{"id":8240,"date":"2010-07-15T23:14:51","date_gmt":"2010-07-15T23:14:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blacktypebugler.com\/?p=8240"},"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=8240","title":{"rendered":"Trainers Overlook Midsoil Stakes"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s once again time for the annual running of the Midsoil Stakes race in Spain<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>A lot of mystery surrounds this race.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>First, this is the 11th<\/SUP> running of the 6 furlong dirt race open to all 2-year olds.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Now, last year, the race was upgraded to a Grade 2 race from the Grade 3 level.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Now you\u2019d expect that the purse would go up, but the exact opposite happened as it was reduced to $100k from $150k.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>A true sign of the economic situation in Spain<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>, I presume.<\/P>

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Now it is mysterious that this year\u2019s event has attracted only 6 contenders, a record for the smallest field to compete in the event.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Last years race drew a slightly larger field.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The race will be run in the slop, as was last years.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Maybe the track condition deterred owners from entering?\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The race has been run in speeds over 90 twice in the mid 2000\u2019s.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>It seems unlikely that this will occur this year, considering the rain in Spain<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>.<\/P>

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Anyway, despite the record small field, only one runner has experience on a wet track.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>\u00a0<\/SPAN>Additionally, all but one horse is traveling from the states to Spain<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> for this race, which could have an impact on these juveniles.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Let\u2019s see if we can find a winner in this group!<\/P>

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1. Aspen\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN>3-1<\/SPAN><\/P>

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Aspen<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> has a little Seattle Slew in his bloodline and comes off his maiden win at 6f with a speed of 69.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>That race happened to be his first on the dirt and has potential for the future.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Others in this race have a little more experience and look to capable of besting Aspen<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> in this race.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Give him some time and he may prove to be a worthy foe, but I don\u2019t think its his time\u2026at least not yet.<\/P>

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2.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Hotrod Andy\u00a0 <\/SPAN>5-2<\/SPAN><\/P>

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Hotrod Andy showed a nice boost in speed recording an 84 in his first non-grade race the Abstract Juvenile (6.5f).\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He showed nice late speed to finish second, just short by \u00bd a length.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He gets jockey M. Zeus (33% win) to sit in the saddle for the journey.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Of all the jockeys in this race, Zeus is the only one to have won the Midsoil Stakes in the past, which he\u2019s achieved twice.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Looks like a nice pairing.<\/P>

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3.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Spanish Fire\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN>5-2<\/SPAN><\/P>

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Thought this was kind of ironic.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Spanish Fire is racing in Spain<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> this weekend.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Does it mean anything or is it just coincidence?\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Not sure, but Spanish has won his last two races and has a record of 2-1-0 in his 3 career starts.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He easily won an allowance race running 6 furlongs in his last start as the even money favorite, cruising to the wire with a speed of 78.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>I think the speed could have been hire if he had been pressured, so there is some promise in this one.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>All of his races have been in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:State> and he tries a different track for the first time.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>As a side note, his first career start was on a good track where he finished 2nd<\/SUP> with a speed of 71.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Just for the record, the winner of that race went off at 131-1 which shows any horse can win.<\/P>

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4.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Well Sensed\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN>7-2<\/SPAN><\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>

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Well Sensed put in a great effort when breaking his maiden at 7.5 furlongs.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He rallied in the second half of the race to draw off to a win by a stride at 11-1and bumping his speed up to 82 from 67 in the prior race.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>I\u2019m probably wrong, but my gut feels that this horse maybe a good one for longer distance races.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He drops in distance for this race and I think he may need the extra space to catch the field.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The drop in distance won\u2019t help in this case, but then again, my gut feeling could be wrong.<\/P>

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5.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Two Breeze\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN>8-1<\/SPAN><\/P>

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This is the only horse that currently resides in Europe and doesn\u2019t have much distance to travel (just shipping in from France<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>).\u00a0 <\/SPAN>This may be Two Breeze\u2019s ace in the hole.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN>This front runner has won 2 of 3 races, all below 6f in distance.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He\u2019ll need to make his speed last, which I think he can do.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>But all of his races have been on the turf.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Leads to the question of how he\u2019ll handle the dirt.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>That unknown is risky, thus his 8-1 odds can reward those gamblers out there willing to take on this risk.<\/P>

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6.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Fashion Pole\u00a0 <\/SPAN>5-1<\/SPAN><\/P>

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Fashion Pole is a slow starter who can close strong in the last quarter of the race.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He\u2019s got a win and a 2nd<\/SUP> in his two starts with speeds in the mid-70\u2019s for both races. \u00a0\u00a0<\/SPAN>Fashion will need to get his speeds up above 80, possibly mid 80\u2019s to win this race and I\u2019m not convinced that he\u2019ll pull it off.<\/P>

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A lot of \u201cwhat if\u2019s\u201d can be read into this race.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Anyone can take it depending on these 2-year old\u2019s readiness, ability to travel, as well as liking the sloppy track.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>So who do I go with?\u00a0 <\/SPAN>I\u2019m picking Hotrod Andy as my top choice.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>If his last race is real, and it looks that way, he could run away with this one.<\/P>

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I\u2019ll take the risk and use Two Breeze as my second selection.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He\u2019s the local runner of the field and may show he likes the sloppy dirt track.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Rounding out my picks, the third slot goes to Well Sensed who will be closing hard.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He may not get to the wire first, but he should be able to pass by enough horses late to pick up some purse bucks!<\/P>

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\u00a0<\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Has Sloppy Track Turned Away Horses?<\/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-8240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8240","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=8240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8240\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}