SLEW'S FAST HORSES FOR MON. 05/27

Belmont - 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11
Monmouth - 2,6,7,8,9,10,11
Hollywood - 1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10
Churchill - 2,3,5,8,11
Pimlico - 9
Arlington - 5,7
Parx - 9

Once again our Key Horse for the day, Upgrade ran a good race and came in third behind the other two horses I pointed out in yesterdays post: Something Extra and Riding The River. The trifecta paid a very nice $116 with the $4.20 favorite leading the way.

We have another Key Horse running on Monday as well:

Inaugurate - MP ( 8) GP 01/13/13 # 8

Now this is a nice well bred, lightly raced 5 year old mare by Empire Maker out of the Kingmambo mare Top Mambo, who is trained by Chad Brown and ridden by Paco Lopez. Since breaking her maiden in a 35K claimer at Gulfstream Park for Tom Proctor, she has compiled a 4-4-1 in the money record from 11 starts. Chad Brown claimed her back in February of 2012 at Gulfstream Park, then ran her back for 35K at Saratoga, got the win and also got to keep her. Since then, she has never been off the board in 6 starts, 5 in allowance company and her last, a 2nd in the Distaff Turf Stakes at Tampa on 4/6 getting beat a short head by the multiple graded stakes vet Hooh Why.

While that was not the strongest of stakes fields, that is exactly the point. Inaugurate, while very nicely bred is not a Grade I runner, and Mr. Brown's job is to find suitable fields in which she can be competitive. This OC N2x for 32K at Monmouth Park is just such an event. A quick look at the PP's and one is struck at the fashion of winning and losing over the last 7 races. Hd, Nk, Nk, Hd, Hd, 3/4, 3/4. Now, for those of you who are new to this game, that is secret code for not a heck of a lot of room between the winner and the not winner. Oh yeah...one of those Hd's and one of those Nk's were wins. I guess she subscribes to the aphorism "keep your friends close...and your enemies closer!"

Lopez rides her for the second time, taking over for Lezcano and takes a 5/2 ML into this contest and hopefully he can figure out how to get some daylight between her and the place horse. It bears noting that Mr. Brown, of the "I win at 26% club" has a second runner in this event, Scenario Analysis who will take up the very next stall in the starting gate and will be ridden by Angel Serpa. These two might very well make up the exacta, but if I had to throw a third runner into the mix, it has to be Clement's Composition, a 4 year old Malibu Moon filly who came with a gaudy price tag. A weak allowance win last time puts the question mark on her quality, but she has done some running at Monmouth Park, and once again, here she is.

Our last two Key Horses both checked in at the show spot. I'm looking for this one to take this field, with the only fly in the ointment being the price.

Have a great Memorial Day...and thank a vet!

Enjoy the holiday racing...good luck and good 'capping!