On the banks of the River Seine<\/I>, somewhere in the north of France<\/I>, is a city steeped in tradition, oozing fashion and bulging with romance and culinary delights, that city is Paris<\/I><\/B> and this weekend that city plays host to Graded racing. One of the more anticipated events of the weekend is The Gladiator Grade III<\/I><\/B>, a test over the gruelling distance of two miles on the lush French turf for all horses four years old and up. Sadly, the race hasn\u2019t attracted a big field but it may have attracted enough for a great contest, let\u2019s see how they look on paper. 1 – LEMON BELLS(KY) \u2013 pobox2912<\/I> \u2013 7\/2<\/SPAN><\/STRONG> (LEMON DROP KID x RAHY x RED RANSOM) J Cuervo ( 125 – 12 – 10 – 17 – 10% ) A grand old six year old who was amazingly claimed just two starts back for a meagre $5000. At his very next start he was placed in a Grade III race. He has amassed just shy of three hundred thousand dollars ins stakes in his thirty five start career which has included thirteen wins. He has won many longer races and still has a turf long rank of 276. He races best when he leads so look for him to be up there early. Trainer pobox2912<\/I><\/B> said \u201cI still can\u2019t believe I got him for five thousand, he is a genuine graded horse and I hope to win more with him\u201d He is in the market today and has won four of his last eight, a win would not\u00a0 <\/SPAN>surprise. 2 – KIRBY’S BEST YET(KY) \u2013 kingkirby<\/I> \u2013 4\/1<\/SPAN><\/STRONG> (DYNAFORMER x FORTY NINER x KINGMAMBO) J Ledwith ( 592 – 126 – 124 – 98 – 21% ) A regally bred six year old and seasoned two miler who is in the astute care of the Kirby<\/I><\/B> stables and if, as the name suggests, he is Kirby\u2019s best yet he would be a world beater. That said he has won 18 career races from 48 starts and over three million dollars in prize money. He has finished top two or better in his last three starts all over two miles. He is another who races best from the front and will be up there disputing the lead early. Kingkirby<\/I><\/B> said \u201cHe is a grand old campaigner who, on his day, could easily win this, we\u2019ve got him ready, a bit of luck and we\u2019ll go close\u201d A chance and some value at 4\/1. The booking of super hoop J Ledwith<\/I><\/B> is a big plus. 3 – IN THE HUNT CH(IRE) \u2013 chevry<\/I> \u2013 6\/1<\/SPAN><\/STRONG> (ROCK OF GIBRALTAR (IRE) x IRISH RIVER(FR) x CAERLEON) B Wu ( 664 – 185 – 132 – 93 – 28% ) A six year old who has raced very consistently over the two mile journey in recent times. Some seven of his past eight starts have been over two miles and he has only missed a top four spot on two of those occasions. He led for a long way last time out in a Grade II race over this trip before fading terribly at the end to be beaten some twenty eight lengths into fifth. He also like to race on the pace and with so many possible leaders is probably more likely to take a sit behind them and try to overpower them in the stretch. \u00a0<\/SPAN>Does have the added bonus of B Wu<\/I><\/B> on board who is noted for his ability to sum up the speed of a race. Has not won for a while and needs to improve to win here. 4 – K’S ZARAK(IRE) \u2013 pomeya<\/I> \u2013 2\/1<\/SPAN><\/STRONG> (GIANT’S CAUSEWAY (IRE) x A.P. INDY x DANZIG) J Ventura ( 474 – 66 – 81 – 76 – 14% ) A six year old with a terrific winning strike rate who has won seventeen from thirty four starts. He is in great form two winning his last two over shorter trips at allowance level and rand two seconds in the two starts prior to that. He is also yet another runner who likes to lead and will be involved in the speed battle up front. He has produced the 100+ SP#\u2019s in his last three outings and is definitely the form runner of the field, the big question is can he translate it to Graded level and to two miles. Trainer pompeya<\/I><\/B> said \u201cHe is running so well lately we had to give him a crack here\u201d He has come up at reasonably short odds and will be looking to make it three in a row here. 5 – KARMA POLICE(KY) \u2013 redhill1<\/I> \u2013 3\/1<\/SPAN><\/STRONG> (EL PRADO(IRE) x PULPIT x RAHY) P McCartney ( 94 – 11 – 5 – 8 – 12% ) A five year old who had been racing over distanced closer to a mile and a half before last start where he stepped out over two miles. He hit the front on the turn before being run down, finishing second with an SP#94 at allowance level. \u00a0<\/SPAN>His last win was three starts back over thirteen furlongs in an allowance event where he went for home on the turn and hung on running an SP#102. He has not missed the top four in his last four starts but is yet to stamp himself at stakes or graded level. Trainer redhill1<\/I><\/B> said \u201cwe had to give him another chance as he keeps proving himself good enough to get a shot at them, we thin two miles will suit him\u201d. He does have \u201cthe beatle\u201d on board today, P McCartney who is a veteran at this venue and rides winners eight days a week. 6 – CONNECTED(JPN) \u2013 shamran4<\/I> \u2013 5\/1<\/SPAN><\/STRONG> (GERI x TREMPOLINO x BOLD REASONING) J Vale ( 102 – 12 – 12 – 12 – 12% ) A well performed five year old with a 33% win strike rate. He has won four of his last eight outings, all wins have been at allowance level but he also managed a nice second over two miles also at allowance level. He appeared to be running on ok when finishing fifth in a Grade III over this distance three starts back. He was also running home well over two miles at his only other recent run at the distance when finishing fourth in a stakes event. He very rarely misses being in the money and looks to have some improvement in him. Whilst not one of the top contenders he is definitely a top three hope. Trainer shamran4<\/I><\/B> said \u201cI think we have worked out that two miles is his forte and hopefully we can develop him into a top line two mile horse\u201d Maybe this race will be the start of that. I\u2019ve selected 2-4-6-1 <\/I><\/B>in a very even race that will be a battle of tactics among some very good jockeys. Good Luck and Good Punting BUTCHA CAN KIRBY’S BE THE BEST YET?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"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-8448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8448","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\/96"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8448\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}