There are two grade one turf events this week. One is for three year olds with a middle distance test. Several of the runners are already proven at the distance but several others have something to prove. Older horses will gather for a one mile test on the turf. This is a field that lacks some name power and is an interesting match up of older horses. Lets get to the races. Race: 3525.5315 All Your Base Are Belong To Us Cup<\/SPAN> – Grade I – $500,000<\/B> Three year olds start to stretch out, testing their abilities at longer distances to see if they have what it takes to make a run at the Derby de English. Woette\u2019s Slipper is our favorite in this race. He is by Forest Wildcat out of a Kingmambo mare. He has answered each bell and should be a factor in this race. His sire is not known as a stamina sire but he has shown he can carry his speed. His last race was a sixteenth of a mile further than this race and he ran a solid second with a very respectable speed figure. He was second at the Breeder\u2019s Bowl Juvenile Turf but has yet to break through at the graded stakes level. <\/P> Ophidian Spawn is on a three race win streak and has won five of eight career starts. His last two races have been at this distance or a little further. He is a runner that has been setting the pace. There are several runners in here likely to on or near the pace so that could be a crowded place to be. Ophidian Spawn has shown the ability to carry his speed and not fade and his pedigree is top notch. If he can keep from getting into a speed dual he should be a player in the stretch. <\/P> Idol Worship was bred to run all day long and he has shown very good ability as a young horse with a lot of stamina. Idol Worship was fourth in the Breeder\u2019s Bowl Juvenile Turf as a two year old. He finished off his two year old season with a grade three win at this distance. He last raced in January when he just missed at a little longer distance. If the time off has not taken him out of his form the race seems to set up well for him. He is a deep closer and should enjoy a good pace with several pace runners in this race. He has proven he can kick home strong and has the speed figures to back that up. <\/P> Spartiate is a runner that has to answer the distance question. Up till this point this closer has run in mostly mile events. As a two year old he won a grade two at a mile and a sixteenth, win a grade one at a mile and ran in the Breeder\u2019s Bowl Juvenile Turf. He made his three year old debut in the grade one Fainting Goat Nightmare. He is a deep closer but closing over a route of ground is a little different that closing at shorter distances. He has never really been more than ten lengths off the early pace so he is very likely to be further back early on than he is used too. Still he has shown talent and a quick turn of foot. <\/P> Fantastic Mix is the lightly raced threat in this race. He will be making just his fifth career start and has never been worse than second. He has a win in a listed stakes at a little longer distance and just missed last time out at a mile. The distance seems to suit him and his running style should give him a good opportunity. He is a stalker and has plenty of speed to stalk. He should get first run at the speed ahead of the closers. If he can raise his game just a bit he could be a player. <\/P> Race: 3525.5915 Crock of Gold <\/SPAN>Grade I – $500,000 This is a player bought race purchased each and every year. It is one of the sim\u2019s turf mile fixtures set to be run with Red Raven as the morning line favorite. At seven and a half furlongs Red Raven is a killer. At a mile he has had trouble at the stakes level. Going for Red Raven is the fact he is running faster than he has ever run before. He rides a three race win streak into this race. His last two races have produced 116 and 115 speed figures. He is speed and in a race like this he is likely to get pressure unlike the listed stakes he has been running. Respect the speed but he may just be setting the table for someone else. <\/P> Shouldn\u2019t Matter could be the horse that is ready to step up. He runs well from a mile to a mile and a quarter. He ran well at a mile last year finishing in the top three several times in graded company. In recent races he has dropped back to the allowance level and listed stakes level where he has won two in a row earning a pair of 109 speed figures. He is a closer and this race will have speed and speed that will most likely back up so he should make a run in the stretch. <\/P> Very Silver is the second favorite in this race. He has a good track record of running well in graded mile events. He was second in this race last year. He ran a big one in a listed stakes in November following that up with a nice run in the grade one Penn Mile. Since then he has finished up the track in two races. He has the back class to win this race but needs to answer the form question. He can stalk or come from mid pack so the pace sets up for him. <\/P> If you are looking for a fresh face take a look at Oh Hell Yea. This is his first stakes try on the turf. He has won three of four on the turf. He is part of the speed that will make the pace here very hot. He is lightly raced with just ten career starts so there could still be a lot of upside to him. If a pace horse wins this race it could be Oh Hell Yea. <\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Pair of Interesting Turf Contests<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":255,"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":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5616","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\/255"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5616\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Track:
Restrictions: All horses, 3 years old
Distance: A mile and one eighth on the Turf<\/P>
<\/B>Track:
Restrictions: All horses, 3 years old and up
Distance: One mile on the Turf<\/P>