{"id":52850,"date":"2020-08-01T01:42:22","date_gmt":"2020-08-01T01:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/?p=52850"},"modified":"2020-08-01T01:42:26","modified_gmt":"2020-08-01T01:42:26","slug":"equinics-2020-empire-state-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/?p=52850","title":{"rendered":"Equinics 2020-Empire State Building"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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One of the Wonders of the World being celebrated in the\nEquinics is the Empire State Building. \nFor nearly 40years, the 102-story building was the tallest in the\nworld.   Interestingly, the top 200 feet\nof the building was originally designed as a docking port for blimp-like\nairships where passengers would walk down a plank to enter the building.  This never occurred as winds are too strong\nat that height.  At least back in the\n1930\u2019s the architects had clever thoughts, but not all ideas pan out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Onto our Equinics race where our current trainers and\nresidencies have clever thoughts in architecting plans for their horses to\ncompete in the Equinic Races.  A few will\nfind that their plans work and take a medal home while others will see that\ntheir ideas don\u2019t pan out.   Let\u2019s see\nwho\u2019s in this race which will be held in Vermont on the dirt surface.  The field is open to horses age 4 and up and\nthe ladies have opted to avoid the boys in this one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1   EMPEROR\nFERDINAND  (MIDAS Residency)    10\/1  \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emperor is owned by Dixiedotco and Seize the Throne is\nthe mother to this runner and is a Hall of Famer due to breeding five grade\nwinning children with three others that have won listed stakes.  Emperor Ferdinand likes to run on the lead or\nas close to as she can get. Hhe has been hot with the speed this year with each\nof his six starts at a minimum of 111.  \nA 117 career best speed came in May when he won his sole stake race in a\nlisted event going 8.5 flanks.    He\ngalloped into the G3 Salvatore Mile after that win and ran second early on but\ncouldn\u2019t avoid the stalkers who advanced and he finished in fourth.   The Galileo sired horse has really taken to\nthe dirt and his last start undoubtedly helped with grade level experience and\njust a matter of upping his game off of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2  CRIPPIN IS\nRIPPIN (UNIVERSAL RACING CLUB Residency) \n10\/1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a he-male bred out of Leadership Spill who was a\nfront running sprinter in his day and gathered in a nice 14 victories over his\ncareer.   Crippin\u2019s race style mirrors\nhis he-mother in that Crippin also enjoys sitting in the driver\u2019s seat,\nhowever, he does differ in that he prefers routes instead of sprints.  Owner Houseriot has this horse going nicely\nthis year with two wins and three seconds in his five seasonal starts.  The first three races were all allowance at 9\nfurlongs (one win, two seconds).   He cut\nback in distance a smidge to 8.5 furlong in May when he made his first stake\nrace appearance in the G2 Slugger\u2019s Breeder\u2019s Bowl  which he won by a stride and a half (at 12\/1\nodds) and an amazingly blazing 121 speed.  \nThat speed simmered down a tad in his last start which was an 8.5\nfurlong listed stake where he charted a still nice 114 speed and was caught in\nthe stretch and beat by a half length for a second-place finish.  Crippin is certainly Rippin this year and may\nbe a spoiler in this race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3  AFIRMATIVO  (LATINOS DEL MUNDO Residency)  14\/1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Afirmativo is a scratchbred out of City Zip who has won 5\nof his 11 dirt starts and three of those came in 2020.   This year started off with a trio of\nallowance races and after scoring wins in the second and third, with speeds of\n117 and 115, owner Haack took this runner into the G3 Hambone Cup.   Afirmativo generally runs in the back\nquarter of the field and did so in the Hambone but the late run effort never\ntranspired as he finished 10th<\/sup> in the full field of 14.   In June, he was placed into a listed stake\nrace and found his mark again as he was running 9th<\/sup> (out of 14) and\nthe half mile, 6 off the leaders and rallied to bring home the victory at 14\/1\nand won by more than a length with a lightning speed of 120.   He\u2019s\nagain at 14\/1 in this field and if lightning strikes again with another\nincredibly high speed number, Afirmativo may be taking home a medal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4  READY FOR A\nFORTY (BLAZING SADDLES Residency)  19\/1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This one has a nice breeding line from the mother\u2019s\nside.  Sippin On A Forty was a listed\nstake winner during her racing career and she has bred six children with three\nbeing grade winners and the other three being listed stake winners.  Sippin On A Forty\u2019s mother (or Ready for a\nForty\u2019s grandmother) is a Hall of Famer due to her breeding career which\nincluded 13 children, two became Eclipse winners in addition to 4 others\nbecoming grade winners and 5 more winning listed stakes.  Quite an impressive family line.   Ready For A Forty took a long 6 month break\nand has two starts this year, both very solid. \nHe returned into an allowance event, more or less to work on form (also\nthe only time he has not raced in a stake event) and he rallied from 6 off the\nlead to win by over a stride at 18\/1 for owner MTK76.   But the career best speed of 117 was an eye\nopener off the long layoff.  In June he\nmoved into a listed stake and this time was 8 back at the half and he came\nrolling home to finish second, missing by just under a length and scoring another\n117.   He has returned to the track in\nsuper sharp form and could the third time out after a long rest be the winning\nformula?  We\u2019ll find out soon enough!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5  K\u2019s SEAL N\nCONCEAL  (HISPANO PARLANTE\nResidency)  7\/1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the age of 7, this is one of the oldest horses in the\nfield and owned by Latinlover.   He is a\nscratchbred and was sired by Kitten\u2019s Joy.  \nLast July, K\u2019s Seal N Conceal started popping speeds of 110 and up and before\nyou knew it, he connected to win four in a row that included three allowance\nlevel wins as well as his sole listed stake victory which came in December and\nhe set the track on fire with a career mark of 119.    He took a brief break and returned in March\nto win an allowance by 2 strides and a nice 117 speed.   In April, K\u2019s took to the graded level in\nthe G3 Fus Gonner Handicap with hopes that his slow start\/strong finisher style\nof racing would make to back-to-back wins but the drop in speed to 109 (his\nonly sub-110 speed since July) resulted in finishing seventh.   He returned to the listed stake level in his\nlast start and nailed another 117 speed and finished second.   At age 7, K\u2019s Seal N Conceal is still firing\noff terrific speed numbers but has only raced twice in graded company.  A monster effort here could make the third\ntime a charm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6  DRAGGING THE\nLINE  (THE MINNESOTA TESTBARN\nRESIDENCY)  15\/1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the child out of G2 winning Badbadstella who has\nmothered 7 children in the game with one being a grade winner and Dragging the\nLine being her sole listed stake winner.  \nDragging hit a career best speed of 116 at the end of December in a\nlisted stake race which is his only stake win and also the last time he trotted\ninto the winner\u2019s circle.   This season,\nowner Selurnivek ran him in a trio of graded races where he was 3rd<\/sup>\nin the G2 Toilet Scrubbers Anonymous and 7th<\/sup> in the G2 Saints\nHandicap, both 110 speeds and a 111 speed in the G3 Eviscreator.   Dragging was dropped into listed stakes in\nhis last pair of outings finishing 3rd<\/sup> in a 10-furlong race, again\nwith a 111 speed and his recent outing at 8.5 furlongs was a fifth place finish\nbut a lower 107.  Dragging likes to sit\nin the middle of the field and in his last race was further back which may have\nimpacted his results.   Dragging has potential and the competition in\nthis field is stiff and he will need to run at his career best speed, or\nbetter, to take the podium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7  ROZELLE  (ALL-STARS RACING Residency)  4\/1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The favorite in the field is a scratchbred out of\nComissioner and he has been on fire for owner Tees.   Since last July, his speeds have been 114\nand above and an unbelievable 125 speed was recorded in his last start in the\nG1 Cosmoplitan Handicap in which he ran off to the lead and held on to win by a\nquarter length.  That came on the wet\ntrack where he has won all five races he\u2019s competed in on the off-surface.  As for the dry track, he has won 5 of 15, so\nhe is stable there to.    Rozelle has one\nother grade race which ran in the Oaktree Handiap (G2), just before the monster\nwin in the Cosmopolitan.  In the Oaktree,\nhe hammered out another winner on the front end, but ran head to head with Forty\nNiner Cause the entire distance in a very exciting race all the way.  The win by a head was well deserved in this\nfight.   Rozelle is currently on a 4-race\nwin streak and includes an allowance win and a listed stake victory that kicked\noff the streak.   Just to toss this in, Rozelle ran a 120 speed\non a dry track last year with allowance company.   He is a jack rabbit and will be out on the\nlead, the one to catch and put away.   The\nhorse with the highest earnings in the field will be hard to take down.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

8  SARCASTIC\nPIRATE  (NORTHWEST RACING CIRCUIT\nResidency)  14\/1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarcastic Pirate is one of three horses to amass winnings\nover $1 million and is a scratchbred sired by Distorted Humor.   Since May, 2019, owner Jubalrutledge has\nspearheaded this horse to race exclusively in grade level races.   Last year, he won three races that included\nthe Nawbo Derby (G3), La Holla (G2) and the La Derby (G2) where he popped a 117\nspeed as his career best.   He loves to\nrun on the lead and all but one of his races were gate-to-wire wins.   His last win was in the Scrub (G2) raced\nthis past February where he settled back into the third spot in the early\nfractions and made a late move in the stretch to earn the win with a respectful\n115.   Since this win, disaster has taken\nover.  His last four races had bad outcomes\nwith an 8th<\/sup> place finish being the best result and finishing double\ndigits behind the winner in three of these races.  The early speed just has not been lasting for\nSarcastic as his tank seems to dry up past the halfway point.  It does not seem likely that this Pirate will\nfind gold in this journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9  \nPAYNTERPICTURE  (EMPIRE STATE\nRACING Residency)  9\/2<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second favorite with earnings over $1 million was\nborn out of G1 winning game mare Mudreach\u2019s Finas.   Of her eight children, two have won at the\ngraded level with three others having a top-three finish in a grade level\nrace.    No one can blame owner Theduke88\nfor being mad, angry or upset after Paynterpicture\u2019s last outing.  How often does an owner have a horse that\nkicks out a speed of 125 and does not win the race?  That happened in the G1 Cosmopolitan Handicap\nwhere Paynterpicture made his move from his mid-field positioning to close on\nthe leader and finish second behind Rozelle (who is also entered in this\nrace).  Offer his last 16 starts, he\u2019s\nfailed to hit a speed of 110 or higher only twice.   In nine graded races, he has won twice with\nthe first in 2018 in the La Holla. \nPaynterpicture\u2019s other victory came this year in March in the G2 Sand\nCastle Goldolphin Mile where he pounced to a win by more then 2 strides and\ncracked out a 117 speed in the process.  \nIt is painful and heartbreaking to lose a race with a speed of 125 and\nhe will be looking to make amends on the hoofs of that outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10  GUN INSPECTOR (EAST-WEST\nCONNECTION Residency)  9\/1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 4 year old gelding is a scratchbred who was sired by\nGun Runner and will be making his third consecutive lifetime start at the\ngraded level for owner Sjmeola.    Last\nSeptember, Gun Runner started a streak of running speeds of 110 and upwards which\nwas launched in an allowance race which he won going 10 furlongs.  He wrapped up the 2019 season with another\npair of allowance races, finishing second in each.   He scaled back to 9 furlongs, where he has\nbeen racing all of 2020 and pumped his speed up to 114 with a win, again in the\nallowance group.  With this fine result,\nhe stepped into a listed stake race for the second time in his career and blew\nout a 119 speed (career best) and winning by two lengths.   From here, he navigated into the G1 Charles\nTown Classic and finished a decent third but four off the winner.  His last start was in the G2 New Hampshire\nHandicap and he again finished second with a 117 speed.   Gun Inspector can run a variety of race\nstyles from running on the front end to relaxing a bit in a mid-field\nposition.  There are a few front runners\nin this field and I think he\u2019ll settle towards the middle in this one.  He has been showing good form for a while and\nthe only question mark I see is dropping down to 8 furlongs here and whether or\nnot he might want the longer distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11  AMAZING CAUSE (ELITE\nRACING CLUB Residency) 16\/1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Giant\u2019s Causeway is the sire to this scratchbred who is\nowned by Jbcri09 and just recently appeared in stake races.   His journey started last August when he\ncaught on fire with some nice finishes in the allowance class.  Amazing Cause won that race with a 112 speed.  He followed this up with a second in his next\nstart with a slightly slower 108 but he did cut a 13 length disadvantage to\nunder two.  In November, he made it to\nthe line just in time to record another win then took a winter break to return\nin February this year very much recharged as he rallied from 11 down to win by\nmore than a stride and notched a 115 speed.  \nHe would run this up to 117 in his first appearance in stake company in\na listed event where his career best speed was recorded and Amazing would come\nup short by a stride and second place.  \nHis last start was in the G3 Birkenstock and while he scored a 110\nspeed, it wasn\u2019t enough as he finished seventh and five off the winner.   Amazing Cause will be in the rear section of\nthe field for at least half the race, probably more.  He tends to be a strong final quarter runner\nand while he looks to have a nice career ahead of him, waiting until that late\nin the race probably won\u2019t work in this group as he will need to move sooner\nthan that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12  HELP YOUR BROTHERS  (GR SIMSTERS Residency)  13\/1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This entrant is the son of game mare The Invasion and is\none of two children who has won a grade level race out of the seven total the\nmare has bred.   He is sired by Cupid and\nowned by Willyam13.  Help Your Brothers\nhas appeared in 6 graded races over his lifetime and only had a top-three\nfinish once.  That came this past\nFebruary in the G3 Pineshaft Handicap. \nHelp Your Brothers held a stalking third position and was able make a\nmove around the turn and took the lead in the stretch.  He drew away from the field and won by nearly\n2 strides and not only did this 19\/1 runner light up the toteboard, but the speed\nof 121 was totally unexpected.   He raced\ntwo more times in graded this season in the G3 Skipping Away and G2 West\nCoaster where speeds pulled back to 116 and 109 as well as his finishing\npositions (5th<\/sup> and 7th<\/sup>).    He likes to hang close to the front runners,\nwhich is not bad to keep them in sight, but he\u2019ll need to have something to\nmake a stretch run while watching out for the late closers.  The 121 speed would be nice to duplicate in\nthis race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

13  YANKEE PHAROAH  (ONLY STAYERS Residency)  13\/1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

13 of Yankee Pharoah\u2019s 19 lifetime starts have been in\ngraded races and he is a scratchbred out of American Pharoah.  He\u2019s notched a record of 2-2-1 competing at\nthe top levels in the sport.  His first\ngrade win was February, 2019 where he had a nice steady closing pace to win the\nFountain of Ute (109 speed) by a good length plus.   It took over a year for owner Naskippy to\npull in as he flushed this one out this past April in the G3 Fus Gonner Handicap\nby half a stride, with a similar steady close and was able to hit his lifetime\nbest speed of 116 in the process. \nUnfortunately, things turned on him in his last start in the G3 Salvatore\nMile where the speed figure dropped to 106 and Yankee was never a threat during\nthe race and finished tenth.   This one\nis hard to figure out as he can run a 110+ speed and be a factor and other\ntimes he seems to be reluctant to run.   If he comes in this race with his game face\non, he could find a spot on the podium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

14  MEDAL FOR\nBARBARA  (HOOSIER RACING Residency)  16\/1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on the name, this one was born to race in the Equinics\nand what a coincidence it would be if he medaled!   Owner Jakematt bred this colt with Medaglia\nD\u2019Oro as sire to game mare Barb\u2019s Back Again and this is her first child.   In\n2019, Medal for Barbara ran in seven listed stakes and was winless but did hit\nthe board five times.  He moved up to graded\ncompetition in 2020 and finished third his first time out in the G3 Willing And\nAble with a 111 mark.  The speed flew upward\nin his next race, the G2 Saints Handicap where he came from off the pace to\ntake the win by a stride and at 15\/1 odds and set a lifetime best speed of 117.   After this nice start to the year, things\nhave taken an about-face with appearances in two G1 races, Charles Town Classic\nand Barry Foster with off the board finishes in both.  In those two races, he was slotted into a\nmid-field position and his best efforts are generally when he finds a seat in\nthe third to fifth spot.  I think it will\nbe hard for Medal for Barbara to find this desirable spot in this big race and\nhe may be thrown off his game if he does not get his way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My medal picks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gold:  PaynterPicture\nhad a tough second place finish in last with a 125 speed.  He\u2019ll be fighting to get that win back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silver:  Rozelle\nwas the one that held off the top pick with his own 125 speed.   Could be a fight between these two again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bronze:  Crippin is\nRippin may not have a lot of stake experience but he has been red hot this year\nand could be a spoiler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the Wonders of the World being celebrated in the Equinics is the Empire State Building.  For nearly 40years,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":363,"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":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52850","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=52850"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52853,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52850\/revisions\/52853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}