10 horses are set to go in the Grade III Apparently Juvenile<\/b> at 9 furlongs on turf for $150,000 here in Hong Kong on Saturday. All are complying with the age conditions set out in the name of the fixture. It’s always a pleasure to report here, at a venue known as the betting capital of the world, where one can get guided tours showing the masters of betting finance running their arbitrage operations at a bank of computer screens. A great place to spend a week watching racing and reporting. I interviewed a Hong Kong Jockey Club who told me proudly that the HKJC was a not-for-profit organization which supports charities and community projects. I told him that we in North America had been there first, that most racing organizations in North America were non-profit institutions as well.<\/p>\n
Last year, Idol Worship<\/b> won this event at 9\/1 odds, putting up a 99 speed. His previous high speed rating was a 90, reminding us that jumps in ability are so common from these young kids. As a three-year old, Idol Worship turned out to be a top allowance-level horse at 9 to 10 furlongs.<\/p>\n
This field looks likely to produce a raw speed duel, with 5 or 6 in the field seeking to go wire-to-wire. Let’s set up the field the way the linemaker sees it.<\/p>\n
The Beast Enters<\/b> owns the highest speed figure, 96 (tied with another) in the field and it was done the hard way, in the Breeder’s Bowl Juvenile Turf, where he took the lead right out of the gate and maintained it until being caught in the stretch, earning a place finish. Sire Green Desert<\/i> brings lots of turf route influence; game dam Enter the Beast<\/i> was a dirt route specialist, and a Grade I winner there, but his Diesis <\/i> x Kingmambo<\/i> heritage is quite friendly to the green stuff. This one entered the big leagues early, debuting in the Much En La Tittle<\/i> in Northern California with a place finish back in May, followed by a win in the Grade III Norfellow<\/i> in Ostend. Not much strategy is to be expected from T. Brewer, the track’s top jock on the 4\/1 favourite. Like many here this one should be flying fron the gate trying for the lead and running as hard as he can until someone catches him. If there is anything to dislike here, it is that Enter the Beast<\/b> has been caught in the stretch in each of his last two, albeit in exalted company, and this event is a half furlong longer than anything he has yet attempted. There are a lot of fast horses to the inside to be beaten to the punch here as well.<\/p>\n
The 9\/2 second choice Hannah’s Muse<\/b> also boasts a 96 top speed, earned winning the Her Quests<\/i> last time out in Tennessee. Hannah’s Muse is Imposingly bred (Limehouse<\/i> x Sadler’s Wells<\/i> x A. P. Indy<\/i>), and took to the green immediately, despite Limehouse’s bringing more of a dirt influence, and then really exploded when tackling a route for the first time, winning a CR Racers event in Kentucky. P. Smith (11%) has the mount for the tokoroa<\/i> barn. This one is an all-or-nothing type, with 4 wins and two finishes out of the money in 6 lifetime starts. He goes wire-to-wire when winning and will be competing for the lead from the seven slot.<\/p>\n
Title Defense<\/b> took a very different route to this event than the two more favoured. A son of Awesome Again<\/i>, whose progeny like the dirt, he started out with two dirt sprints and picked it up when sent a mile, breaking his maiden in July. After a 4th place finish in a dirt route at one furlong longer,looking for something better, the futurestar<\/i> barn, associated with the dixiedotco<\/i> outfit, switched him to turf last out. The results were good as he won the Labelle Woodsman<\/i> in Arizona, falling 10 \u00bd lengths behind before prevailing in the stretch at a 92 speed, bettered in this field only by the two more favoured. Game dam Dangerous Reward<\/i> was a dirt router and multiple graded winner there so the liking for grass comes as a bit of a surprise; perhaps the liking comes from Kingmambo<\/i>, Dangerous Reward’s sire.<\/p>\n
Title Defense<\/b> is the sole closer in the field and is perfectly placed running on the far outside with all kinds of speed to run at, but a bounce is always possible; he steps up in class. He goes off at 5\/1 under Aldridge (9%). The winner here last year was a closer in a field of frontrunners, who improved his lifetime speed rating by 9; that would be a model to copy here.<\/p>\n
If Chill of a Journey<\/b> doesn’t finish first or second here, it will be his first time. After breaking his maiden second time out, the son of first year grass sire Dylan Thomas <\/i> won two stakes at 7.5 furlongs hitting a top speed of 91 last out. Pegged at 5\/1, Chill takes the lead or fights for it, like most others here. The calle4<\/i> barn, part of the nickesyd<\/i> group, puts H. Harbart (9%) on the mount; he will try to outrace or stay close to the three horses to his outside, who will likewise be going all out from the start. The breeding suggests there may be success stretching out; with Galileo<\/i> as dam sire.<\/p>\n
6\/1 Mount Samson<\/b> is another one who has never yet suffered the indignity of finishing worse than second. He will be stalking the four rabbits to his outside, hanging behind them and hoping to make a move in the stretch. The son of Danehill Dancer<\/i> comes off a 2nd place finish in the Grade III Grand Critter<\/i> in Ostend eight weeks ago. There, running at the same 6\/1 odds, he came on in the stretch closing to a half length behind the leader; he gets an extra furlong to run here. Before the last Mount Samson had finished second in two turf sprint stakes. Three horses in this field like to take a stalk style and this one is the best of them; the bjbandit<\/i> barn sends out C. Shinkle (11%) to handle the tricky task of navigating his way past a slew of fading frontrunners.<\/p>\n
Slightly Shaded<\/b> has not put up the speeds of the rest, but is the 2nd highest money winner in the field, having taken in $386,844 to date. This son of Bernstein<\/i>‘s big cash winning came in a Grade I win in the Knick Knack<\/i> in Australia in early October. Three weeks later the bluerights<\/i> stable, associated with the bigrick<\/i> assemblage, entered him in the Breeder’s Bowl Juvenile Turf, where he was outclassed. Game dam Top Exsecutive<\/i> was notable only as a reminder to proofread your horse names before you hit the last button. An 84 speed is the highest Slightly Shaded has ever put up but that was almost three months ago and a jump in ability could easily come. This 8\/1 choice has liked the lead, and will have to fight for it with a slew of others.<\/p>\n
Robin at Windsor<\/b> is another one here whose connections expected a career on dirt but found success only when he went to the grass. The son of bargain sire Windsor Knot<\/i>\u2018s serious career began when he broke his maiden on his first turf try after three undistinguished dirt efforts.. He has since put up a win, a place, and a show in 3 overnight turf stakes, putting up an 89 top speed in the Serial L C<\/i> in Ireland at 7.5 furlongs last out a month ago. This one comes from the claim4fame<\/i> barn, part of the nickesyd<\/i> operation like Chill of a Journey<\/b>. This is his first route try; he has been coming on late in his 7.5 furlong efforts, closing to within one length of the leader last out.<\/p>\n
Tactician Ted<\/b>‘s speeds have improved or stayed the same in every race in his career, and he will need another improvement to contend here. Hence his last two efforts have been his best, showing a show and then a win at stakes at this distance, the win being in the Barb’s College Kid<\/i> stakes six weeks ago. Sire Tactical Cat<\/i> has proved to be a route influence. Rider Stokes (5%), put up by the hijacked<\/i> barn, might like to take a deep stalk style here, as that would leave him alone in a niche, but the inside post is not the best for that type of effort. This one’s best speed was an 84, put up last out; he has proven very comfortable at this distance, and might hope to be in for a share. The oddsmaker puts him at 10\/1.<\/p>\n
Chill of a Star<\/b> (12\/1) enters in the hope that a try at a route distance will show significant improvement over what has been achieved in sprints. The sire, Galileo<\/i>, is quite consistent with such hopes; the rest of the pedigree, Kris S.<\/i> x Fappiano<\/i> supports a continued search to find this one’s niche in life. Chill of a Star started out nicely with an immediate MSW win and a stake win; since May he has been puttering around, with one place finish in 4 races. The josefine<\/i> barn is part of the omnipresent nickesyd<\/i> web. This one is likely to be competing with a colleague of the same grouping three lanes to his inside. Pete Williams (9%) has the mount.<\/p>\n
Buzz Dryer<\/b> (17\/1) comes into this one on a hope and a prayer. He’s won two turf routes already, winning his MSW there and then finisheing second in an allowance. Hos fastest speed was a 79, breaking his maiden. He won as a speed type, putting him into direct competition with the 5 other frontrunners in this race. He has gained in the lane at both a mile and 8.5; perhaps 9 furlongs will be very congenial to him. Ned Lewis (8%) runs for the moala <\/i> barn.<\/p>\n
Toral Picks From his Fedora:<\/p>\n
1. Title Defense<\/p>\n
2. The Beast Enters<\/p>\n
3. Mount Samson<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Beast Enters, Hannah’s Muse Set to Duel for Lead<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":440,"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-6959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6959","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\/440"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6959\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}