(Special thanks to Kloie, Silverny, Taffy, and Desperado for their team coverage of this race)
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Get ready for a full day of exciting racing here in British Columbia for the 2010 Equinics. � The first race on the card is Canada�s Northern Dancer Romp. �19 fillies line up to race the 9 furlongs on the turf for their share of the $1,000,000 prize money. �This will be their first or second races as 3 year olds and they can be very unpredictable at this stage of their career. �And for many this will be their first try at 9 furlongs. �It will be difficult to pick a winner, but let�s look at the field and see how the race is shaping up. �
Drawing the rail is Elite Ellen representing Northwest Racing Circuit trained atEliteracng. � This is her 8th career start and she has never finished out of the money. �She placed in two G2 races and last out finished second in the Broadside Stakes with a speed of 92. �In her two career wins she ran towards the front, only a length or two back, but recently she has been getting further back and she just hasn�t been able to catch the leaders. �Perhaps with extra distance will give her the ground she needs to win. �
The Universal Racing Club sends the favorite today with Chef Pepin trained by Cbrady. � This daughter of Haradasun has won 4 times in her career, including 2 stakes wins and an allowance win with a blazing speed of 96 last out. �She has tried graded three times, coming close in all of them. �She put up her career high speed of 98 in her third place finish at the G1-Breeders� Bowl Filly Juvy Turf. �The two fillies that beat her there are racing in The Citizen Mile, the next race on the card. �Her last race was at 9.5, so we know this number 2 ranked filly can handle the distance. ���I would be surprised to see her put up a triple digit speed figure and a win here would put her in the million dollar club. �She is definitely a threat. �
Leaving from post three is the Blazing Saddles representative, Grey Goose Gimlet, hailing from Skunkfeed2 of the Skunkbarn empire. The Japanese bred filly is the only graded winner for her sire, scoring a victory at a flat mile two back in the Silver Spoon Juvenile (G2). She followed that victory with a solid 4th place finish in the Dancing Blade (G1). The distance should not be a problem for the brown filly, as her sire, Tanno Gimlet, won the 12f Tokyo Derby and her dam sire is the immortal Danehill. Sidney Frank would be proud of this filly�s name, so bottoms up as she looks to do her best work when she can get to the front. Top Vermont jockey W McClendon should give the Blazing Saddles lassie a decent shot in this field.
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Another Japanese-bred leaves from post four, as the grey daughter of Admire Cozzene, Admire The King will try for the upset for trainer Teamatc2 of the Alpine Turf Club. The scratch bred filly only has one victory outside of maidens to her credit, but that was a super impressive allowance romp at 9.5f, which demonstrates that she will face no difficulty with the distance. Her three time Japanese champion sire actually did most of his damage in sprints and at a mile so the allowancescore was doubly important for her chances. In that allowance victory she defeateda nice graded placed filly in Grand Indy, so despite her lack of experience ingraded company, she is one who is a great value at 31/1 odds.
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The GR Simsters representative is the heavily Northern Dancer influenced filly Nystagmu, trained by Afc�s Malekfarms. She comes from a strong pedigree, as her motherand both her siblings were graded winners. Her pedigree certainly demonstratesthat she should relish the distance, as does a hard charging 3rd in her lastrace, an allowance at 9.5f. She only has one race versus top class company, whereshe struggled versus Grey Goose Gimlet in the Silver Spoon Juvenile, but thateffort could be chalked up to dropping far back at the start of the race, plusa bounce off of a career high. H McCoy gets the nod for the stable mate of topfilly Echo Pass and probably needs to drop to mid pack early but not too farback in order to make her best run. The filly named for involuntary eye movementhas the speed figures and pedigree to be a possibility medal contender as theGR Simsters look to take back the Equinics crown.
The Benelux representative is the Karlc trained My Ex Boyfriends. This three year old filly is by A.P. Indy out of the sim mare Killer Eyes. Killer Eyes is a first time mom and her first foal looks to be a nice one. � She has never faced stakes company but has some impressive allowance runs. Her last start was longer than this race will be but it is by far the most impressive. She took on the boys going 9 furlongs and finished second and closing. She not only jumped in speed but took the jump up with grace. She likes the longerdistance and I would bet she has a good shot here. �
From Hong Kong Racing Club comes our horse in the 7 post, Baswain. This filly was trained by Stormrun and is homebred by Swain out of an Anabaa by Riverman mare. This mare broke her maiden last start out which was her only sprint attempt. Posted a 78 speed and finished closing a full length in front. She is improving and looks to be ready to put in a game run. She has raced mainly at a mile and has been third every time she will like the added ground.
The Ireland entry is the Eirann3 trained Thrill of Ruler. This filly is by Dylan Thomas out of an Alydar by Bold Ruler mare. � Bred to be a great runner this filly has shown she has potential in her two starts. She won her first race with ease and posting an 88 speed then made her first stakes attempt going a mile. Her speed jumped to 97 and she closed to a blinding fast 2 nd posting a 97 speed. If she is on her game this added distance will be right up her alley and she will be hard to beat. Not much else to say her onlynegative is she has is inexperience races but it has not stopped her yet.
Going to the post for the OHIO residency is Estreet�s NoMore Farting, a lightly raced chestnut filly by Brahms. NoMore Farting comes into this race off of an easy win in Northern California.She prefers to press the pace, so be looking for her to be in the top half ofthe field after the break. Being lightly raced she hasn�t really been testedyet, and has never been off the board when running on the grass. At ��45-1she could be a dark horse to watch out for.
Breaking from the ten hole is DEL PENN�s entrant ReedRoad, who is owned and trained by Worldwide.The bay Henrythenavigator is a grade 1 winner going ten furlongs, which is afurlong longer than today�s race. Reed loves to go to the lead, she�s the type of horse who is going to love the longer races as she can rate out herspeed to go wire to wire. Reed Road has never finished worse than second in her short career. �She is the number one ranked filly in turf routes, and willbe a force to be reckoned with. At 8/1 don�t let her get too far ahead,you may not catch her.
Leading the charge for the GREAT PLAINS RESIDENCY is Dansili�sSting who is owned and trained by Gofightwin. Thebay Dansili filly comes into this race in fine form, with four wins in a row, hoping to make it five in a row today. �Yet another filly who likes to beon the lead or close to it, she could throw Reed Road off her game. Stretching out a half a furlong today, the distance shouldn�t be a problem. At 10/1as long as she avoids a speed duel she could be there at the end.
Our host residency Vermont sends Rattling Bones, a daughter of Sakhee�s Secret out of D rated game dam Sign Here. �This is her 7 career start and she has shown improvement with each race. �Last out she wired the field in an open allowance with her career high speed of 92. Her first graded try was the G1-The Juvenile Filly in December where she didn�t get a good start and wasn�t able to make up any ground. Besides the graded try and one start on an off track she has won every other race, Foxon7's filly has never been further back than second. Shedefinitely likes the lead and will need a great start out of the gates here. �
TM Robert O is out of post position 13 and represents EAAA Racing . �This scratch bred daughter of T.M Opera O is making just her 4th career start here. �She broke her maiden second try and then won in her first try against winners at today�s distance. �She wired the field in both times. �Like many in the field this is a huge jump in class for her. �She is also coming into the race off only 3 weeks rest, so that could be a factor for her here. �With a win here TM Robert O would be the first graded winner for T.M. Opera O, butI have to agree with the oddsmakers, she is a long shot.�
Capricorn starts the unusually-named U Stink for the Queensland residency. The Indian Lodge filly is still nw2l eligible having just earned her initial win two starts back. There is reason to believe the filly doesnt live up to her name however. Both mile starts results in lifetime high SPs, and in allowance company last out she lost by a mere nose. She has every appearance of relishing whatever extra ground she can find, and despite modest beginnings looks to prove a very useful racehorse.
Faldo, running for Comedy Central, enters with an enviable 100% win rate at 9f. Cmd3's Falbrav filly picked up that win (her third lifetime) in a local-bred allowance. Aside from that very easy win, Faldo has proven she's a capable runner in open company as well. She placed fourth in a G3 two back, and accumulated more than $90k in 10 turf starts. There is zero doubt she enjoys a decent route, but the big question is whether 9f will provide Faldo enough ground to adequately show off her closing kick.
East-West Connection fields an intriguing runner in The Number One Act. The Johannesburg filly has been posting successively higher speed figures with added distance. Superman99's entrant hasn't won since November, and that was a nw1x event, but she ran adequately in a stakes Thanksgiving weekend. This is a huge class jump, but there is much upside for the Act. Too bad she doesn't have longer races available yet.
Stormy Trebre carries the hopes and dreams of Minnesota Downs. The Stormy Atlantic filly has one win from seven starts, but has only finished off the board once, and on grass has vastly improved speed figures. Most recently she ran a 90 at 9f, but still fell short by nearly 3 lengths. She should run much better with classier competition than she has faced in the past. A board finish would not surprise. Itsalock has a solid chance for an outstanding performance from his filly in this race.
Bichitos' Deep Impact filly Bichita Gramera has an enviable record of four wins and two seconds from a mere seven starts, and that lone race outside the top two was a capable fourth in graded company in the rain. After two consecutive wins, Gramera looks in excellent shape, and if that 98SP she earned last out is a realistic one, she's very likely to continue her top-2 ways here. A very nice filly with an excellent racing future.
The final entrant is Strike The Girl. Monte's Strike The Gold filly runs under the MIDAS banner and has a very interesting race history. She was sold at auction last summer after four lackluster dirt efforts, Her new connections promptly tried turf and reeled off for board finishes including a maiden win last out. She's been inconsistent in speed figures, and if the limited pattern holds this will be an inconsistently poor performance by the numbers. However, stranger things have happened than Strike The Girl winning a G1 immediately after breaking her maiden.
Good luck to all the runners.
