{"id":5325,"date":"2008-01-17T22:29:03","date_gmt":"2008-01-17T22:29:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blacktypebugler.com\/?p=5325"},"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=5325","title":{"rendered":"Racing Arizona"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Arizona!

I decided to pick up a beat to replenish my credit coffers, so I chose to make it something close to my own heart: Arizona racing. In the Sim it doesn’t get an awful lot of the proper attention, except during the Sim’s version of the Claiming Crown and the occasional graded race. The circuit is one of Simerica’s best secrets, as often there’s room on most cards to sneak a horse into a race. This week, less than half of Saturday’s card have full fields, or even more than ten entries. But small fields do not prevent competitive racing.

It’s been a rather chilly week in the state, with some moisture sneaking through when everyone’s been asleep, so the Grand Canyon Turf Course is labeled good for this week’s feature, the $60,000 Eight Shelley Handicap<\/EM><\/STRONG>. It’s a six-furlong sprint for older fillies and mares, and the truth is that I wish I had a horse nearby to ship in for it myself. I’ve been doing pretty good myself with turf sprinting fillies lately, but I just didn’t have one to take the plunge for some black type on the r\u00e9sum\u00e9. The recent “stealth rain” played some havoc with the Racing Secretary’s office here, because only four entries were found to take a plunge for a $36,000 winner’s share of the purse. Most local trainers decided to take a Fiesta in Tucson this weekend for the MLK holiday instead, but of the entries here, maybe they were afraid.

Afraid? Yes, afraid, because there is a 4\/5 favorite who is regally bred and looking sharp on the GC Turf in the mornings, and her main threat is a half-sister to a Grade III winner from last weekend, Desperado Wish. Who said there aren’t stories to write about in Arizona?

Let’s take a glimpse at the small but talented field.

Ziggy Indy<\/B> [A.P. Indy-Ziggy Wells, by Danzig, trained by dontnagme<\/STRONG><\/I> for Dentition *No Do Claima’s* Stables] is 4\/5 and, listening to the backstretch gossip, looks the part.\u00a0 Stabled in the Coyote Ugly section of the stabling area—so named because the\u00a0stable maintenance workers are on a wildcat strike and have yet to paint over the muddy brown and Fanta orange barns that Coyote\u00a0has on the outside\u00a0for visiting trainers to gawk at—the hotwalkers are impressed with the way she appears in the mornings prepping for a start here.\u00a0 This is her twentieth start, and she comes in off of a second last out in a Kentucky stakes from just before Christmas.\u00a0 This Kentucky-bred is a closer for certain; what’s less certain is just how fast a small field will be running over the course labeled good.\u00a0 She’s also turning back into a six-furlong race for the first time since a third in the Grade III Turn Off The Alarm just before Halloween.\u00a0 She’s graded-placed on turf and dirt, but her best efforts seem to almost demand a bit more ground for one strong finish as she prefers.\u00a0 he’s talented enough to romp, and her speed figures hang over this bunch like the morning fog the Valley Of The Sun can be prone to in the winter rainy season.\u00a0 Only one other\u00a0filly can claim a 100+ speed figure since Halloween, so she’s earned her odds-on status.\u00a0 The question remains on matters of pace and distance, and is the ground too soft to go fast or close from well back?\u00a0 Her jockey is Nigel Gardner, long-time circuit leader and Southampton transplant who is off to another sharp start in the jockey colony.

Cape Slew<\/STRONG> [Cape Town-Rahitude, by Aptitude, trained by lazysranch<\/EM><\/STRONG>] is hoping that her first 2008 race is as sharp as her 2007 debut, which was a stakes win going a mile up at Minnesota.\u00a0 But\u00a0this English-bred filly is\u00a0battling her form.\u00a0 She won her ’07 debut, but after another stakes win in March, that was it for the year in terms of victory.\u00a0 Since then, she’s been modestly competitive, closing from the rear and finishing with a flourish and a paycheck in various listed affairs and allowance events.\u00a0 But she’s never been closer than two lengths from the winner since March, and her best efforts also seem to come at longer sprints and even the mile.\u00a0 She too is making her twentieth start, and will also require more ground, a firmer course and a stronger pace than what might be expected.\u00a0 Still, without a speed figure over 100 yet in her career, it’s a rockier road ahead for a filly in need of a serious start.\u00a0 She enlists the services of Kendick Saab, an journeyman with a good touch with the fillies of all stripes; this year, though, no wins to date.

Crypt Keyper<\/STRONG> [Cryptoclearance-Tarabash’s Key, by Dixieland Band, trained by catfish<\/EM><\/STRONG>] is from a family that’s started off strong this year.\u00a0 Her half-sister by Gone West, Desperado Wish, won last weekend’s Grade III Be Forewarned Stakes from off the pace.\u00a0 There’s hope for the bloodlines for a second consecutive week, courtesy of a veteran six-year-old mare with a love for turf with some moisture to it.\u00a0 Granted, she’s had but three starts on wet ground, but two seconds in two of three stakes tries is compelling evidence.\u00a0 She’s capable of running with the best of this lot, with a 100+ figure as recently as last September.\u00a0 So she’s more capable of relishing the good turf, but can she play catch-up with a pace scenario that should be as hot as a wet match?\u00a0 Wilhelm Kewmwa came onto the scene last year with a flourish, and while not much is known about him he\u00a0has now taken up residence as the popular favorite from the Far East.

Rock Of Passion(IRE)<\/STRONG> [Rock Of Gibralter(IRE)-Runaway Wife, by Runaway Groom, trained by heubeck<\/STRONG><\/EM> for Gonzo Stables] is the sole speed of the field.\u00a0 That speaks volumes over a course with some give in it, and even more in such a compact field.\u00a0 It doesn’t hurt that in eleven starts, she has never failed to earn a paycheck, with only two finishes off the board.\u00a0 She made her claim to fame due to zipping through her allowance conditions while staying at or near the front of the field.\u00a0 Then she improved upon things by capturing a pair of longer sprint stakes on the grass.\u00a0 Her speed figures can be a bit inconsistent, but she has run a pair of 105 figures in her last three starts.\u00a0 Seven furlongs suits her perfectly, as that’s the distance which all the wins have been achieved.\u00a0 But this is six furlongs, and ideally a little more speed would be needed.\u00a0 At the same time, over wet ground against a short pack of closers, with a little rating a closing kick might be neutralized.\u00a0 She does have a slight class edge, as her last effort, on DPCD, was a no-factor fifth in the Grade I Mumtaz Mahal going five-and-a-half furlongs, but it stands out primarily because only Ziggy Indy<\/STRONG> has even bothered to try graded foes even remotely recently.\u00a0 She’s the speed, like it or not, and it’s a matter of trying to figure out if she’ll face any pressure, and might the wet going undermine her best-used tactics.\u00a0 Rich Zombie is another new local face, making a debut in relatively recent times, and has surged to the top of the local jockey pool in short order.\u00a0 He gets the mount in a most precarious spot.

A compact field prevents much in the way of selections, and not wanting to play favorites on the circuit, I’ll refrain from doing so here.\u00a0 The weather should remain cool and damp for the weekend activites, and a wet grass course has also led to the main sandy loam of the Scottsdale Dirt Track being labeled good, and sealed besides.\u00a0 Good luck to all contenders on this three-day MLK weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Four Goes Into ‘Eight’ Alright; Same Can’t Be Said For The Turf Course<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"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-5325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5325","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\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5325\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}