The Raging River Special, a Grade I event, has attracted 9 entrants looking to win their share of the $500,000 purse. The race is open to fillies and mares and going a long distance of a mile and a half. The weather looks to be nice for this event, and the race should run on a fast dirt track this weekend.<\/p>\n
1. K’s Hasty ‘N Nasty 9-2
In six dirt starts, this 6 year old has a record of 6-3-2-0 for 12f. Trainer Vertigo2 bumps this mare up into her first graded race after winning 3 of her last 4 stake outings. She usually takes cover behind the leader, a strategy that has paidoff with 12 wins in 25 starts.<\/p>\n
2. Kneel Before Zod 6-1
Kneel Before Zod has been in a slump, finishing 10+ lengths back in her last 3 races. She hasn’t seen the winners circle since last July. Trainer Willyam40 has made a change that could change these results by switching the horse to the dirt surface. She hasn’t run on this surface since 2006, however has hit the board in 4 of 6 dirt outings. She does show problems with the starting gate as she “tiptoes” out of the gate and finds herself in the rear of the field. When she gets her footing, she can fly, so watchout for a late run, assuming she takes to the dirt.<\/p>\n
3. Willpower 9-1
In the last 10 stake outings, Willpower has amassed an impressive record of 10-5-3-1. Her last outing was a forth place finish for Trainer Shamran6, however, was her first shot against graded company. Willpower shows only one race over a speed of 100 and most of her last 10 stake outings were against small fields. She should be running up front early, but will need her best to go all the way.<\/p>\n
4. Dark Place 8-1
This filly loves to run on the lead and has been on the board in 16 of 19 starts. Dark Place set a career mark of 106 in last going 10.5f, her first 100+ outing. In graded stakes, she has a second and third in 4 outings. She returns to the graded company and can spoil this field for trainer Foxon4 if she can duplicate her last race.<\/p>\n
5. War in Heaven 5-1
War in Heaven likes the 12f distance. On dirt fast tracks, she has a record of 4-2-2-0. Five of he last seven starts were rated over 100 for speed. She has no excuse for her last outing, finishing last against Grade III. She has already won a Grade I event for trainer Waremblem8 (which was 12f) and this race could make it #2.<\/p>\n
6. Frozen Four 6-1
Frozen Four is coming off a tune-up race that she won against allowance company after two disappointing efforts in the graded level. Trainer Dixiedotco has had success with this mare in Grade I competition, taking 3 seconds and 2 thirds. I am concerned with ther recent form. Her allowance win was at 14f, but the speed was rated at 84.<\/p>\n
7. Audacity 6-1
Audacity is coming off a nice second in Grade III race, contested at 10f, and a rated speed of 100. This was a nice recovery after a poor finish of 9th the race before against allowance. She is capable of putting in speeds over 100 for trainer Brenbren and should be close enough to the leaders to be a concern.<\/p>\n
8. Orowell 7-1
Trainer Sam has a consistant horse entered here. Orowell hasn’t finished worse than 4th since March, 2007. She’s coming off an 8 length turf win at 12f against allowance. The race before that was a 7 length dirt victory at 13f. She usually runs off the early pace, but can’t be discounted.<\/p>\n
9. The Trident 5-1
Trainer Asoiaf has a contender here. The Trident has been very shop, not finishing worse than second since March 2007. She has an impressive record of 18-9-4-3 and can run a speed over 100 when asked to. She has never lost a 12f race in 3 tries and is fully capable of extending this streak.<\/p>\n
A very competitive field is entered here, and anyone of them can win it on their own merits. My top choice is going to The Trident. It is tough to argue against her record and she adds the benefit of having jockey Ayya in the saddle. K’s Hasty ‘N Nasty is my second choice as she has been putting in nice efforts and times lately and should get a check. Since I love hockey, and we are on the heels of the NCAA hockey tournament, my third choice will be with Frozen Four. She may defrost just in time from the recent pour outings and upset this field. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Grade I Raging River Stakes Up For Grabs<\/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":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5711","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=5711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5711\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}