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Welcome to North Carolina for the NC Mile, a 1 mile Grade 2 event on turf. <\/P>
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Trip handicappers will be interested to note that the last three runnings of this event dating back to 2005 have all been won by horses who were never further back than second at any time during the mile. Will another presser win today, or will we see a horse front end it, or close from out of the clouds to take the victory? <\/P>
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A talented group lines up for this edition of the NC Mile, including last year’s champ, some budding turf stars, and some crafty veteran runners with multiple stakes wins under their belt. It promises to be a blanket finish. <\/P>
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SCARLET REAPER<\/STRONG> is coming off two excellent performances in Allowance company, notching a 118 speed figure in his second last effort. Those two events were at 7.5F and today he stretches out a bit to a flat mile. He’s yet to hit the board in a graded event, and he’s chosen a tough event to do so, although given those strong speed figures in recent races you can see why trainer sunshine34 would give it a shot. He’ll likely take back in the early going and try to fire late. On his best day, he can compete with these horses. However, his sprinting record is better than his route record and perhaps given the tough experienced milers in here he is more likely to grab a minor share than taking the big prize. <\/P> SARDINI<\/STRONG> is a rare breed \u2013 a graded stakes winner on both dirt and turf. After a successful 11 race run on dirt to open his career, he shifted to the lawn and has proven to be even better on the green stuff (a lesson for all of us that sometimes its worth giving a talented runner a shot at both surfaces). Two starts ago in a G2 event he went wire to wire for the victory. There are plenty of pressers in here who will want to be close to the pace, but he may well get the lead to himself down the backstretch with a host of challengers just in behind. This 3yo son of Bernardini has achieved success racing against 3 year olds, and today he is taking on older horses for only the second time on turf \u2013 the other effort was a decent 6th<\/SUP> place finish in the G1 Breeders Bowl mile. Jockey K Naber has been hot all year. This talented runner will likely get better with age, and is a major threat to take this race but may find the older runners a bit more experienced at this stage. <\/P> ALBERTA DEHERE<\/STRONG> discovered turf racing for the first time two starts ago after a full season on dirt, and it’s safe to say this 3 year old loves the lawn. He notched an allowance win on the grass, and then took the Major Actor stakes over older horses in late November hanging up a dazzling 116 speed figure in the process. Perhaps we haven’t seen the best of this guy yet on the lawn given that he’s undefeated thus far and is still learning what he can do on grass. He’s being asked to come back on 2 weeks rest and vaults into graded company against some salty older horses, but he gives every indication that there’s more in the tank. A viable longshot at 7-1. <\/P> AWESOME SONG<\/STRONG> looks to become the first two-time winner of this event since Used Bandaid turned that trick back in 2001-2002. This 4yo son of Unbridled’s Song took this race last year, and that’s not his only graded stakes win \u2013 he’s a multiple graded stakes winner with only a grade 1 victory missing from his long list of accomplishments. After some freshening in August and early September, Awesome Song has put together back to back wins including an easy victory last out in restricted stakes company where he was much the best. His speed ratings are comparable to others in here so he’ll face stiff competition if he wants to add his name to the history books in North Carolina. With a host of challengers likely to be in the mix in the late going of this one, this guy has proven that he can dig deep and come up with the fortitude to deliver in graded events. Classy guy must be respected and jockey Esparado is having a good year. He’s my pick to get it done. <\/P> MIA THEN BACK<\/STRONG> is a multiple grade 1 stakes winner with a shining pedigree who’s coming off a 3rd<\/SUP> place finished in a grade 1 event at 10 furlongs. Your $2 will always get you a good effort when it’s invested in this guy, as he’s literally never run a bad race throughout this career. He employes a furious late rush to win races, but this year he’s often come up just short at today’s distance of a flat mile, preferring slightly longer distances to give that late kick a little extra room to maneuver. He is perhaps the most accomplished runner in here, but there are some crack milers lining up for this event and this son of Forty Niner will need to time his move just perfectly to get there on the wire. He’s likely to hit the board, but based on his recent record and the tough opposition, he may run out of real estate in the stretch drive and wind up second or third best. <\/P> COCAINE TRAIN<\/STRONG> is an accomplished turf star with 10 wins over the surface and multiple stakes wins on his resume for trainer Piccolo87. This time last year he was at his best, rattling off victories in allowance and stakes company as the weather cooled off. So far in 2008 he has 2 wins from 8 starts. His recent form is solid, and if he’s able to recapture some of the talent he displayed last fall he’s a player in this race. A repeat of his last 3 efforts might leave him a bit short if the others run their race. <\/P> STEADY EMPLOYMENT<\/STRONG> is seeking his first graded stakes victory today. He’s back in peak form in recent months and has put together back to back allowance wins, including a solid 112 speed figure last time out overseas in New Zealand, a career best effort. On form, he’s in top shape for this 1 mile test, however it’s been over a year since he last tasted a stakes victory. He’ll lurk just off the pace and wait for the right moment to strike. The son of Symboli Kris S will need to better his career best to win this one.<\/P> CHOSE GOLD<\/STRONG> does his best running under a mile, and today he’ll try to stretch out for just the third time in his career. He just missed in the Smooth with Cumvee listed stakes last time out, launching a late bid after starting from way out in post 14 and falling just a half length short. Interestingly his game dam was not much of a turf runner, but this guy has clearly shown a liking for the grass. He’s a good runner in a very tough field at a distance that’s less than ideal for him. Will likely come up a bit short against this group, and likely has some very good things ahead in his 4yo season.<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Young turf stars clash with the ’07 NC Mile champ in this year’s event<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":431,"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-6975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6975","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\/431"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6975\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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