It’s been a long time since I’ve run a Spotlight race coverage article. For those unfamiliar, a few years back, maybe even a decade back, I started this series to cover races that normally don’t get into print, such as allowance, claiming races, maiden, starter, etc. The idea behind this was to give players without stake runners (that have a good chance to get covered at some point of time) a chance to see one of their runners appear in print. Races are randomly selected and on occasion, I will hit one with a runner I have entered. Truth be told, I hate covering those races and usually don’t realize it until I hit their post position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So this race is a claiming race in Delaware, with a dirt cheap tag of $2,000 and a field of 11 will take on the turf surface at a distance of a mile. The track is dry, and the turf will be firm and horses that are non-winners of 4 lifetime races are eligible to enter as long as they are 4 year olds or older.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1 Classically 198\/1- Steep longshot who has failed to hit the board this year in 8 outings. Has been well beat in each try. Looks to be at door of end of career with three wins in 66 lifetime starts. I don’t see any earth-shattering changes happening in this race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2 Rowdy Adelart 9\/2- Dropped to $2k claimers in last from $125k the race prior and $50k prior to that start. Picked up pair of thirds at higher claim levels but was shut down in last finishing fifth at outside odds of 14\/1 and hit 94 speed in that race which is his best of season. Speed number is competive in this grouping and should improve off of last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3 Reino De Mieee 5\/1- Very consistent this season with a record of 2-2-2 in 7 starts at various claiming levels. Was off the board in last appearance finishing fourth while making decent late run. Likes to come from off the pace and ran 101 speed two back. Expect to see this one on the board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
4 Johannabones 15\/1- Zensational bred horse has not been sensational at all this year. Only raced four times, at the lower claiming ranks, and has finished in the back quarter of each field, by wide margins in each start. Speeds have topped at 87 this year, which is not too far off of others in the field. With that said, this guy could sneak into third if everyone else collapses, but will need some luck for that as he has not been on the board in a few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
5 Spirit King 5\/2- Favorite enters off a win against $3k claimers by a decent two length margin and a 97 speed to boot. Speeds look good against this field, ranging from 88 to 100 this year. He has hit the board twice in four claiming races (he has two other starts with the allowance grouping where he was off the board. Fits well in this bunch but needs to behave as he has a pair of claiming starts where he was stubborn and did not run well in the second half of the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
6 Rowdy Ring’s God 77\/1- Took several months off at the beginning of the 2023 season and only has two starts, both with speed in the 60’s and they were in lower end claiming events. He was not a threat in either race. This comes on the heels of a very disppointing 2022 season where he failed to hit the board all year. Hard to see any signficant changes in this try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
7 Goodbye Norm 6\/1- Has a win and pair of seconds that came earlier this year in higher end claiming fields. Since the end of March, he has been off the board in three more races. Throughout the year, speeds have held in the 87-97 range, which looks competitive in this race, but he’ll need to be somewhere in the 90’s to take the others down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
8 Caernarfon Castle 5\/1- Seven year old will be making fourth start of the year and he took a long near 6-month break from the end of last September to mid-March this year. He picked up a second place finish with a season best speed of 89 in his second start of the year. Most recently, he ran an 83 speed and was 10th. Recent outing was not exciting, and here he moves back to a mile distance, which could be a change he needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
9 Coal Miner Special 20\/1- Has a second and a third this year with both happening in his last two starts. He has the ability to be the pace setter and this field lacks a front runner. This may be the best edge he has to topple this field as his best speed for 2023 was recorded at 89 and a few others can go better than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
10 Hand of Rowdy 11\/1- Struggling horse who has hit the board only twice since the start of the 2022 racing season. Speeds have pretty much held stead in the mid-80 range. Like the horse on his inside, he has ability to go to the front and that is probably his best advantage he has in this field. But breaking away from the field and holding that top spot will be a challenge if he opts to go that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
11 Clever by Xetnsion 6\/1- This gelding has raced at the lower claiming ranges for much of this season and in 6 starts, has finished third a total of three times. Four of his starts have speeds in the low to mid 90-range which is better than several of his foes in this event. He has late run ability which brings him into the hunt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PICKS:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I like Reino De Mieee in this one, he has been very consistent and that gives him the edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spirit King has nice speed figures and favorite can’t be ruled out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clever by Xtension has late speed and could benefit stepping back up to mile distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It’s been a long time since I’ve run a Spotlight race coverage article. For those unfamiliar, a few years back,<\/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-63568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63568","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=63568"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63570,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63568\/revisions\/63570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}