Race :\u00a0Good Vista Handicap<\/b>\u00a0– Grade III – $150,000
ID: 3868.1105Track : Ohio
Restrictions : Fillies and mares, 4 years old and up
Distance : A mile and one eighth on the Turf
The first stakes race listed on the Ohio card for this Saturday is the Good Vista Handicap, a Grade III race with a welcoming purse of $150,000 for the horses that can manage to come out on top in the mile and one eighth turf race. The race, debuting in 1999 but coming back after a two-year hiatus, is open to fillies and mares of four years of age and up. The race will up early in the Saturday card, going off as the fifth race of the day. The race is sure to attract some decent turf horses from the northern area of the United States this weekend. The track will be firm for racing on Saturday. There will be eight fillies and mares going to the starting gate this weekend to take a shot at the Good Vista Handicap (G3). Lets take a look at the fillies and mares looking to make it big on the turf this weekend.
1. Lady By Day<\/b> – (Gone West x Sadler\u2019s Wells x Wild Again) – michaelo<\/i> of Michaelo Stables – M. Robertson – 6\/1
Out of the Grade 1 winning mare Witch By Night, this six-year-old chestnut mare is one of the oldest and most experienced horses entered into Saturday\u2019s race. She is the only stakes winning offspring out of the famed Grade 1 winning mare. Despite her six years the chestnut mare has been lightly raced throughout her career, only seeing thirty-four lifetime starts. Her most recent race, the nine furlong listed The Tolaregoia (IRE) Special, brought up some questions about the six-year-old mare. She finished eighth in the race, seventeen and a half lengths off the pace of the winner to finish with a speed figure of ninety. Previous to this start the chestnut mare had won three consecutive races in her last starts in the 2008 racing season. These races included listed Groom Dixie Special and the Velvet Special, both over nine furlongs. However, her dramatic step down from winning three consecutive races to finishing eighth has led some to talk that possibly the aging mare has begun to loose her edge. Wether that be true or the mare just had a bad start to 2009, she hasn\u2019t run in a graded stakes race since 2007. This last graded start was in the Yabba Dabba Doo Handicap (G2) over eleven furlongs. Through the mare rounded out the board for third in the race, she still finished sixteen lengths off the pace of the winner. Depending upon the pace on Saturday, we may see the veteran mare go out of the gate and wait just off the pace, or we may possibly see her shuffled back into the middle of the pack in hopes to put in a powerful closing kick to her graded stakes comeback.
2. Tete In A Zashaan (NZ)<\/b> – (Zabeel (NZ) x In The Wings (GB) x Darshaan (ENG)) – bizalls1<\/i> of Bizalls Stables – B. Fortune – 5\/1
An early morning entry, this New Zealand native comes into the Good Vista Handicap (G3) with fifty-seven stakes points in her twenty-nine lifetime starts. The six-year-old mare is one of the older mares in Saturday\u2019s race, though she is lightly raced, though accumulating nine lifetime victories, all over the turf. The connections of the chestnut mare will be hoping for a bit of a comeback this weekend after she finished sixth in the Trash Can Mile (G2) in her last race of 2008. She hasn\u2019t made a start yet this new racing season, and is hoping to make a good start out of 2009. Prior to faltering in the Trash Can Mile (G2) in November of last year, the mare went on to win the Mrs. Cleaver Stakes (G2) earlier the same month. She struggled a bit last year with graded caliber stakes, finishing dramatically off the board in some, while stunning the crowd with her performance in others. The mare is a verified speed horse and will probably be out of the starting gate on Saturday on or near the lead as the fillies and mares come out of the gates and onto the track.
3. The Dark Mark<\/b> – (Montjeu (IRE) x Sharpen Up (GB) x Grey Dawn II) – sunshine87<\/i> of The Evil Empire – L. Gordon – 9\/1
This chestnut four year old hails from Ireland. The mare has been lightly raced in her four years with just fourteen career starts. The mare has made all of these starts over the lawn and has come home with five victories during her career for her connections. She\u2019s stepping back up in class from an allowance detour which earned her two placings on the board in for form of a win and a second place finish. Though these starts brought board finishes, they only brought mid-nineties speed figures for the chestnut filly. Her most recent graded stakes race was last October during the QE2 Challenge (G1) to the south in Kentucky. The filly finished seventh in the race, and was subsequently placed in allowance races. She has seen success though at a graded level, finishing second in the Demona Handicap (G1) late last year as well as running fourth in the 1000 Guineas (G1) in Newmarket. The filly has shown quite a bit of diversity in her running, and can rate herself at the back of the field or show some speed out of the gate and sit just off the pace.
4. Forty Rahys<\/b> – (Rahy x Galileo (IRE) x Forty Niner) – wildfit<\/i> of Silverny99 Stables – T. Seals – 9\/2
The Kentucky-bred five-year-old will be making her twenty-first career start this weekend in the Good Vista Handicap (G3). The brown mare is out of the race-winning dam Bartels (IRE). The brown mare has had a little bit of a hard time of it recently. She is coming off of a fifth place finish last month in the Sexy Muffins Classic (G1). Prior to her first 2009 start the mare finished ninth in the Devil\u2019s Slide Handicap (G1) and fourth in the He\u2019s A Charmer Stakes (G3). We\u2019d have to go back to October of last year during the CR Racers Rase The Stakes Restricted, a listed stakes race over a mile, to find her most recent win. She won this race by a narrow margin of just three-fourths of a length, through recorded a speed figure of one hundred six, comparable to that of the speed figures produced by most of the field lined up here in the Good Vista Handicap (G3). She seems to have found her forte at around eight to nine furlongs, and has performed fairly well in those races. She\u2019s a bit of a speed horse, and will probably be out relatively early, stalking the pace if she can. If we see her further back in the race at the start, it probably will not be a good finish for the five-year-old daughter of Rahy.
5. Algodon De Azucar<\/b> – (Tapit x Woodman x Lyphard) – otto<\/i> of Otto Haack – L. Ingersoll – 7\/1
The dark gray four-year-old is out of the race-winning mare Boris The Doris and has brought home a little over half a million dollars for her connections. She\u2019s run all but one of her career races over the lawn and has brought home nine career wins over the surface. The mare saw her last start overseas in New Zealand during a mile long allowance race over a good turf track. The mare won the race by two and three-fourth lengths with a speed figure of one hundred seven after hanging back in the field just off the pace. The mare may be a little hit and miss lately. Prior to her step down to the allowance race, she had finished fourth in both the Her Terms (IRE) Challenge and the Sun State Cup (G1). She\u2019s no wannabe through, she won last year\u2019s 1000 Guineas by a head with a speed figure of one hundred six in what was perhaps the triumph of her racing career. The filly most likely be sent out of the gates on the pace on Saturday, likely rating behind a few pace setting horses until she will look for some room to run down the stretch.
6. Tupungato<\/b> – (Rahy x Pulpit x Danzig) – hipica<\/i> of Hipica Stables – L. Herren – 5\/1
With thirty-one lifetime starts and out of the race-winning mare Damage Control, who has produced two stakes winners out of three offspring, will have to make a comeback this weekend in the Good Vista Handicap (G3). In her last start during the Remember Stakes (G30 the chestnut five-year-old Kentucky-bred mare ran sixth in the nine furlong race. Her prior start in the Mrs. Cleaver Stakes (G2) last year wasn\u2019t any better ending in a seventh place finish with the mare back eight lengths from the winner. She\u2019ll have to step it up if she wants to get the job done this weekend. Despite her last two races, the mare has been a very successful graded and listed stakes horse. Just prior to her seventh place finish in the Mrs. Cleaver Stakes (G2) last year, the mare won the Bickerknocker Handicap (G3) in October by three and one-fourth lengths with a speed figure of one hundred eleven. She\u2019ll set out this weekend trying to duplicate this race again. The mare will probably be close to or on the lead in Saturday if she can beat the other numerous speed horses in this race out of the gate.
7. Ghost Whispers<\/b> – (Gone West x Sadler\u2019s Wells x Red Ransom) – trij<\/i> of Trij Stables – M. Grunhard – 3\/1
Coming into the race with an impressive one hundred seventy three stakes points, this chestnut five-year-old is out of the stakes placed dam Sadie\u2019s Ransom. Ghost Whispers<\/b> is the only graded offspring produced so far by the mare, but she has been an impressive mare, winning seven lifetime races and bringing home $1,462,120 in career earnings. Her last race in the Shawnee River Handicap (G3) was perhaps a bit of a disappointment as she ran home to finish third, through was six lengths off the pace of the winner while recording a speed figure of one hundred two. Her two previous races, which she won both consecutively were much more impressive with the chestnut mare winning the ten furlong Devil\u2019s Slide Handicap (G1) by two with a speed of one hundred fifteen and winning the What A Sham (G1) by one and three-fourths. Her connections are hoping she will be able to quickly rebound to this form that earned her these two wins this weekend for the Good Vista Handicap (G3). The mare has shown great versatility in her running style and could be either towards the back of the pack or up near the front runners, whichever seems to suit her best on race day.
8. Kevorkian<\/b> – (Fusaichi Pegasus x Northern Dancer x Buckfinder) – nightracin<\/i> of Worldwide – M. Carrington – 5\/1
With only thirteen stakes points to her title this four-year-old homebred filly is putting it all on the line this weekend with hopes of coming out of the race triumphant. She\u2019s made only seventeen starts during her career and has won five times. Unlike the other fillies and mares in the field on Saturday, the brown mare is accomplished over both surfaces. She\u2019s won three times over the turf and twice over the dirt. Her career began on the dirt as a two-year-old where she might have gotten off to a bit of a slow start, but things picked up quickly after November when the filly suddenly clicked. Since then, she has finished no worse than third in any dirt race. The big decision to try the filly over the lawn came in the middle of 2008. It would be a mile long allowance race, but she would win on her first try out by one and three-fourth lengths with a speed figure of one hundred four, faster than she had ever posted on the dirt. Though she has had some impressive speed figures over the turf, like the one hundred twelve in her most recent start, the Maple Act Special, the filly seems to be a little more hit and miss over the turf than she is over the dirt. While she\u2019s won three of her seven turf starts, she\u2019s also finished off the board in three of them, something she hadn\u2019t done on the dirt since she suddenly improved late in her two-year-old season. The brown filly may be out of the gates anywhere between the middle of the racing field and ranging up to sitting around fourth off the pace out of the starting gate.
Tecora\u2019s Selections<\/b>
This was another race that was pretty hard to try to handicap. All the fillies in the race are nearly even on pretty much every aspect, I think the odds in the race reflect that, as they too are all very close in range to each other. However, for the win position I selected Ghost Whispers<\/b>. She\u2019s a nice 3\/1 shot and her speed figures have all been triple digits for a while now. She had a little bit of an off race last out finishing six off the pace, but I think she\u2019s rebound here. In the second spot I like Algodon De Azucar<\/b>. She\u2019s a young up and coming filly that keeps improving. She hasn\u2019t finished out of the money for a while, so she\u2019s a pretty reliable pick. With third I like the race favorite of Forty Rahys<\/b>. Her last three races haven\u2019t been picture perfect, which is why I think she finishes third here. She\u2019ll improve on this race, but I don\u2019t think she\u2019ll be quiet up to her prior form for this race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Good Vista Handicap Promises to be Close Race; Forty Rahys Favorite<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":418,"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-7264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7264","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\/418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7264\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}