Juveniles are set to tackle a long sprint in this week\u2019s North The Baby Bonanza, highlighting this week\u2019s Virginia card. The track is firm, and the race will run over seven and half furlongs of freshly manicured lawn. For all two year olds, a generous purse of $55000 awaits over the finish line to be divided between this intrepid field of five. Experts have chosen a clear favorite, but the longshot here is a mere 9\/2, and it is going to take more than good odds to bring this one home. The fillies have declined this one, and we have five colts to look at here.<\/P>
PP 1) Winning Spree<\/B> Sired by Speightstown, Trained by stevesutto. Winning Spree is looking to start one here in his six start. Through five, he has posted a 2-1-0-0-0 record, and he is seeking his first stakes win here. This is his third consecutive turf start and second straight stakes start. His last outing was a stakes at this same distance in North Carolina, where he took a nice second place, fading slightly in the stretch after leading most of race. He is a fast starter, and both of his victories have come in wire to wire fashion. He\u2019ll have some contention for that top spot in this one, but there aren\u2019t any real deep closing threats in this one, so it\u2019s going to be a battle of stamina here. His sire is a freshman who has been at his best throwing dirt sprinters. He gains a solid turf influence and some stamina from Seattle Slew on the dam side, and he will need that with the fast early pace here. If he can carry a lead into the stretch here, he has a good shot at landing in the winner\u2019s circle.<\/P>
PP 2) Lightfly\u2019s Desert<\/B> Sired by Fantastic Light, Trained by alverton. Lightfly\u2019s Desert comes straight into stakes off a MSW victory in his debut last time out. He ran seven furlongs on turf in his last outing on a mid-grade Texas track. In that run he sat just off the pace, and ran a very strong second half to best a full field by nearly two lengths. His sire has had excellent success with turf runners, with an good, even rating covering sprint and classic distances. These tendencies are reinforced by Green Desert on his dam side. He had a nice speed rating for his debut, more than enough to survive the early pace here. If he makes the improvement typical to second starts of a good runner, he could surprise everyone here. May be worth a bet at 3\/1 odds. <\/P>
PP 3) Nevermind(IRE)<\/B> Sired by Ballingarry(IRE), Trained by simster5. Nevermind(IRE) makes his first stakes start after breaking his maiden last time out. He is 1-1-0-0-0 in his first four starts. He stretch out past six furlongs for the first time in his last start, an MSW on the tough Florida track, going seven furlongs. He was rewarded with, by far, his career best run, besting a field of eight late in the stretch. He also exhibited an ability to come from off the pace that he hadn\u2019t shown before, and that could mean that he was looking for the extra ground. His sire is a freshman, but already showing a penchant in his juvenile crop for throwing turf routers, not an unusual trait for sires out of the Sadler\u2019s Wells line. Kingmambo on the dam side is a very strong stamina influence, who doesn\u2019t suffer on the turf either. Overall, everything points to this horse wanting a right of ground. The added distance benefits him here, but he may need more to truly have success.<\/P>
PP 4) Voss Hollandia<\/B> Sired by Cozzene, Trained by hollandia4. Voss Hollandia drops back from Grade III level, in his seventh career start. He collected a check in all six prior starts, going 1-3-0-1-1, but not breaking his maiden until his sixth start. His last outing was a Grade III sprint in Finland, where he finish a quickly fading fifth in a field of eight. This will be the first time he has run beyond six furlongs. He has shown a tendency to start fast out of the gate, but has a tendency to fade in the speed heat of a short sprint. His only real close came in his sole dirt start, where the harder surface seemed to give him a bit more purchase. Cozzene offspring tend to prefer turf, and as they get older they tend have success at increasing distances. Akaaber on his dam side reinforces the turf influence, though his progeny have shown a pronounced sprint preference. I think he will need to find a bit more finishing power to be a factor here, and we will have to see if the added distance gives him what he needs.<\/P>
PP 5) Wigdan<\/B> Sired by Red Ransom, Trained by prufrockja. Wigdan makes his fourth career outing in this one, and his second stakes start. He brings a 1-2-0-0-0 record to the table here. His previous long was at seven furlongs, where he lost at the wire by a nose, while closing hard. He comes off another second place finish at stakes level right here in Virginia last out, at six and a half furlongs. He found himself in a field of closers, and got caught down the stretch after finding himself out front much too early. His sire, especially in his last two crops, shows a strong proclivity for turfers. And for many of his runners, the longer the race, the better they like it. Danzig on his dam side reinforces his stamina, and should give him lots of versatility. The distance here should give him more of a chance to show off his close, and he has a rabbit or two to set it up for him here. If he shows a strong close here, he\u2019s going to be a definite threat down the stretch.<\/P><\/BODY><\/HTML><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Short, well matched field bodes interesting finish<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":472,"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":[2,3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews","category-reviews","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680","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\/472"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}