New Oak Stakes<\/SPAN><\/B> is a race for all three year olds and up going a mile and three eighths on turf. This is a grade III race and nine horses are entered to compete. 1.<\/FONT>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN>DARKDOUN (IRE) <\/SPAN><\/B>(9\/2) this is a 5 year old horse is trained by Peepsclaim and is by Galileo out of a Pientre Celebre X Carleon mare. After many semi dismal runs going 12 and 13 furlongs this horse finally gets to go back to 11 furlongs. I believe that it is the preferred distance as all the runs at 11 furlongs have produced good speeds and even put up a career best speed 110 at 11 furlongs. I think that this will improve his chances. Did well in graded starts until May of last year. Might be a bit tired has raced pretty consistently for years, recent speeds have dropped and despite all of that, this horse is still a cut above. 2.<\/FONT>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN>METIS (AUS) <\/SPAN><\/B>(9\/1) this 3 year old colt is trained by Coolk and is by Redoubt\u2019s Choice out of a Galileo X Nureyev mare. I agree with this trainers decision to go a bit longer in distance as he makes the lead then gets out run, a lot of horses with this running style stretching out gives it a chance to hold on against horses with lest closing speed. His second in the Grade I Big Red Stakes shows that he can match speeds with these talented horses even though he is only three. This will be his first attempt against older horses so we will see how he fairs. 3.<\/FONT>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN>DELPENN GOLD (IRE) <\/SPAN><\/B>(7\/1) this blueblood 3 year old colt is trained by Sdmf2 and is by Sadler\u2019s Wells out of an Alydar X Buckpasser mare.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The most impressive race on this horses recorded is the G2 Horseshoe Fall stakes where he faced older horses and one putting up a 107 speed and winning by 4 lengths. He beat some nice horses but none that are in this race. Has been in the top races since then, I think he has a better shot here, hopefully his last race was a fluke. He did fine on the off track and as a 3 year old managed 6th<\/SUP> out of 14 against the top horses. Either way, talented, or I think his odds are a little long for his career. 4.<\/FONT>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN>HALO ME DOWN <\/SPAN><\/B>(9\/5) this 5 year old gray colt is trained by Sdmf4 and is by Mineshaft out of a Halo X Storm Bird mare. I find this rather interesting placing given this horse\u2019s career. I assume this is tactical race for him to bounce back on the dirt but given the 112 speed this horse cranked out last start, it seems a bit poor of an idea. I rather think this horse just wants longer distance, but on dirt. The two races at 10 furlongs turned out fantastic. Either way this race will be a test and will serve the purpose of a boost and improve the next starts. 5.<\/FONT>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN>FLYING ACADEMY (AUS) <\/SPAN><\/B>(42\/1) this long shot 5 year old is trained by Mrkyle and is by Flying Spur out of a Numerous X Royal Academy mare. This former claimer is the deserved long shot. Comparing speeds between horses in this race show that this horse will need a major boost to get in the money. Won a stakes going 13 furlongs in his 4 year old year but the winning speed was a very unimpressive 85. He proceeded to fail time and time again in stakes and was dropped to claiming until he won a few races. Though speeds will not be competitive here he may not finished last. 6.<\/FONT>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN>WOODY WELLS <\/SPAN><\/B>(5\/1) this 5 year old colt is trained by Illrunbyu2 and is by Woodman out of an Ela- Mana \u2013Mou X Sadler\u2019s Wells mare. Another horse that\u2019s never had a break. In fact after his longest lay off of just a little over a month he won. Given the fact he has had two poor races in a row he may need a break, his speeds have declined. But he also could be in a slump. Either way, his speeds are good and I do think he will do well at this distance as his best wins have come at this distance, including his best race to date where he ran 11 furlongs in 110. He has the talent and the speed so if he is on his game he should do fine. 7.<\/FONT>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN>THE XMAS SPIRIT (IRE) <\/SPAN><\/B>(15\/1) this 3 year old filly is trained by Shamran and is by High Chaparral out of a Kris.S X Caro mare. This filly is the rarity in this race, as the only female she doesn\u2019t look to be good competition. She did post a 100 speed to win a G3 race going 12 furlongs against other three year old fillies. She has never competed against older horses and has a top speed of 102. It makes me worry that she might not handle the jump in competition, but she has handled the jump in class before. I don\u2019t think this is her race, but she still won\u2019t be a disappointment. 8.<\/FONT>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN>IL DULCE <\/SPAN><\/B>(21\/1) This 5 year old brown horse is trained by Rvd and is by Mineshaft out of a Capote X Storm Bird mare. This horse has never run in anything other than allowances and has not broken the 100 speed mark in 38 starts. It did post career best 98 speeds last two times out once going 10 furlongs on off turf and the other on firm turf going 8.5 which seems to be the distance this horse enjoys. As its best start on dirt also came at around that distance. Though I don\u2019t think that these last two starts justify the jump in class, this horse could continue to do well in allowances but unless he steps it up he won\u2019t make today a pay day. 9.<\/FONT>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN>MAKE ME BLUSH (KY) <\/SPAN><\/B>(7\/2) This 4 year old brown colt is trained by Tripwire and is by Belong to Me out of a Gone West X Blushing Groom mare. This horse has run some very nice speeds that I will be very impressed if he can repeat at the 11 furlong distance, a 114 two times one time going 10 furlongs and the other going 9. Both show he is comfortable at that distance; he starts longer, with the exception of the one where he got hurt, show that he can last the distance and might put up the speeds. Though I think the horses is very good at the 8.5 to 9 distance where he is places and won G1 races. Why mess with success, but if you have to I do think this horse will enjoy this distance. Can the Young take the Old?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":409,"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-6934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6934","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\/409"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6934\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}