Welcome to The Rat Morris Memorial Stakes here in the foothills of Tennessee. The breathtaking backdrop of mountains only adds to the building excitement for the upcoming race. Eight horses make up the field with only one mare facing down a field of colts and stallions as they race a distance of 2 miles around the oval. They will be racing for their share of the $40,000 purse on a fast dirt track.<\/p>\n
Let’s meet the horses.<\/p>\n
Touch and Stop, dlynche’s 7yo stallion by Touch Gold, will be starting in post position 1. A combination of speed and experience will help this guy a lot in the race today although he has shown some loss of stamina in his last few outings over shorter distances. Quite capable of competing at 2 miles, will Touch and Stop pull off a win or will he stop short? With odds of 7\/2 the handicappers feel like he has a good chance.<\/p>\n
Post position 2 holds Sittinwaitinwishin. Strike the Gold sired this beautiful 4yo colt that tmp is proud to have in his training barn. Easily winning a 16F allowance race in September proves that he can hold the distance but he has shown poorly in all but one of his stakes’ attempts. A great allowance runner, he may be a little outclassed in this field. With pretty good odds of 6\/1 the handicappers seem to think otherwise.<\/p>\n
Barb’s A Star will be awaiting the start in post position 3. This 5yo stallion by Polish Precedent is trained by jakematt5. Distance is no problem problem for this horse, easily winning at 16F by a very impressive 8 lengths, however if most of the field turns on the speed Barb’s A Star may be found lacking. Coming in with odds of 10\/1 the overall feeling is that this star won’t shine today.<\/p>\n
In Post Position 4 we find Random. This 6yo by the Irish stallion Khalkevi is the only mare in the field. The distance may be too much for this girl to handle as well as the predicted high speeds. However, this is her very first start on American soil and that may work in her favor. Can Random overcome the odds and beat the boys? Her trainer, crowblack sure hopes so but the longshot at 18\/1, everyone else feels that she won’t be able to hold her own.<\/p>\n
Chomping at the bit in post position 5 we have Kepler Cro Cor C. Although never having competed over 2 miles, this 4yo colt by Crafty Prospector should have no problem holding his own in this race. Capable of speeds over 110 and plenty of stamina it looks as if marianus has a good chance of bringing home a win with this horse. He’s the favorite with odds of 6\/5.<\/p>\n
Three Kids will stand tall in the gate in Post Position 6. This 4yo Unaccounted For colt has two
disappointing losses over this distance of 16F but has shown very well in the mud winning all three times out on the off track. The distance and a fast track may prove to be the downfall of Three Kids and odds of 10\/1 show that snowanglel2’s horse may not have much of a chance at a win.<\/p>\n
Starting in post position 7 is one to keep your eyes on in this race, Pharao’s Tornado. A 7yo colt by Doyoun, Pharao’s Tornado has the speed and experience to dominate this field. 2 miles poses no problem for this big boy easily winning his last two outings at the same distance. He is quite capable of pouring on the speed when called upon to do so. Odds of 9\/2 show that this horse trained by stars1 is one of the favorites in the field. <\/p>\n
Sherlock will be anxiously awaiting the start of the race in post position 8. This will be his very first stakes race and he hopes to follow in his sire Sadler’s Wells footsteps. Winning his last two outings over 16F with ease proves that distance poses no threat to him although, he may encounter a problem with slightly slower speeds than most of the field. The mystery will be solved at the wire where lenny12 hopes to see his horse leading the pack but with odds of 16\/1, the handicappers feel as if you’ll find him closer to the back of the pack.<\/p>\n
One thing that this reporter has found is that none of the horses in the field has ever run in Tennessee. Will this play a role in the race’s outcome? I’m not sure. I have no doubt that you will find Kepler Cro Cor C and Pharao’s Tornado leading the pack at the finish line but I am having some trouble deciding who will come home in third. I think I’m going to have to go with Barb’s A Star. So, my prediction for the outcome of The Rat Morris is Kepler Cro Cor C – Pharao’s Tornado – Barb’s A Star.<\/p>\n
Have a great weekend and enjoy the races.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Who Has the Best Rat Trap?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":466,"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-5565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5565","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\/466"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5565\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}