The Cowboy Handicap is not being run in Texas or any other western state as one might think. It’s actually being run in Taiwan with a moderate field of 7 going to the gate. This Grade III race is going the marathon distance of 2 miles. The race features one horse that has early speed with virtually all others being late closers. <\/p>\n
1. Thirty Four in Red 4-1
Leaving from the rail is Thirty Four in Red who comes off a very impressive win in the Duke Wooden Special. This race was 13f where Thirty Four spotted the leader just shy of 20 lengths by the second call. Not only did he find the lead, he drew away to a 3 stride victory in a career best speed of 110. He has raced in 16f events before, although his speeds have been just below the 100 threshold. He has a deadly late stride, however, his speed numbers do drop a few notches going the 2 miles. If he can mirror his last outing…watch out!<\/p>\n
2. Xtremly Bold 8-1
A winner of 4 of 14 starts, Xtremly Bold will be the pace setter in the race. The field lacks any serious early speed, and this may be Xtremly Bold’s best shot at taking the race. If he can build up a good lead and keep enough in his tank, he can pull off the upset. He has one race going 16f in the Kelso Cup where Xtremly set the pace and wore down at the end, finishing third in a speed of 97 on a wet track. Xtremly hasn’t won a stakes race yet, and this could be a golden opportunity if Jockey Fishback plays his cards right.<\/p>\n
3. Well Groomed 3-1
In graded racing, Well Groomed has been in the money 3 times in 10 starts without a victory. He comes off a strong win in the non-graded Alydance Dance Handicap (13f) where he rallied from 15 back passing the midway point to win by two lengths. In each of his races Well Groomed has been able to make up ground after the second call. Sometimes the rally is strong, where he catches the leaders, othertimes, it just gets him a middle-of-the-field finish. He is going 2 miles for the first time which can be good…or bad. Well Groomed doesn’t make his move until after the midway marker, so on the good side, the extra distance will give him more time to make up ground. On the bad side, it will take him longer to reach the midway point, which may push him further behind. I’d give him a race at this distance to see what he can do.<\/p>\n
4. All Cerise 99-1
It’s hard to find any promise with this huge longshot. All Cerise makes his first start in a stakes race at the age of 9. He hasn’t won a race since 2005. His speeds for the past year have rarely exceeded 70. He does show some early footing and I anticipate he’ll be running 2nd or 3rd early on. A win here may set some record payouts for a stake race.<\/p>\n
5. Neck Neck Nose 6-1
Neck Neck Nose had a three race win streak late last year which came to an end in the Captain’s Pot Challenge, which was his first 2-mile race. Neck Neck Nose was the 5-2 second choice behind favorite and eventual winner Thirty Four in Red. In this race, Jockey Denney wisely pulled up Neck Neck after some erratic missteps before the first turn. Neck Neck was layed off for a few months and returned to the track in February, showing that he was ready to race again with a second place finish in the G2 Carden Special (12f) with a career best of 113. The rest seemed to have done Neck Neck Nose well and he should put in a good race in this one.<\/p>\n
6. Tour Escort 3-1
Tour Escort is a capable horse on both the dirt and grass although seems to prefer the grass just a hair better. With that said, this race is on the dirt and he put in a career best speed in December of 111 on the surface going 14f and winning the Duke Stupid Special. He showed his late stride in this race after spotting the leader 14 lengths early on and running away with a 4 length victory. Unfortunately, his next stakes race (13f) wasn’t as grand, as he finished forth and never got his late stride in gear. Tour Escort is consistant in hitting the board and will have a good shot to achieve that in this race.<\/p>\n
7. Callison 2-1
A route record of being in the money 23 of 28 races has resulted in Callison being tagged as the favorite. Like several others in this field, Callison is coming off a strong win, this coming in the Account Counting Handicap (14f). He spotted the field a dozen plus lengths early on and rolled off to a four length victory in a speed of 108. His biggest hardship is the graded races. He has had three starts in graded races with a forth place finish being his best. Callison seems to be in a good position to finally hit the board in a graded race this time.<\/p>\n
Neck Neck Nose is my top pick and can pay a decent price to boot. He made a strong return to the track off his layoff and I look for him to put in another strong effort.<\/p>\n
Callison is my second choice. He hasn’t had much luck in hitting the board in graded races. He should break this streak here as he has consistantly exceeds the 100-speed level and Jockey Meads (25% win) will boost his chances.<\/p>\n
Thirty Four in Red was impressive in his last race and I think he will pick up his speed numbers for this 2-mile race, something he has struggled a bit with.<\/p>\n
Good luck at the track!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cowboy Handicap<\/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-7312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7312","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=7312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7312\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}