{"id":60996,"date":"2023-02-09T21:34:20","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T21:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/?p=60996"},"modified":"2023-02-09T21:34:22","modified_gmt":"2023-02-09T21:34:22","slug":"gi-san-francisco-capitan-handicap-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/?p=60996","title":{"rendered":"GI San Francisco Capitan Handicap Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SATURDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2023 \u2013 2:30PM EST | CALIFORNIA | 12 FURLONGS | FIRM TURF | $750,000<\/strong>
Restricted to 4 Year Olds and Older<\/strong> | 13 RUNNERS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

#1 TSARDOM – spqr4th – 37\/1<\/strong>
Breaking from the inside gate will be the four year old son of Mehmas<\/em>. Spqr4th’s<\/strong> colt ran respecably when a longshot in the GI Japan Classic<\/em><\/strong> over this distance last timeout, finishing eleventh of 20 runners. The three time allowance winner ran a speed of 110 that day but will need more here. He did place in the GI Adelaide Derby<\/em><\/strong> last May after settling in rear early, so expect to see him plugging on past beaten horses late. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

#2 WRATHFUL WAR HERO – padrebri9 – 10\/1<\/strong>
The five year old stays in California after a good second place finish in the GI Los Angeles Turf Cup<\/em><\/strong> last time out. He kept on well and was beaten by three lengths at the line. Trainer padrebri9<\/strong> is still trying to get the horse a stakes victory after several stakes placings in his career so far. He has been consistent over this sort of distance recently without quite getting his head in front and this may be a similar case here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#3 DISTORTED FUNNIES – asrdistorted0 – 8\/1<\/strong>
After a victory in last years’ GI BB Dirt Marathon<\/em><\/strong> and an unlucky defeat in the GI Big Apple<\/em><\/strong> on dirt, the five year old switches to the turf again. Asrdistorted0’s<\/strong> front running son of Distorted Humor<\/em> just has the one victory on this surface and does appear to prefer the dirt track. A second place finish in the turf GII The Kergorlay<\/em><\/strong> last August gives supporters some hope, but this is far tougher and he will do well to keep the lead here against some early paced rivals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

#4 VARIN’S AXE – wessex – 8\/1<\/strong>
The War Front<\/em> five year old comes here looking for his fifth Grade I victory and ninth career win. Despite being inconsistent of late, Wessex’s<\/strong> horse has winnings of almost $7m and took down the GI Good Day<\/em><\/strong>, GI Coronation Pilsner<\/em> <\/strong>and GI Coffeefields Cup<\/em><\/strong> last year. If this is a going day then he will certainly be involved in the finish. A return to America, where he previously reeled off four consecutive wins, could help keep his mind on the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#5 WAY OF THE KITTEN – solitude – 49\/1<\/strong>
The big outsider in the betting market is solitude’s<\/strong> four year old. The gelding is a stable mate of VARIN’S AXE and takes a sharp step up in grade here after three easy victories in 12 furlong allowance races. There is obviously more in the tank but he needs a big improvement to get involved here in his first run outside of Paris. E. Cerda takes over from usual jockey B. Wu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#6 JUST RALLY TO KING – lifeinyourway – 7\/1<\/strong>
Claimed by lifeinyourway<\/strong> for $150,000 just over a year ago, the son of Justify has improved since switched back to the grass. The recent win in the GIII Stockholm International<\/em><\/strong> and third place in the GI King Kong Vase<\/em><\/strong> on his last appearance, being his best runs to date. He stays this distance well but is seen at his best when allowed to dictate the pace, which is far from guaranteed here with several front runners in the race. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

#7 A HOT MESS – stormborn2 – 5\/1F<\/strong>
The favourite here is stormborn2’s<\/strong> six year old son of Galileo<\/em>. He is having his first run since a respectable fifth in the GI BB Turf<\/em><\/strong> last November and, prior to that, showed his resilience when holding on in the GI Tribute to Smokeglack<\/em><\/strong>. He has every chance of getting his third top grade victory here as long as the several front runners don’t go off too quickly and set the race up for a late finisher. Jockey Q. Cassell is in the saddle again for the tenth time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

#8 KING KAM GALILEO – elkstables0 – 12\/1<\/strong>
Elkstable0’s <\/strong>five year old switches surface and drops back a couple of furlongs here after campaigning over 14 furlongs of late. The son of Galileo<\/em> gained his only Grade I win on is first attempt last June in The Razorback Route<\/strong><\/em>. Since then he has run creditably in three further attempts in the grade, posting a second, fourth and fifth place finish. He has bags of stamina and should not be discounted if he can translate that dirt track form back on the grass. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

#9 SO SLEW MOI – langworthy – 9\/1<\/strong>
The six year old Pour Moi<\/em> gelding arrives in California after a surprising odd on defeat in allowance company last time. Trainer langworthy<\/strong> has watched him finish runner up in all of his last three races after gelding him last year. Second place in the GII Carlton Fisk Handicap<\/em><\/strong> and GI URC Tribute to Smokeglack<\/strong><\/em>, where just beaten by A HOT MESS, read well on paper but he is getting no younger and we may have already seen his best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#10 ONE LOVECRAFT – grenoble2 – 7\/1<\/strong>
The five year old has been out of the winners circle since 2021 when he won his only stakes event, the Silent Assassin Turf Stayer<\/strong><\/em>. Grenoble2’s<\/strong> son of Snitzel<\/em> has been highly tried in staying events since and his four placings in graded company have come over further than this mile and a half. The further he goes the better he runs, which cast a huge doubt on his ability to have enough speed to be involved in the finish here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

#11 ROCK CRONOS – skogby3 – 8\/1<\/strong>
The win in the GII Carlsbad Lessons<\/em><\/strong> over this distance last May was the pinnacle of the eight year olds career. Skogby3’s<\/strong> son of Fastnet Rock<\/em> is still lightly raced for his age with thirteen runs, having only had two starts (winning both) before he turned six. He has struggled to get close to the winners of all four Grade I events he has contested and I suspect today will be no different as he maybe out of his depth in this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#12 JUST THE DREAM – upinflames – 10\/1<\/strong>
Upinflames’s<\/strong> five year old son of Medaglia D’Oro<\/em> tries this grade for the first time in his career. He took down the Mighty Dancer Turf Endurance Stakes<\/em><\/strong> in April last year but hasn’t managed to get back in the winners circle since. The grey stayer had run consistently in several Grade II and Grade III races since but this seems much tougher and he may be exposed at this level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#13 CANDY FOR CURLIN – harrylanlow39 – 6\/1<\/strong>
After winning the GIII Sick No More<\/em><\/strong> and GII At Night Cap<\/em><\/strong>, the six year old arrives in California looking for a hat trick of victories. Harryhanlow39<\/strong> upgrades his son of Curlin<\/em> into Grade I company for the first time after finding improvement when switched to the grass surface last April. Despite being one of the least experienced horses on turf, he has shown enough to warrant his entry here and should be involved in the finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SELECTIONS<\/strong> :
#13 CANDY FOR CURLIN \u2013 #4 VARIN’S AXE \u2013 #6 JUST RALLY TO KING \u2013 #7 A HOT MESS<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SATURDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2023 \u2013 2:30PM EST | CALIFORNIA | 12 FURLONGS | FIRM TURF | $750,000Restricted to 4 Year<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":177305,"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-60996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60996","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\/177305"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=60996"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60998,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60996\/revisions\/60998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=60996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=60996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=60996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}