Combined Effort is returning to The Ark De ComicDog to defend his championship and looks to capture the lions-share of the $6 million purse. He won this 12-furlong turf race last year with a 121.0 speed, the second fastest recorded speed in the race and a couple of notches below Spiced Turtle\u2019s record of 122.5. Three horses have won this big race in back-to-back years and include Carnival of Love (2009 & 2010), Spiced Turtle (2017 & 2018) and Bolden Bidder (2019 & 2020).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The field contains some of the best turf runners in the game which includes the 2023 Horse of the Year, and Eclipse winner Texileo. Hall of Famer Parrish Sea is also entered into this race as well as Eclipse winning Shady Sticks. Joining them are eight other horses that have won at least one Grade 1 level race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mostly sunny skies are forecasted for this race, located in Paris and here are our contenders:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1 PUBLIC SERVANT LV (owned by Bizalls) 10\/1<\/strong> Sired by Galileo<\/p>\n\n\n\n This horse is one of four entrants that have never won a stakes race. He has won 5 of 22 starts with career earnings residing at $277k. Public Servant LV has a powerful late run and his last two starts brought him second place finishes in listed stake races with fine speeds of 115 & 118, just missing the win in his last outing by a quarter stride. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Public Servant is jumping way up in the class ranks into this G1 race and this will be his first tryout with grade-level runners. He is also going 12-furlongs for the first time as he seems to have found is forte at 9-furlongs, and the distance may be an issue. The longest distance prior to this race was last year in June where he finished 10th<\/sup> and way back in a listed stake race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Form this year has been looking good, hitting speeds of 115+ in four of five outings. Still, has plenty to proof with distance and upward movement in class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2 ICE SPIKE (owned by Tees) 13\/1 <\/strong> Sired by Tapit<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ice Spike is a G2 winner who has earned over $2.2 million over 21 races with 6 victories. He is a G2 race winner, with his sole grade level winning coming in August, 2022 in the Great Volt. He is no stranger to the Ark De ComicDog as he competed in this race back in 2022, immediately after his Great Volt win and on a good track, at extremely high odds of 69-1, he grasped the lead heading into the stretch and was beat by over a stride, finishing second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So how has he been doing lately? Good question. In 2024 he has six starts with five in the allowance class. Ice Spike has been on the board four times with two wins at this level and he did roll the dice in the G1 Man of War stakes race this past July and took the lead into the stretch to be overtaken and miss the top spot by three strides, finishing third. He hit his best speed of the season in his last start, a winning allowance race, charting a 114 figure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ice Spike has not raced 12 flanks since last September where he finished a well-back 8th<\/sup> in the G1 Expensive Jalopy. Despite racing in the allowance ranks for most of this season, his third place finish in the Man of War does signal that he can still compete at this higher level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3 PARRISH SEA (owned by Winterset) 9\/1 <\/strong>Sired by Sea The Stars<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thanks to his ability to win G1 races, over and over again, Parrish Sea has earned his place in racings Hall of Fame and he is a 2-time Eclipse winner. Over his career, he has bankrolled over $4.4 million and has 8 wins in 14 lifetime starts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Parrish Sea had an amazing streak of Grade 1 wins, which started in July of 2023 in the Owner\u2019s Stakes and ended in April in the June running of the Karkazuka Kinen Cup where he finished by under a stride to Texilo (who is also in this field) and a 116 speed. Grade-1 wins this year include John Scott Appreciation, The 5-Series and the G.P. Von Baden winning each of these races by two or more strides and speeds of 116 to 119. His streak of wins were all at 12 furlongs, with the exception of the before mentioned Kakarazuka which was 11f.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Parrish Sea comes into this event with lots of promise, winning the G.P. Von Baden in his last start. His only non-wining race this year was at 11-furlongs where Texilo took him down. You have to wonder if the race were at 12-furlongs if the outcome would have been different. We may find out as the two clash again at the longer distance this time. Parrish Sea is a contender in this race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4 UNI KVASIR (owned by Daniel) 21\/1 <\/strong>Sired by Siyouni<\/p>\n\n\n\n Uni Kvasir has earned over $818k over 12 career starts which includes 5 visits to the winner\u2019s circle. He seems to have discovered a liking to the 12-fulong distance recently. He ran this route late in 2023 and finished well back, however, this past April, in an allowance race, he hit a 114 speed in an allowance race win, where he wired the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From there, he jumped way up in class to the G1 Saint Cloud Grand Prix wiring the field by 2-lenghts in his first career stakes race and with a career best speed of 117. Uni followed that up with a third place finish in the King Geoff and Queen Beth\u2019s Emerald with a 111 speed and leading the race early on before the late closers picked him off in the stretch. Uni Kvasir loves to set the pace, however, in his last race, the Expensive Jalopy, he sat in the backside of the field and showed ability to run late as he finished 5th<\/sup>, cutting a 17-length deficit in half by the end of the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 12-furlong distance is becoming a favored distance for this 4-year old. He has raced with 111+ speeds since returning to this distance over his last 4 starts. Going to be interesting to see if he\u2019ll run on the front or the backside in the early going. He could be a spoiler either way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5 COMBINED EFFORT (owned by Naskippy) 9\/1 <\/strong>Sired by Galileo<\/p>\n\n\n\n At 14\/1 odds, Combined Effort was able to beat the field of 20 last year in the Ark de ComiicDog and is back this year to defend his championship which he won by a mere quarter-stride and what stands as his career best speed of 120 (hit twice). He has stored $4.9 million in his bank account over 17 races with 5 wins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Opponents have quieted Combined Effort down since this win ad he has raced in 5 subsequent G1 races and has found the top spot to be elusive. His best outcome over these events was witnessed in the Sand Castle Golden Turf Classic where he raced hard in the stretch to finish second by a stride behind Marechal Davout who is also in this field. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Combined Effort finished fourth in his last pair of G-1 races with speeds of 112 and 113, however, was not much of a contender finishing a decent gap behind the winners. He needs to pull out another effort similar to the Sand Castle outing which, if successful, could bring him another Ark De ComicDog championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6 WOETTE\u2019S POEM (owned by Woette1) 14\/1 <\/strong>Sired by Poetic Flare<\/p>\n\n\n\n Woette\u2019s Poem has yanked in $307k in earnings and picked up 6 wins over 18 starts. He has pretty much spent his career squaring off against allowance runners. After hitting speeds of 110-116 over three allowance races earlier this year, Woette was pushed up into a listed stakes race. He rallied from last and 10 off the lead to pop off a win with a career best 118 speed, and a one-length margin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From here, he stuck his hoofs into the G3 De Vichy and this time the late run speed failed to light-up as he finished 11th<\/sup>. But a turn-around would be in Woette\u2019s future as he again was placed into a listed stakes field, going 12-furlongs for the first time, and he successfully won his second stakes race with a 114 speed, by a larger 4-length margin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although Woette\u2019s Poem is out of an obscure dirt-cheap sire Poetic Flare(currently 70-credits\/BP\u2019s), he has shown ability and was impressive in his win at 12-furlong in his last race. Capable of pulling off the upset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7 MARECHAL DAVOUT (owned by Waremblem5) 9\/1 <\/strong>Sired by Intello<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marechal Davout has won 8 of 20 lifetime starts and has purses of $3.6 million thus far. He has only four starts this year with these evenly split between G1 and G2 events at distances of 11 or 12 furlongs. Of these, he has won three times<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first win came in the G2 Kyoto Handicap, by a very strong 4+ length margin and 115 speed. He closed very well from a mid-field position to power his way to the top spot in the next race, the Sand Castle Golden Turf Classic, beating Combined Effort (also in the field) by a stride and lifetime top speed of 119. Marechal made it three-in-a-row with an Equinics victory in June with a strong 3-stride margin and 118-speed. His last start ended the winning streak as he finished 5th<\/sup> in the G2 Shimko Classic with a 108 speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marechal Davout, with the exception of his last start, has been solid this season. Don\u2019t discount his ability as taking the top spot is a real possibility for this guy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8 GOAT OF QOHOR (owned by Michaelb) 19\/1 <\/strong>Sired by Showcasing<\/p>\n\n\n\n Goat of Qohor is one of the four entrants in this field who have not won a stakes race. Despite this, he has earned 9 wins over 23 starts and $303k in purses. He has been busy this season with 10 races, half were in allowance events early in the season, with claimers and starter allowance mix in more recent starts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Goat has a fine 5-3-1 record over these starts during 2024 and he has established himself as a late powerful runner. He won his last race by 4 strides after trailing by 16 at the half and a 111 speed, which is his career best and a number he has pumped out four times this season. Goat of Qohor has the knack of falling a large distance behind the early leaders by the half and rallying late in the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two things that stand in Goat of Qohor\u2019s way in this race. First is class. He has never raced in a stakes event before and faces others with much more experience. The second is speed as other runners have clipped higher speeds. A lot to overcome for a horse with lots of starts this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 9 REEL APPROACH (owned by Tenpoint) 97\/1 <\/strong>GSired by Highland Reel<\/p>\n\n\n\n With only 11 career starts, Combined Effort has the fewest number of starts of any runner in this field. Still, he has a fine 4-4-1 career record. During 2022, he raced only in allowance races and over six races, notched a record of 2-2-1 with speed figures moving upward in every start, growing from 90 to 111. The numbers continued to grow in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He kicked off this season with a run in a listed stake race and finished off the board in 8th<\/sup>. He returned to the allowance company for one race in March and captured a 9f win by three strides and a 111 speed. Combined then was brought in to test his ability at the graded level with a run in the G1 His Majesty Philippe Cup (10f). In this race, he ran off the lead in third for the first half and moved up slightly to finish second, and kicking the speed up to 116. Combined Effort stayed at the G3 level and in June competed in the G3 His Majesty Carl XVI Gustal Cup (10f). After drifting 10 strides back at the half, he made up tons of ground and was only one-stride short of the winner, as he crossed the line in second with a career best 120 speed. The speed was maintained in the G2 New York Stakes in July, as he struck a very good 118 and put in a strong showing as he rallied to take the lead in the stretch and opened up more than two lengths for the win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Combined Effort is in very good form with big speed numbers coming his way of late. He will be going against the G1 level for the first time and expanding to the 12-furlong distance, the longest he has ever run. Despite these challenges, I feel he will be fine at the higher racing level and don\u2019t see the longer distance being an issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 10 TAPITUS (owned by Ffoslas) 51\/1 <\/strong>Sired by First Defence<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tapitus is the only filly in this field and she has earned $663k over her 13 starts where she has netted 5 wins. All of her wins have been earned on the dirt and she has raced three times on the turf with a second and pair of thirds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tapitus has one G1 win, which came on the dirt in the Desert Lady Stayer at 21-1, she rallied from 13 back at the half to win the 14f race by a stride and a 104 speed. Her best speed of 107 happened in the G1 Sneaky Sneaky Stayer in July, finishing third and some 4 strides behind the winner. She has two listed stake outings on the turf, the most recent was in September, finishing third with a 103 speed with the other back in January, another third and a turf-best speed of 104.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tapitus may be over her head in this field as she faces runners with much higher speeds and she has yet to win on the grass. Right now, she looks better on the dirt where she has won half her starts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 11 PRAYER IN C (owned by MichaelB) 26\/1 <\/strong>Sired by Dubawi<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prayer In C is one of the four entries in this big race without a grade level win. In fact, this 5-time winner over 15 races will be making his first stake race appearance of any kind. He has the lowest earnings in the field with $127k in purses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 8 races this year, he has a record of 3-2-1 over a mix of allowance and claiming races. 113 is his career best speed, which Prayer notched in a claiming race in August at 11-furlongs winning the race by a head. He followed that up last month with a 104 speed at the same distance, finishing 4th<\/sup> and 7 strides off the winner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moving up to the graded stake level will probably be an issue for this gelding as he faces more experienced talent that are able to clock faster speeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 12 SHADY STICKS (owned by Chilimac) 15\/1 <\/strong>Sired by Waldgeist<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eclipse winner Shady Sticks has the second highest lifetime earnings in this field with just a few drops shy of the $6 million mark. He has four wins over 16 career starts and has been exclusively a G1 runner since March of 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This includes a total of nine races where he has won only once and that was last year in the Derby de English as a three-year old. Shady has finished second a total of three times and snagged the third spot twice, so despite the one win, he has been competitive at this top tier otherwise. This year, he has four starts and finished second in the New Zealand Derby (12f, 114 sp) and in the 16f Spring Cup (110 sp). His best speed of the season came in last race, the G.P. Von Baden where he clipped a 115 figure finishing third and over 4-lengths behind winning Parrish Sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shady Sticks has the speed figures to be competitive in this field but with only one win in 9 tries in G1 competition has to be taken into account when going to the going to the betting windows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 13 GAMBLING ADDICTION (owned by Worldclass) 19\/1 <\/strong>Sired by Tapit<\/p>\n\n\n\n This colt has purses that total $219k and was earned over 19 races with 3 wins under his belt. Gambling Addiction recently was moved out of the allowance racing level into racing in stake races. In June, he made a successful debut with a win in a listed 9.5 f listed stakes event, running away from the field by over four lengths and a career best 116 speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gambling then moved up into the G3 Scandinavian 1800 cup where he made a lukewarm move to move from 11th<\/sup> to 9th<\/sup> and a 109 speed in the 9-furlong race. However, he was able to pop right back in his last race, the G3 Marit Paulsens Memorial, another 9-furlong race, maneuvering from 10th<\/sup> at the half to finish third with a 115 speed figure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gambling Addiction is performing well in the higher level of racing and will be making his first G1 start. It will also be his first time going the long 12-furlongs since July of last year where he finished 3rd<\/sup> on the dirt and was second on the turf back in June of 2023. Going back to the 12f distance should not bother him and he has an opportunity to light up the tote board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 14 CANDY BOYS (owned by Dundey) 17\/1<\/strong> Sired by Twirling Candy<\/p>\n\n\n\n Candy Boys is closing on $600k in earnings over a period of 14 races with 5 wins to his credit. At the end of 2023, Candy Boys started dappling around with racing in turf routes and concluded the season wining three-in-a-row capped off with a listed stakes victory to wrap of the season and did this at 11-furlongs with a career best speed of 116.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This year, he has raced only in graded stake events and has hit that 116 top speed three times this year. In 8 grade-level races this season, he has a record of 2-1-2 with the wins and second places all charting that 116 speed. The wins came in G3 races, Great Beer Cup (April, 11f) and his last race in the Stockholm International (August 12f). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Candy likes to shadow the early leader and if he can stay close within a couple of strides ty the 3rd<\/sup> call, he could be dangerous. Added, 116 speed figure is his target as his best stake performances have come with this figure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 15 FRANKS STAR FORTY (owned by Stockswami) 10\/1 <\/strong>Sired by Frankel<\/p>\n\n\n\n This colt has won over $907k in his 13-race career which includes 7 wins (an over 50% success rate!). He has found a love for races at distances of 10 furlongs and up. His last 7 starts have been at these larger distances and Franks Star Forty has won six of these.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His style is to be a mid-field runner, awaiting his moment to strike. This year, he has only 4 races and in February, he grabbed his first stakes win in a listed event, overpowering the field by 7-lengths and 113 speed. He finished 4th<\/sup> in his first graded race in April in the G3 Great Beer Cap and a 115 SP. In the G2 Kakarazuka Tinen Cup, Franks took the lead in the stretch and drew off to win by over 2-strides and a solid 119 soeed. That speed figure was upped in his last start, the G1 Sword Swallower to an eye popping 121 and arrived at the wire three lengths ahead of the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Franks Star Forty looks very solid and has a very good shot in this field, considering his current form and speeds he has been producing. Should perform well in this race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 16 TEXILEO (owned by Kingranch) 6\/1 <\/strong>Sired by Galileo<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last years Horse of the Year has been entered into this field and looks to do better in the Ark De ComicDog than he performed last year. A year ago, he was the second choice in the race and took off to the front spot and was engaged in an early battle which wore him down as he was overtaken by several horses in the stretch and finished 5th<\/sup> with a very good 118 speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A year later we find Texileo as the favorite in the field and he looks to add to his $9.4 career earnings (highest in the field) as well as adding another notch to the 12 wins he has (most in the field) with the most starts in the field (27 races) and the oldest horse in the field (6yo). He has four starts this year and the first he fell victim to Marchel Davout (also in this race) , in the Sand Castle Golden Turf Classic, finishing 6th<\/sup> with a 116 speed. In the Tattersalls Gold, Texileo finished third with a 115 speed, unable to make his early speed last. He did grab a win in the Kakazuka Kinen Cup with a 116 speed and holding off Parrish Sea (also entered here) by under a stride. His last start was in the Sword Swallower where he wore out in the stretch, finishing third with a 113 figure behind winning Franks Star Forty (also competing in this event).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Texileo has a very impressive streak of hitting speeds of 112 and up in 13 consecutive races which includes three at 120 and higher. This champ is one that many trainers\u2019 envy and he can take this one if he can make his early speed flow all the way through the stretch to the wire. He will need to outlast a few runners who have already run him down this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 17 LET\u2019S TRY THAT (owned by Michaelb) 29\/1 <\/strong>Sired by Ten Sovereigns<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite being one of four runners in this field who has not earned a stakes win, Let\u2019s Try That has undoubtedly been trying as he has over $677k in winnings with 9 victories in 25 starts. 7 of his starts have been in stake races where he has finished second three times along with one third place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s Try That has two wins this year, the first came in a high-level claiming race where he dominated a small 4-horse field in the 14-furlong distance to win by 13 strides. His other win was the start right after changing stables after the claiming race where he won by 4 strides over another small 4-horse field at 13 furlongs. Three starts this year have been in stake events, the first was a second in a listed stakes with a 110 speed in January. The next was in June in the G3 Irish Cup and a well beaten 8th<\/sup> place finish (104 SP). His third stake race was last month in the G2 Irish Saint Legend coming in third but double-digit strides behind the winner and a 108 speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s Try That is facing much better runners in this field and has been struggling with the speed numbers of late averaging 103 over his last four races. He has raced at longer 13-14 furlongs and returns to the 12f distance where he has six starts and a 4-2-0 record, largely preferring this distance, which seems to be his best hope in upsetting this group of runners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 18 WOODLAND VENTURE (owned by Euroallen) 30\/1 <\/strong>Sired byGalileo<\/p>\n\n\n\n After making 12 career races, this 5yo has won 5 times and has a tad over $206k in purses. On New Years Eve (12\/21\/23), Woodland Venture started a win streak of four-in-a-row by taking wins in three allowance races by considerable three to six stride margins. The fourth win came in a 13f listed stakes which he won by over four lengths and a career best speed of 113, winning first time out in a stakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Woodland was immediately promoted up to he graded level, going a long 2 miles in the G3 Rosenbad Marathon, finishing a way-back fifth and 105 speed, with a yielding surface seemingly affecting his performance. He ran in the shorter 12f G3 Scandinavian Championship with an improved 110 speed and decent third place finish. His most recent start was in the G2 Deauville where he ran flatly throughout the rae, finishing in fourth and never being a serious threat with a 103 speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Woodland Venture got a late start in racing, making his first career start at the age of 4-1\/2. He has, on occasion, displayed flashes of late run ability, but it doesn\u2019t always appear. He has never finished worse than fifth, hence he has been taking home cash and BP\u201ds with each start and if he can get that late run going, he can continue taking home some bacon with some minor spoils.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 19 CARJA\u2019S BANE (owned by Lenny271) 30\/1 <\/strong>Sired by Uncle Mo<\/p>\n\n\n\n The youngest runner in this field, at age 3, draws one of the outmost post positions. He has the fewest starts in the field with only 9 appearances but has the highest wining percentage at 67%, thanks to his 6 wins, which helped to amass over $4.3million in earnings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carja\u2019s Bane won her first three races (all allowance) that she appeared in to kick off her promising career. He then ran in a listed stakes and the G2 No Allies stake races and finished off the board in both tries. Things changed sharply in April, as in the G2 South African, his speed shot up into the 100-level for the first time, to a 111 and taking his first stakes win in the process. Another win came quickly in the shadows of this wone in the G1 Derby de English with a 112 SP and winning by over 2 strides. A third win came in the G1 French Grand Prix with a 108 SP and an even better 3+ stride margin. This turns out to be his second 3-race winning streak which came to an end in the G1 Expensive Jalopy where Carja faced older horses for the first time finishing 6th<\/sup> and a 110 speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carja\u2019s Bane will be facing older horses for the second time and he likes to be on the lead or darn close to it early on. He will need to pop the speed numbers up a bit as others in the field are going faster. It may not be his time yet, but this one looks to be a superstar in the making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 20 STREET SKILLS (owned by Lenny271) 10\/1 <\/strong>Sired by New Approach<\/p>\n\n\n\n Street Skills has won more than half of hist 15 starts with 8 victories which has brought home in excess of $1.5 million in earnings. During 2024, he has raced in a combo of listed and graded stake races and sports a 3-1-1 record in 6 races.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His only off-board stake race this year was in the G2 Buk Dharma Handicap finishing 7th<\/sup>, nine lengths back with 109 speed, but was over 17 off the lead at the half. After this, he had a pair of listed stakes, finishing third in the first with a 108 speed picking up about 15 strides after the halfway point and in the other listed event, Street Skills fired off a 120 speed and beat the field by just shy of 2-lengths. He was moved up into the G1 Grand Brazilian and put in a splendid race winning by a healthy 3+ stride margin and an even better 122 speed. Street made it three straight stake wins in a row with yet another one in the G2 Dawn to Dusk Cup with a 109 speed and just getting the head to the line in time to win a photo. His last start was in a memorial G1 race, the URC-Tribute to Smokeglack where a nice second place outcome with a 116 speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The pair of 120-speed range races were impressive and presents Street Skills as a contender in this affair. He also hit 120 back in December in his first career listed stake race, winning by over 2-strides. A contender to respect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MY PICKS:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 15-Franks Star Forty has been hot lately with five wins in his last 6 starts and comes off a strong 3-length win in the Sword Swallower with a 121 speed. Looks too good to ignore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3-Parrish Sea is hard to fault with 7 wins over last 8 outings and hitting 115+ speeds in 6 straight races. Could get another win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 20-Street Skill is capable of those 120-speeds and is rarely off the board (ITM 13 of 15) and figures to get something in this race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 16-Texileo is the old man in the field and still able to perform, cannot discount and has not ran a speed below 113 speed for a very long time, showing his reliability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 19-Carja\u2019s Bane has steep odds 0f 30\/1 and takes on older horses but is developing nicely and could step things up a bit and get a cut of the purse money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Combined Effort is returning to The Ark De ComicDog to defend his championship and looks to capture the lions-share of<\/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-68418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68418","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=68418"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68421,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68418\/revisions\/68421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}