The Led to Freedom Special Stakes will be run up in Maine this weekend on the grass. The distance is set at 7.5f and a short field of four are pursuing one of the smallest stake purses around, a mere $45,000. I questioned track officials about the size of the purse and an individual, asking to remain annonymous, stated “It’s Maine. It’s winter. It’s cold. People stay home. What do you expect?” So be it, lets look at the challengers.<\/p>\n
1. Bleed American 3-5
The horse name seems to fit well with the name of the race. So well, Bleed American was made favorite. Actually, it was not due to her name, but her accomplishments. She has won four of 6 races, including her last two. Both of these were non-graded stakes, going a mile, that she won in speeds of 85 and 81. Her speeds are better than others in this field and keep improving. Looks darn good here.<\/p>\n
2. Banking Account 6-1
All of Banking Account’s starts have been in non-graded stake races. She’s still a maiden and in her 6 starts, she has finished third in three races. She looks doubtful to win the race when you consider all of her races were against fields of four (this amounts to a 50\/50 chance of her coming in the money). Her best speed to date was a 71 in her last outing. She’d probably fare well in a maiden allowance race (going for top dollars).<\/p>\n
3. Chicky Mob 3-1
In 11 races, Chicky has a record of 1-3-3. Although the win record isin’t the best, Chicky may have the best shot to upset Bleed American. Two races back, Chicky posted a speed of 80 going 8f, showing that she has the ability to run at a speed that could challenge the favorite. Unfortunately, she followed that race up with a speed of 68 going the same distance. Chicky will need to be at her best.<\/p>\n
4. Goodmorninsunshine 5-2
This filly likes the turf as reflected by her record of 7-3-2-1 (most races against small fields). She has been boasting speeds in the 70’s of late and is probably the second best.<\/p>\n
Bleed American gets the nod in this short field. She has the advantage with speed and gets jockey McClendon (who has already won 20 races in 73 starts!).<\/p>\n
Next I go with Goodmorningsunshine who should help nail a cheap-o exacta.<\/p>\n
Chicky Mob looks a hair better than Banking Account for third. If you are going for the triple, use the top top picks with both of these for third. Forget boxing the exotics. The payouts won’t be much for what you walk away with. Stick with straight wagers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Small Field Shows for Freedom Special <\/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-7205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7205","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=7205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7205\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}