at two furlongs further. Don\u2019t let the odds line fool anyone, this guy\u2019s right in the hunt here.<\/P> 2. PRIMETIME EMBLEM<\/B> \u2013 ss89<\/I> \u2013 Here we find the first of our favourites, and admittedly a little puzzling. He’s a career sprinter who\u2019s found tremendous success thus far in shorter races but to this point is unproven at anything beyond six and a half furlongs. He looks to prefer running at the front, which may lead to his downfall in here. The unknown factor makes it difficult to right him off altogether, but one could be led to believe, those around him in top form with experience at or around this distance will probably outsmart him heading to the post.<\/P> 3. DELERE<\/B> \u2013 epcotlen<\/I> \u2013 After really hitting the ground running during his three year season this colt looks to take another dash at the graded level. Two graded starts so far have come up a little empty handed but a marked improvement was found in his second run at the level. Age and maturity may have an impact in this race, but form is certainly there, and at this distance. Odds of 14\/1 could make a very attractive investment for the shrewd punter looking for a big return, and he does have the potential to upstage his older rivals.<\/P> 4. MY FIRST INDY<\/B> \u2013 unreal<\/I> \u2013 A steady rise through the allowance ranks sees this four year old have his first stakes attempt. Those of the school would have probably preferred to see this guy take up the challenge of an open stakes race initially, but as everyone knows, just about anything can and usually does happen. This is likely to be a tough challenge however.<\/P> 5. STORMY BLUFF II<\/B> \u2013 barn25dog<\/I> \u2013 Interesting research shows that despite this four year olds wonderful success, on the way to amassing over 2\u00bc million in earnings, he hasn\u2019t really had a lot of luck beyond nine furlongs. In retrospect his last run over eight and a half furlongs brought with it a huge 110 speed in a mighty close to just miss the win by a quarter of a length. To your writer this indicates that perhaps the time has come, and he\u2019s finally agreed to maintain his best over a longer distance. He\u2019s the second of the favourites, and despite the mentioned distance concerns, the time really does appear to have come, making him a very tough runner to beat here.<\/P> 6. UNDER THE RED SKY (GB)<\/B> \u2013 barbheff<\/I> \u2013 Twelve runs from fifteen starts in the money, including four wins is certainly nothing to be sneezed at, but this four year olds true success has come at allowance and MSW level. He has run stakes before, including a show two starts ago where he produced his best ever speed to date, but the work looks to be cut out for him in this one against a very high quality field.<\/P> 7. 8. CARSON AND DANE<\/B> \u2013 unreal<\/I> \u2013 Second runner in the race for this trainer and probably the best shot of the two in this field. Clearly he\u2019s ranked 12th<\/SUP> in this division for one good reason, he\u2019s darn good at this length of race. After hovering around the ten furlong mark for quite a few races, his form does seem a little hit and miss, putting in a solid effort one run, then becoming a little complacent the next. He\u2019ll have to put in his best here, but he\u2019s done it before, especially throughout his three year old season. I\u2019d suggest this guy may be one for the favourites to be a little wary of.<\/P> 9. WASSIE\u2019S RAINBOW G<\/B> \u2013 wassie<\/I> – Two things immediately come to mind when researching this horse. Firstly a clear tendency to baulk once confronted with a graded field, and secondly an extra furlong over the ten on offer here is what he desires. The fourteen he saw at his last start was too far, but the series of ten or thereabouts prior had him closing dramatically only to run out of ground at the death. One gets the feeling that is exactly what\u2019s likely to happen in this race, although overall his speed will have to improve a notch or two.<\/P> 10. WILL\u2019S HERO<\/B> \u2013 crash77<\/I> \u2013 An incredible forty races has been run by this guy, and yet he\u2019s still only four years old. Success has come for him, but generally his best has been at allowance level, managing a number of wins. Unfortunately this won\u2019t be his day; there are simply too many seasoned graded runners in this field, with a lot more accomplishments. I don\u2019t think he\u2019ll finish last but he certainly won\u2019t be challenging for outright honours.<\/P> 11. THE LAST RIDE II<\/B> \u2013 gipper7<\/I> \u2013 Another runner who\u2019s as yet unproven at this length, and in this case in fact has never gone this far. As with the #2, front running seems to be the preferred race plan, and if this is the case this time round, it\u2019s a big ask for him to find both outright pace and stamina at longer than he\u2019s ever gone before. Unfortunately I see him fading rather badly over the last couple of furlongs. Keep in mind however; a different approach to this race, entailing taking a little easy early, and this guy does have the outright pace to mix it with the best.<\/P> 12. GEARED DOWN<\/B> \u2013 crashcours<\/I> \u2013 If the skies were to open up, then there\u2019d be a good 5 length victory heading this guys way, but unfortunately for him, we\u2019re racing on a fast track. Overall however it looks as though this colt is really asking for a bit of a holiday, he\u2019s really cried enough in has last two outings and running him into the ground is going to nothing but diminish his chances of returning to the sizzling form he\u2019s capable of. On the surface however, he could probably do with a little more distance given the track is dry, but he\u2019s just too tired it would seem to even test the front runners here.<\/P> 13. PRECIOUS JEWEL<\/B> \u2013 highc<\/I> \u2013 This mare probably should have been getting more sugar than she has given the solid performances she puts in race to race. It seems that every time round she just keeps on motoring whilst others begin to fail. Her overall speed probably won\u2019t be enough to give the leading pack too many frights, but when the steam starts running out up front, just watch this girl wave to a few as she cruises on by. As said, probably not one to challenge for the lead, but only a fool would take the chance of leaving her out of at least the show come post time.<\/P> 14. EXBOURNE\u2019S WORLD<\/B> \u2013 thematrix<\/I> \u2013 Having never run this distance before shouldn\u2019t be a factor for this horse given he has age and maturity on his side. Coming in as the third of our favourites a quick glance back over his racing history has absolutely huge speed numbers thrown in one\u2019s face. Graded company doesn\u2019t seem to be a problem in the slightest and his \u2018from the back\u2019 running style should help overcome any kind of distance issues. Especially since in his last run it was only a single furlong less, and he got the job done through the stretch. With all said, come post time I’d expect this guy to be right amongst the top few.<\/P> All in all I get the feeling STORMY BLUFF II is perfectly poised to take honours here, but look for a serious challenge from EXBOURNE\u2019S WORLD. He along with two or three others could really take it to the joint favourite here, meaning it\u2019s very likely nearly a third of the field could be within a couple of lengths post time.<\/P> \u00a0<\/SPAN>\u00a0<\/SPAN><\/P> Is The Bluff Not A Bluff At All?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":354,"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-471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471","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\/354"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}