{"id":822,"date":"2005-10-07T11:55:01","date_gmt":"2005-10-07T11:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blacktypebugler.com\/?p=822"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"oldbtb_1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/?p=822","title":{"rendered":"Grade II Longchamp Turf Marathon"},"content":{"rendered":"

The grass is soft here at Longchamp for the Grade II Longchamp Marathon, run over two miles.Twelve runners go to post here today, led by second-favorite Revelation II<\/B>. Listed at 6-1, he is undefeated at this challenging two mile distance, including a front running romp in the Grade I Gold Glass, just two starts previous. Revelation’s last start was a bit worrisome, as he faltered going 14f against much easier, running second to a horse who had just faded badly in the stretch against $75,000 claimers. Trainer Oscar<\/I> did not seem worried when asked about his runners last race. He just smiled, pointed to the three month layoff between races (I refrained from asking why someone would lay off a horse fresh off a dominant win in a Grade I because Oscar was kind of creeping me out with his smile), and smiled some more. Handicappers assuming that subpar effort was just a tune up will be getting an inflated price on a proven campaigner. Handicappers who think that the old guy is getting, well, old, will find plenty of other interesting betting opportunites.<\/P>

Dan Colony<\/B>, trained by Loubrown<\/I>, doesn’t have the fastest speed figures of the bunch, but he does have somethinge else. Like the favorite, he’s never lost going two miles. He’s won three of his last four (all three wins going 16f), sits just off the pace and will be a major contender breaking from post position two. The pace might be a bit faster than he’s used to with the step back up to Grade II company and it will be interesting to see where jockey M. Nurmi is able to settle him.<\/P>

Favorite A Rub of Irish (3-1)<\/B> brings in some questions along with much of the publics money. Well, one question, really. Which Rub of Irish is going to show up? Is it going to be the horse that destroyed the field in the two mile Vermont is for Lovers GII Handicap in his first start going longer than nine furlongs? Or is it going to be the lazy horse that haded the off going in the listed Thor’s Cake just three starts back, running a disappointing second? His recent form has been excellent with only one finish worse than third this year (the Dubai turf classic) and even though his recent races have been much shorter, he’s been finishing strongly and competitively. The favorite definitely merits a long look here if able to repeat his Vermont form.<\/P>

The rest of the field in post position order:<\/P>

1) PJ Free Runner (17-1)<\/B> (flyingfinn)<\/I> Royally bred longshot is still looking for his stakes win and seems a cut below the rest of these. Was just beaten by 16 by A Rub of Irish.<\/P>

3) Reckless (11-1)<\/B> (topicount3) <\/I>Stretch running son of Wild Again makes first turf start here. He’s also looking for his first stakes win. If able to handle the grass, we know he can handle the distance (ran a solid third last out going 16f on the dirt) and the trainer certainly knows how to win races. Probably an underlay at 11-1, but could surprise.<\/P>

4) Zalduendo Mining (6-1)<\/B> (zalduendo)<\/I> Front running four year old stretches out after four efforts going 9-11f. Not really bred to be a marathoner and he’s going to face some pressure up on the front end here. Another in this field that not only hasn’t won a graded stakes, has never won a stakes race at all. Up against it with the class just, the longer distance and the likely pressure from a couple horses that seem tougher.<\/P>

6) King’s Robbery (12-1)<\/B> (kj)<\/I> Never won a grass race. Never won a stakes race. Does possess a win going 13f on the dirt, but that was against N4L allowance foes and is not enough to recommend here.<\/P>

7) Band of Budas (11-1)<\/B> (chop)<\/I> Stretch running son of Tribal Rule has earned over $500k in his life, has multiple stakes wins going two miles on the grass, and gets top jockey E.Wood. Pulled up in his last race, the Rain Fred Challenge, but from all accounts is going well in the morning and is definitely one of the longshots to consider if you don’t like the favorites. Ran fifth in this race last year as the 4-1 third choice, and while not as highly regarded this year, could definitely surprise.<\/P>

9) Make Me Forget (8-1)<\/B> (miltinho)<\/I> Consistent 4yo has never been worse than fourth in his nineteen race career. That’s something. Front runner will have company up there near the lead and he’s never proven to be especially adept at passing horses, but he’s always right there and even with the step up in class has to be respected here. Deserves to be fourth choice and if the other speed sits back a little bit, he might get clear and prove hard to catch.<\/P>

10) Demons Be Driven (11-1)<\/B> (soulbleed)<\/I> Stretch runner has never run 16f or handled graded company, but he’s got some things going for him. He’s a multiple winner at 14f, he’s lightly raced and still could be improving, and he should get plenty of speed to run at today. Didn’t show much in his only graded attempt two back going 11f, but it looks like he might really like the 16f distance and if jockey D. Coulthard can get him to settle behind what might be a speed duel he could make an impact late.<\/P>

11) Enough Already (12-1)<\/B> (win)<\/I> Stretch running veteran has proven he can handle stakes company, has proven he likes the distance and has a couple decent runs over tracks rated good (we won’t talk about his effort over a yielding surface). The only thing that would bother a handicapper is his horrible race last out. However, he comes right back on 4 weeks rest and has the look of a live longshot.<\/P>

12) Kris Noia (12-1)<\/B> (noia)<\/I> Three year old tries his elders in his second grass try. He may like the distance (his longest two races have been 12 and 13f and haven’t been bad), but his one grass race was very, very bad. Odds seem pretty low for a horse that is stretching out 3f on a surface he most likely doesn’t like. Would need to improve to make an impact.<\/P>

It looks like a tough, competitive field. Good luck to all runners.<\/P><\/FONT><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Favored A Rub of Irish faces 11 opponents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":241,"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-822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822","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\/241"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}