One of the oldest races in our venerable game, the Grade I Breeders Bowl Game<\/SPAN><\/I>, at one mile on the grass for turf distaffers, would ordinarily be worthy of featured-race status.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>On New Yorker Day, however, it\u2019s race number nine on a star-studded card.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The first-ever winner of the BB Game<\/SPAN><\/I>, Kid Baby, hit pay dirt way back in Week #327, going wire to wire to take the then-listed event by two lengths.\u00a0 <\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P> The race hit it big in 2001, when it was won by the prodigious Seriously Double, who won the then-Grade III event as the 7\/2 favorite in speedy time.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>A true warhorse, Seriously Double won 26 of 74 career starts, amassed nearly $5 million in earnings, and won over $1 million on each surface.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The local favorite won six graded stakes races here in New York during an illustrious career!<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P> Other greats to win the BB Game<\/SPAN><\/I> include Bella Figura, a winner of $2.5 million lifetime who took the 2005 renewal by a nose with a furious late kick, $2 million winner Back in Your Arms (2006), and 2008 victor Torch the Flame, who had finished third the year before in the G1 Breeders Bowl Mile <\/SPAN><\/I>against males.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P> It was on the backs of those strong mares \u2013 and a $400,000 purse \u2013 that this race was carried to Grade I status in 2009.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Par for this event as a Grade I is 108.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P> \u00a0<\/SPAN>A field of only six goes to the post in a field lacking much Grade I class.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P> #1<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/B> Xmas Cry 4-1<\/SPAN><\/B> (Street Cry) is a win machine \u2013 7-for-12 on the grass, and 9-for-16 lifetime \u2013 but she\u2019s never won a graded stakes race.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The four year-old ran well in the G3 Board Game Distaff<\/SPAN><\/I> in Texas last month, finishing second with a 109 SP, though that was a very weak renewal to say the least\u2026 a seven-horse field with not a single graded victory between them.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Now she dips her toe into Grade I waters, and does it at a distance at which she\u2019s never beaten older rivals.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>She has a couple speed figures that would compete here (110 SP in a listed stakes win at 1 1\/16m, for instance), but she\u2019s really in a whole new world against these.<\/P> #2 Twice As Long 3\/2<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/B>, another daughter of Kingmambo, has 15 turf wins but just $688k to show for them.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>She blew away a G3 field in the Sergio Garcia<\/SPAN><\/I> in Italy last October \u2013 her only graded win \u2013 and comes into this race off two up-close finishes in G3 company at a mile.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>A closer who likes to pounce from mid-flight, this mare seems to have a preference for 1 1\/16 miles, the distance at which she has run four of her six 110+ speed figures.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>While only a Grade III winner, she does seem fast enough to pull this off\u2026 but does she get enough pace today?<\/P> #3 Madcap Bandita 6-1<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/B> (Awesome Again) came from dead last to finish second in the G3 Gallery Handicap <\/SPAN><\/I>on Middle Jewel Day in Maryland going 1 1\/16m, and was second behind Twice as Long in the Sergio Garcia<\/SPAN><\/I> in October.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Those races and others are part of this six year-old mare\u2019s ten-race losing streak, and while she\u2019s put in some decent performances during that stretch (three graded placings, including a SP of 112), she\u2019s got a bit of seconditis and now goes up in class.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>That\u2019s not a great combination.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Was fourth here last year in the 2010 BB Game<\/SPAN><\/I> at nearly 16-1, beating three millionairesses in the process, and she certainly has some back class, having won two Grade II events on turf at 7.5 and 8.5 furlongs.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>But she\u2019s not been picking her feet up fast enough of late and she may just be along for minor awards.\u00a0 <\/SPAN><\/P> #4 Mambo de Calle 4-1<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/B> has won nine races from 19 turf tries lifetime but hasn\u2019t landed in the winners\u2019 circle since a blistering performance in the G1 The Last Woman<\/SPAN><\/I> at this distance last October in Eastern Kentucky.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>This five year-old Kingmambo mare knows of only one way to go \u2013 on the front end \u2013 and has the look of controlling speed, as I don\u2019t think the likes of Tracking Number will be fast enough early to go with her.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>While a lot of her tries have been going longer \u2013 she\u2019s twice graded placed at 1 1\/8 miles, and has three wins at a mile and a quarter or longer, including a listed stakes win at 1 7\/16m \u2013 the mile appears to be her best distance right now, having run speed figures of 111 in a G1 score and 108 in finishing 4th<\/SUP> in Pennsylvania on Christmas Day.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>She\u2019s coming out of a so-so second in listed company at 1 1\/4m.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Luring young gun star jockey R. Whisper (25% wins) certainly doesn\u2019t hurt.<\/P> #5 Key to the Town 7\/2 <\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/B>(Medaglia D\u2019oro) has only ventured as far as a mile three times.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The results have been impressive \u2013 she annexed a listed event in South Africa in January and followed it up with a win in the G3 Park Place Express <\/SPAN><\/I>in Ireland in March.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>After a weak beginning to her career on dirt, this four year-old has found a new lease on life on the lawn, where she has won six races in 11 months.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Has the early speed to stalk, and while that seems to be her preferred style, she can beat good horses from far back as well.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Versatile types like these are tough to discount, but she\u2019s gone off form quite a bit since that win in Ireland.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The grass tends to be softer overseas, and this filly who loved yielding turf the two times she caught it may like it that way\u2026 the U.S.-based efforts have been less impressive, if you discount a couple of efforts in North Carolina and Georgia, which I believe run their races in tobacco and peanut fields, respectively\u2026 tough to figure.<\/P> #6 Tracking Number 9-1<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/B> has never failed to hit the board in eight turf tries (5-1-2), and it\u2019s no wonder that this four year-old Rahy filly took to the grass better than to the dirt.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>She blew through her allowance conditions from December to April, and then powered to victory in her stakes debut a month ago in Illinois, covering 1 1\/4 miles in a swift 2:01 and 1\/5.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>While she has been on the lead in some of those races, she seems to prefer to sit back a bit and close.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>May be first over to attack the likely pacesetter, Mambo de Calle.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Fillies on the way up like this are attractive propositions, but a jump from one listed stakes race at an unrelated distance to Grade I company is very ambitious.<\/P> I\u2019m going to tab Mambo de Calle<\/SPAN><\/B> to take this race.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>She is a Grade I winner (at the distance, no less) in a field that has major class concerns.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>She is probably also the controlling speed in a short field that has no other confirmed front runners.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>If you look past the try last time at 10 furlongs \u2013 not an optimal distance \u2013 she comes into this race in solid form.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>And I liked her last effort \u2013 she tried so hard, opened a lead, and was just caught at the end.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Front-running efforts that sharpen speed tend to help horses down the line, especially on the turnback.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>All systems are \u2018go.\u2019\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Key to the Town\u2019s <\/SPAN><\/B>conversion to this distance has borne fruit thus far, and I think her tactical speed gives her an advantage over some of the others.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>May be a distance specialist in the making.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Twice As Long <\/SPAN><\/B>will be rolling late but I don\u2019t think she can get her motor started fast enough to get up at the one mile distance.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>She would be the choice if the race were, ahem, twice as long.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Holds Class, Pace Edge in G1 BB Game at One Mile<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":310,"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-9326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9326","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\/310"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9326\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}