Highlighting the Virginia card this week, we find the Gold Champ Challenge. It is a juvenile race, and is open to all two year olds. The race will run over six and a half furlongs of firm turf, and carries a $50000 purse. This is the third annual running of this stakes race, won last year by Popping Bubbles(KY)<\/B>, who exhibited a nice send half close to capture what has proven to be his only career stakes win. WE are getting to the point in the season now where two year olds can get some additional distance in there races, and stakes runs like these are starting to showcase pure sprinters. In the field of five that drew in here, the odds reflect this, with a pair of cofavorites going off at 2\/1 odds, backed by another pair of colts at the 3\/1 mark. A 9\/1 longshot rounds out the field. Once again, handicappers aren\u2019t going to get rich off this one, but the somewhat longer odds on the favorites should prove a better payoff than we saw last week, especially on the exotics.<\/P>
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PP 1) Lion Stormcat(LA)<\/B> Sired by Lion Tamer, Trained by graywolf13. Lion Stormcat(LA) is a relatively hard run colt, making his ninth career appearance in this race. He has four stakes starts, including a pair at graded level, and he is still seeking his first taste of stakes victory. Overall, his first eight starts have left him with a record of 1-3-1-0-1, with a best speed figure of 79.2 earned on an off track in his last start. His last race was an A2L in New Hamshire at six furlongs, where a decent close was overshadowed by the deeper closers late, leaving him with a third place finish in a field of twelve. He has primarily been a dirt runner, with seven of eight starts on that surface. He performed quite consistently outside of graded level. His last run was his first on the grass, and he posted a career best speed. The question here though, is whether it was the grass he liked, or the off track. He has covered distances from five and a half furlongs to eight, and seems to be at his best in a sprint. This distance is a happy medium for him, and he shouldn\u2019t have any problems. His sire is a freshman out of the Alydar line, who has thus far made the vast majority of his earnings on dirt. Storm Cat on the dam side can sometimes be a closet turf influence, though. This colt will generally hover in the midpack during the first half of the race. His close has been somewhat spotty over his career. He has lots of early speed up front in this one, which may mean some extra ground to make up in the second half. How he responds to the firm turf will write the story on him here.<\/P>
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PP 2) Gogh For It(IRE)<\/B> Sired by Peintre Celebre(IRE), Trained by chesapeke2. Gogh For It(IRE) will step to the gate for start number five in this race. This is his fourth straight stakes run, and he has one stakes victory to his credit. With the exception of a stumble at graded level two starts back, he has performed well, putting up a record of 2-1-0-0-0, with a best speed figure of 77.5 earned in his second start. His last run was a six furlong stakes race in North Florida, where he fell just short behind a powerful close, settling for second in a field of four. It\u2019s been all turf for this colt, and he seems to love the surface. The furthest he has stretched out to date is seven furlongs, and that was in a highly competitive Grade 3 field which makes it hard to judge his true potential in a longer race. The progeny of Peintre Celebre(IRE) have shown a slight turf preference, as well as a tendency to prefer a longer race, especially as they start to mature. Silver Hawk tends to reinforce both the these tendencies markedly through the dam line. This colt is a deep closer, and outside of the graded start where he simply never fired, his close has been excellent. He couldn\u2019t ask for a much better setup here, with what looks to be an early speed duel to his outside, which should probably take its toll late. Only question involved is will he half enough track to get there in the second half. He is used to facing four to five length deficits, and he has an extra half furlong to work with over his last. With all the early speed, I\u2019ll pick him here.<\/P>
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PP 3) Ronnie Allen(AUS)<\/B> Sired by Tuscanos(AUS), Trained by jockfan30. Ronnie Allen(AUS) jumps straight into the fire here, entering stakes competition straight off his maiden victory in his debut last time out. He took a full field in Maryland from gate to wire, surviving both an early speed duel, and a late flurry by the closers to win at six furlongs on turf. He posted a speed of 68.5, which is well below the average in this field, but it was a first start, where the trainers and jockeys generally won\u2019t press a horse too hard, especially at the juvenile level. The oddmakers didn\u2019t think much of him either, writing him off at nearly 22\/1, but he showed them all. His sire is a freshman out of the Fairy King line through Encosta De Lago, and has fielded four winners from nine starters so far, with an overwhelming preference for turf. The line has sired many good sprinters, and seems to prefer the sprint arena. His dam sire is out of the Nureyev line, through Theatrical, lending a good amount of stamina to the mix, though generally preferring a harder dirt surface. This colt broke hard last time, and showed a lot of heart, holding on in a race where he never had a cushion more than three quarters of a length. He faces a much highre class of horse here, though, and will need to prove that his last wasn\u2019t just a fluke. He might be worth a place in your trifecta box as the 9\/1 longshot.<\/P>
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PP 4) As You Wish(JPN)<\/B> Sired by Grandera(IRE), Trained by pisano2. As You Wish(JPN) will make his sixth career run in this race. He has a win and a pair of seconds in three stakes starts. Overall, he sports a record of 2-2-0-0-1 in his first six, posting a top speed of 79.0 in his last outing. That start was a six furlong stakes in Kansas, where he bested a short field by a length, running away down the stretch. All five career starts have been on grass, and with four top two finishes, who can argue with that logic. This will be his longest start to date by a half furlong, and it doesn\u2019t appear the extra distance will help him in what looks to be an early duel. Grandera is a fourth year sire out of the Chief\u2019s Crown branch of the Danzig line, and he has field a graded winner in each of his first three crops, all of them on turf, two of the three being sprinters. Generous(IRE) on the dam side, lends a lot of stamina to the mix, without generallly affecting surface preference. This colt looks to want to play a stalker\u2019s role, which in four of his first five starts have seen him with at least a piece of the early lead. In the one start where he didn\u2019t break with the leaders, he broke too quickly as they crossed the half, and was taken out by the horses closing from a deeper position. In an early duel, he is about 50\/50, with his best showing coming in shorter races. With fast breakers up front and a very good closer to his back, this is not the ideal situation for him. He does baost one of the best speeds in this field, which should help, but I think the extra half furlong is going to prove too much for him to hold on with this setup.<\/P>
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PP 5) The<\/B> Twister(AUS)<\/B> Sired by Markane, Trained by wildwest. The Twister(AUS) runs in his sixth career outing as he takes the track here. He has become somewhat of a Virginia regular, making his last two stakes starts here. He has four stakes start total, and sports one win at this level. Overall through five starts, he has a 2-2-1-0-0 record, putting up a best speed number of 79.1 in his last run. That run was a seven and a half furlong effort right here in the North The Baby Bonanza a month ago, where he finished second in a field of four, giving up the lead late. All five career outings have been on turf, and the surface seems to agree with him, as evidenced by his race record. While he posted a career best speed at seven and a half last out, both wins have come at six furlongs, and he seems to prefer that shorter race. His sire is fielding his first crop of racers this year, so far sporting two winners from thirteen starters. Every dollar earned has come on turf, the bulk of it, not unusual for a freshman sire, in sprints. His dam sire Hamas(IRE) is a more experienced sire, and has shown himself to be a strong sprint influence, regardless of surface. This colt has tried both stalking and closing from midpack, with mixed results both ways. In general, if he gets off too fast, he has problems holding on late. Closing has been a mixed bag, one time showing textbook form, then the next just never seeming to fire at all. He is another runner in this field that finds himself with a less than ideal setup, with speed both up front and behind him. He always seems to find his way into the mix though, especially in these short field races, and he is another one for your trifecta box.<\/P><\/BODY><\/HTML><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Oddmakers calling this sprint a close one<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":472,"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":[2,3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews","category-reviews","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4926","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\/472"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4926\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}