Hello All! Welcome Calder. For Saturday, April 6th a very large list of entries for Slew. This type of list take some time to digest and needs to be attended to carefully. Here are the tracks and races:
Aqueduct - 1,2,3,5,7,9,10,12
Santa Anita - 1,4,6,7,8,9,10,11
Tampa - 1,3,7,8,9,10,11,12
Keeneland - 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
Pimlico - 5,7,9
Calder - 3,4,6,11
Parx - 4,8
First, a note to you newbies to Slew. You can get over to the site by using the address at the bottom of this message. Download my race day file.
OK. Done.
It's a big day of racing. Notice that instead of the usual one or two races at Aqueduct, all of a sudden we have eight. Also notice that the Wood is not represented. No horse in that race makes the list. Orb's Florida Derby would not make it either. Not sure what that means, except to say that a deaf ear to the hype this time of year is the best policy.
But we have three more Key Horses running. They are:
CURRENT KEY HORSES
Inaugurate - TAM ( 9) GP 01/13/13 # 8
Tanzspiel (IRE) - KEE ( 6) GP 12/14/12 # 5
Kitten's Point - KEE ( 9) GP 02/02/13 # 1
Inaugurate entered the Slew Key Horse clique off her 1/13 allowance start when she nipped Nayarra at the wire to lead a blanket finish in 1:34.65 for the mile journey. Her next run was on 2/24 when she checked in 3rd in an AlwOC at Gulfstream Park. But she was 3rd only by a nose and a neck, with the trackman's comment being "willingly between foes". That race received a '3' rating on the FHF scale. Not super fast, but the last 3 splits were the 3 fast splits so they were cooking at the end. Those races were in open company. Today's race at Tampa, the Distaff Turf Stakes, is restricted to Florida Breds. She has traveled up the class ladder since her Maiden Claiming win at GP on 12/3/2012 with 8 in-the-money finishes out of 9 races. Jose Lezcano sticks and she should acquit herself well in this company.
Tanzspeil ran behind Dancing for Glory and Manuka Honey on 12/14/2012. Here are my notes on the race:Race number 5 on 12/14/2012 was a MSW for two year old fillies at a mile on the firm turf. And while the first two finishers, Dancing For Glory and Manuka Honey duked it out in deep stretch, first time starter Tanzspiel ridden by John Valesquez and trained by Roger Attfield ran a professional debut. More to the point, she did her best running in the two fastest splits of the race which were run in 11.86 and 11.57 as the two final timings. This is pretty fast, folks. Now, you can’t have one of these write-ups without looking at at least one maiden special. That is where the future gold is hiding. And both the winner and runner up ran very well and showed heart down the stretch. But Tanzspiel will look a bit distant in the charts next time out while still running as a maiden. If the common wisdom gives you 3-1 or better, a long look is in order.So Manuka Honey broke her maiden on 2/17 at Gulfstream Park in an unremarkable 7 panels, then won at 1 mile & 40 yards at Tampa in 1:41.75. She is entered in Grade II Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn Park on 4/10. Dancing for Glory ran 2nd in an Optional Claiming at Gulfstream on 1/9, then ran poorly at the same level on 3/3 as the odds-on favorite.
OK, so what about Tanzspeil?
She ran back on 1/27 at Gulfstream and was unhurried early with some late gain while finishing a distant 4th in a spread out field. BUT: the winner of that race was Tokyo Time who ran next in the Herecomesthebride Grade III and finished just a short neck to Kittens Point, our final Key Horse. Rodger Attfield has given the youngster a bit of time to regroup with the latest works looking sharp. This is not a crack field, but at 7/2 on the ML she may take a bit of cash. However, I might take a shot if the price holds or stays close. One possible fly in the ointment would be if the AE Praia (McPeek/Leparoux) gets in. Even then, it would be that one's first turf try and the Distorted Humor filly could be the favorite. Exacta time? Check the payoff.
Kittens Point. ML is 5-1. Nice price for a nice horse on a roll. Prado stays, 3rd off the layoff, nice work coming in, not a stellar field, with the ML fav at 4-1. In fact, Tuttipaesi (Ire) beat Wave Theory, one of my Saratoga horses, by 2 lengths in the Ginger Brew with the latter being 10-1 on today's ML. AND, Kitten's Dumpling's beat Wave Theory by a neck in the Florida Oaks Grade III and is 15-1 on the ML.
No, I'm not making this up. That is the kind of race this is. I have said it before...your mama told you too: it's a tangled web...the company you keep.
I would stick with my Key Horse here and work the remaining crowd underneath.
The bad news is that I'll miss it all as work is unavoidable. But you, you lucky dog, you won't. So as always...
good luck and good 'capping!
Slew - https://www.SlewsFastHorses.com