The 10th running of The Grade III Razorback Cap goes as the 15th race at Arkansas this weekend. A full field of 14 4yo+ have passed the entry box and will be running 1 1\/16th miles on the fast dirt track chasing down the top share of the $125,000 purse.<\/P>
Let’s take a look at today’s field:<\/P>
1)NAGASAKI(IRE)—12\/1—<\/STRONG>casino sends this 4 year old colt out of GIANT’S CAUSEWAY(IRE) with a record of 21-6-3-4 and lifetime earnings of $684,290. He is out of the he-mare HIROSHIMA who was 7\/48 at the track. This 26th divisional ranked colt races for an independent and unafilliated stable. This horse was a monster at 2 when he won 4 of his first 5 starts including The Grade III Little Tree Stakes in New Jersey. He added another pair of Graded wins last year in The Grade II Heat Less Stakes and The Grade II Chief Snow Handicap in back to back wins over the summer. If you take out his Grade I starts his record is actually very good and while he sometimes has a habit of settling for minor shares he can be a threat at this level. He is a closer who will sit at the back early and if the pace is honest enough he should close strongly in the stretch drive. He has posted 4 straight triple digit speed ratings in a row including his last where he posted a lifetime best 114 speed rating albeit that rating could be elevated due to the off track conditions. His problem is he has developed a habit of coming up short in his rallies and he will really have to reverse that trend to be considered a factor here today. The rider for today’s race will be Weldon (20%).\u00a0 PROJECTED SPEED RATING—106.<\/STRONG><\/P> 2)MERIDIAN COURT(IRE)—18\/1—<\/STRONG>yang sends this 4 year old colt out of STREET CRY(IRE) with a record of 23-4-5-2 and lifetime earnings of $270,527. This 246th divisional ranked colt races for the unafilliated Trooper 7 stables. This 3 time stakes winner has not won in his last 9 starts including 3 of his last 4 starts in conditional allowance races. The fact that he could not hold on to win as the 4\/ 5 favorite in a 4 horse field two starts back shows just how difficult it is to handicap his horse. In many of his starts he just looks disinterested but then will throw a curve like his last win where he took an overnite 8.5 furlong stake in IN at 10\/1. His top speed rating of 109 posted in that allowance loss 2 starts back will not be good enough to win here today and his last race leaves little to think he has a shot here today. Still his odds are high and long shot punters may want to keep him in their exotic tickets in an attempt to hit a big one. The rider for today’s race will be\u00a0 Reich (7.4%).\u00a0 PROJECTED SPEED RATING—102.<\/STRONG><\/P> 3)MANIUS THE MIGHTY—6\/1—<\/STRONG>waremblem1 sends this 5 year old horse out of KINGMAMBO with a record of 23-6-5-4 and lifetime earnings of $342,505. This 78th divisional ranked horser races for Winterfell Racing based at the GR Simsters. This 2 time stake winner looks to have changed racing tactics in his last 2 starts by running further back from the pace than usual. It is unclear why this has been done because if you look at his PP’s most if not all of his wins have come while either racing on the front end or pressing the early pace. While he has closed some ground in both of those starts he has had to settle for minor shares albeit in Graded stakes starts. The question to ask is firstly whether he is fast enought to get the lead out of the gate at this level and secondly is he going to improve or regress as a 5 year old runner. His 117 speed rating posted in his 2007 finale suggests he has lots of run in him still and it would be nice to see just how he fares if in fact he can get to the front here and try to wire this field. The rider for today’s race will be Arthur (9.9%).\u00a0 PROJECTED SPEED RATING—113.<\/STRONG><\/P> 4)HAWKFLY’S PHARBAT(IRE)—8\/1—<\/STRONG>cupfly sends this 5 year old horse out of HAWK WING(IRE) with a record of 30-10-3-1 and lifetime earnings of $289,870. This 93rd divisional ranked horse races for the unafilliated Brundlefly Stables. This horse was originally slated to be a turf runner and in fact ran on the grass for the majority of his first 2 seasons running. In fact he picked up a pair of stake wins on the lawn and when he was switched to the dirt for the first time in 2006 he really did not run impressive at all. After a 3 race return to the turf he came back out on the dirt last year and has won 6 of 11 starts since March including 3 stake wins. He makes his Graded debut today and you can throw out his last race on account of the off track conditions which he clearly did not take to. He should be sitting midpack in this race today and his last two speed ratings on fast tracks, 114 and 115 put him in the thick of this contest today. The rider for today’s race will be Nuttman (10%).\u00a0\u00a0 PROJECTED SPEED RATING—114.<\/STRONG><\/P> 5)ARASAD(IRE)—14\/1—<\/STRONG>arameo sends this 4 year old colt out of SADLER’S WELLS with a record of 23-5-8-3 and lifetime earnings of $237,535. He is out of the mare MENORCA who was 2\/25 at the track and who has 2 foals on record with this colt the only winner to date. This 182nd divisional ranked colt races for the Hispano Parlante division of the Rafa Stables. This colt was a steady allowance runner for his 2 year old and majority of his 3 year old season picking checks most times he ran albeit did not win as much as his connections probably would have liked him to. He seemed to hit the magic button after career race #20 when his speed ratings jumped to triple digits prompting him to get some starts in overnite stake races. After 3 straight top finishes he finally won a stake at Newmarket over today’s distance in his 2008 debut prompting a step up to the Grade III level last time out. He did not perform that well in that race as he tired at the half but was that due to the rise to Graded stake company or the stetching out for the first time to 10 furlongs. If you think the distance was the major factor then this colt could be attractive here as he cuts back to what appears to be his most comfortable distance. He will need to improve on his lifetime best 108 speed ratings to compete against some others here but if he is able to keep up and stalk the pace he has a shot in this race. The rider for today’s race will be Rivers (0%).\u00a0\u00a0 PROJECTED SPEED RATING—108.<\/STRONG><\/P> 6)BITING INSECTS—12\/1—<\/STRONG>mcjonny4 sends this 7 year old horse out of FUSAICHI PEGUSUS with a record of 36-9-8-1 and lifetime earnings of $1,622,955. He is out of the mare I NEED DOUGH who was 0\/9 at the track and who has 3 foals on record, all winners including this Graded stakes winner. This 33rd divisional ranked horse races for the unafilliated Cozman19 stables. This veteran campaigner ran in the triple crown in 2004 but really has to consider 2006 as his best season at the track. He picked up 3 stake wins that year including a pair of Grade II events. He finally was able to break the Grade I monkey of his back when he won The Oaktree Handicap in the sprint last year posting his lifetime best 111 speed rating, but after one more run went on a layoff for 5 months and did not look that sharp in the 2 starts he ran when he came back last fall. He now returns to the track again after another 4 month layoff and really it is anyones guess as to just how well this horse will perform. I for one will be watching him to see how he responds to the return to racing. Upon a brief look into the Cozman19 group of stables it appears the whole outfit was away from racing over the winter months and is just starting to return to running there horses over the past couple of weeks. If this closer can refind his form he would be a threat here but that may be a little much to ask with his schedule since April of last year. The rider for today’s race will be Lumpkin (5.3%).\u00a0 PROJECTED SPEED RATING—98.<\/STRONG><\/P> 7)PERFECTLY PLEASANT(KY)—10\/1—<\/STRONG>cougar sends this 4 year old colt out of PLEASANTLY PERFECT with a record of 17-7-2-2 and lifetime earnings of $167,668. He is out of the he-mare MUST BE GOLD who was 7\/30 at the track. This 228th divisional ranked colt races out of the CR Racers residency. From June of 2006 until October of last year this colt could be classified as a steady but not exceptional allowance runner. He usually challenged for a piece of the purse but was rarely a major threat for the win. That changed last fall when this colt sharpened up and he has found it very favorable while stretching out to the 8-8.5 furlong distance. He comes into his Graded stake debut on a 4 race win streak including a pair of stake wins in his last 2 starts and has put up speed ratings of 111 and 113 to make him a solid contender for this race today. While he runs best as a closer he can sit at the very back or midpack depending how the race unfolds at the start. The rider for today’s race will be Jones (13.9%).\u00a0 PROJECTED SPEED RATING—112.<\/STRONG> <\/P> 8)TEMPEST—5\/1—<\/STRONG>oscar sends this 6 year old horse out of A.P.INDY with a record of 39-14-3-3 and lifetime earnings of $3,577,640. He is out of the mare MISS MAMA who was 20\/77 at the track and who has 4 foals on record, all winners including 1 Graded stake winner and another stakes winner. This 9th divisional ranked horse races for the Chilcoat stables based in Vermont at The Pastures of Green. Well what can you say for a horse that has amassed 8 Graded wins and over $3.5 Million in earnings. The only real disappointments in his career came in the 2005 triple crown races and then the BB Classic in the same year. He has put up some big time races and none more so than in his season finale last year when he pulled his patented last to first move in the stretch in The Grade I Deleware Mile at DPCD putting up an incredible 121 speed rating on the chartline.\u00a0 His fist start of 2008 was a washout as he did not take to the off track and one angle to look here is that he has won 3 times and finished 2nd once in races where he has come off an off track and returned when the going was fast. Alot to like about this veteran champion but with the recent major upsets in races over the past few weeks chalk players will have to hope he does not fall victim to that trend here today. The rider for today’s race will be Jennings (26.1%).\u00a0 PROJECTED SPEED RATING—117<\/STRONG>. <\/P> 9)RAVENCRAFT CASTLE(IRE)—13\/1—<\/STRONG>bluehaze sends this 4 year old colt out of CASTLEDALE(IRE) with a record of 21-9-3-1 and lifetime earnings of $1,067,050. He is out of the mare MAMA FORTY who was 4\/12 at the track and who has 6 foals on record of which 5 are winners including 1 Graded stake winner and another stake winner. This 60th divisional ranked horse races for the Cleverdoc stables based at the Kentucky Horseman residency. This colt finally broke a 9 month 7 race losing streak last time out when he won a NW1N allowance race 4 weeks ago, a race that if it build this horses confidence could come into play with is performance today. Once he switched to the dirt from the turf in his 2 year old season he was a very consistant and excellent runner and he did win a pair of Graded stakes early in his\u00a0 year old season last year. He posted his lifetime best 109 speed rating in that win last time out and that makes it 7 straight tripled digit figures on his chartline. I look for him to stalk the pace here today and if he build momentum of that last win could be a factor at a price here today. He has an excellent win percentage and you can’t knock it when there is already over $1 Million in the bank. The rider for today’s race will be Alexander (7.4%).\u00a0 PROJECTED SPEED RATING—108.<\/STRONG><\/P> 10)BORDER STRIKE—16\/1—<\/STRONG>jrogue1 sends this 5 year old horse out of SMART STRIKE with a record of 22-4-4-2 and lifetime earnings of $104,673. He is out of the mare PHASE IV who was 2\/12 at the track and who has 2 foals on record, both winners including this stakes winner. This 359th divisional ranked horser races for the unafilliated Jrogue stables. This horse managed\u00a0 wins in his first 17 lifetime starts while running in conditioned allowance races but a 111 speed rating posted last fall suggested that maybe this one would be able to compete at a higher level. He failed in his first stakes attempt but on his second try last time out came out a winner in a Mexican overnite 8.5 furlong stake race. He jumps up to his first Graded start today and will need to prove that he can run with consistancy at this level race to race. He is another who should be sitting midpack early and he will need to have a positive improvement over his last start to be considered for the win here today. The rider for today’s race will be Schultz (9.1%).\u00a0 PROJECTED SPEED RATING—104.<\/STRONG><\/P> 11)CAT DADDY(KY)—11\/1—<\/STRONG>robsscoobi sends this 4 year old colt out of ELUSIVE QUALITY with a record of 16-6-5-1 and lifetime earnings of $140,448. This 220th divisional ranked colt races out of the CR Racers residency. This is another colt who will be spotting others some experience here today as he raced strictly in allowances in his first 13 career starts before running in stakes over his last 3 races. He won his first black type start last time out in Oregon and hopes he can carry that momentum as he moves up to a Graded event today. The pace looks like it may be a little soft here today so it may be tough on the majority of runners who hope to have a quick early pace to run down in the stretch drive and that will not be to this ones likink as he usually sits at the back of the pack early. He has posted 111 speed ratings in 2 of his last\u00a0 starts which does put him in the mix here today and being that he has been lightly raced so far in his career his best races may be still ahead of him. The rider for today’s race will be Proudfoot (8.5%).\u00a0\u00a0 PROJECTED SPEED RATING—108.<\/STRONG><\/P> 12)DEEP WOODS(KY)—12\/1—<\/STRONG>sisi sends this 4 year old colt out of FORESTRY with a record of 17-6-3-1 and lifetime earnings of $102,198. He is out of the he-mare MYNESHAFTED who was 4\/17 at the track. This 428th divisional ranked colt races for the Pastures Of Green division of Doctahg’s Dentition Stables. This horse is another in a bunch who have spent most of there running careers in the allowance ranks and it was not until last fall that he tried running in 3 straight stake races. He managed to finish 6th in each of those starts and it appears he is probably better suited to run against allowance company. While he posted a lifetime best 112 speed rating last time out in a 2nd place allowance finish that came on an off track which may account for the higher speed number. He did show speed though in his last race and if he can get up to the front early today due to the lack of early speed that may enhance his chances to stick around at the wire. The rider for today’s race will be Smith (0%).\u00a0 PROJECTED SPEED RATING—103.<\/STRONG><\/P> 13)SAN PELLEGRINO—6\/1—<\/STRONG>super12 sends this 5 year old horse out of WAR CHANT with a record of 32-5-8-4 and lifetime earnings of $1,155,579. This 59th divisional ranked horse races for Supers More Evil Than The Evil Empire Stables based at Del\/Penn National. While this veteran campaigner has picked up a lot of money running he has tended to spread his wins out over his chartlines. This makes it tough to handicap this horse because you never know when he is going to have one of his super sharp days. He has talent as shown with his 112 and 113 speed ratings but many a day with money on the line he has come up short in his rallying efforts. I think I would like him better if there was a tad more speed in the race and he has also run pretty well when coming off an off track race as he is doing so here today. He gets marks for experience and class but I will leave it up to you to determine whether he will be running his “A” race here today. The rider for today’s race will be Marts (11.5%).\u00a0 PROJECTED SPEED RATING—109<\/STRONG>.<\/P> 14)SPANIARD(KY)—11\/1—<\/STRONG>spqr sends this 4 year old colt out of AWESOME AGAIN with a record of 14-5-1-1 and lifetime earnings of $219,332. This 121st divisional ranked colt races out of the GR Simsters residency. Another of the younger horses here today that ran mainly in allowance races until recently but this one seemed to pick it up a notch last fall resulting in him running in 3 straight stake races. He won an overnite in Minnesota and picked up some minor share cheques in a trio of Graded races since. He is another late closer thrown into the mix and there should be alot of traffic problems with so many vying for a clear racing path when they get to the top of the stretch. His top speed rating of 113 puts him in the mix but unlike others he has not shown a good record coming into fastracks from a previous run on an off track as others do in this race today. He is still light on starts so he is another one to fear if his career runs are still ahead of him. The rider for today’s race will be Thomas (10.1%).\u00a0 PROJECTED SPEED RATING—110<\/STRONG><\/P> Well there is a mix of back class and experience, some lightly raced 4 year olds here in what is surely to be an exciting race to watch. There will be many closers charging down the lane here today but I am going to play a hunch bet on #3 MANIUS THE MIGHTY hoping that he clears the lead here today and steals the race on the front end with soft fractions.<\/P> THEO<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" VETERAN TEMPEST MADE SLIGHT FAVORITE OVER SAM PELLEGRINO AND MANIUS THE MIGHTY IN 8.5 FURLONG DIRT ROUTE<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"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-5533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5533","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\/419"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5533\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
GOOD LUCK AND GOOD RACING<\/P>