EXIT PLAY returns for Friday, Saturday and Sunday...
The EXIT PLAY will be bundled with the KHSS for the low price of $2.50 per track. So you get both the EXIT Play and you get a contenders’ list for the entire card, for just $2.50… Seems pretty fair to me…
3 year olds from last Saturday
Last Saturday’s 3 year olds races at Tampa and at Santa Anita did little to clarify anything, it just added new contenders to consider. First we have the more classically managed Java’s War and then we have the lightly raced Hear The Ghost, both are managed by capable horsemen in Ken McPeek and Jerry Hollendorfer. McPeek is especially gifted at long distant racing and has enjoyed great success at extended distanced, while Jerry Hollendorfer has been successful in the extreme at just about eveyrthing in the game of horse racing — except the Triple Crown races, to my way of thinking, it won’t be long for Mr. Hollendorfer. These two colts both ran decent races with HEar The Ghost running the bigger effort, but in the case of Java’s War – he was coming off the shelf and this was just a first effort and a very decent one at that… I had Hear The Ghost running a 75.8 and Java’s War running a 73.0 on my Jerry J’s Premium Speed Figures (neither of these is getting any additional upward adjustment for trip). So that about 6 lengths difference in favor of Hear The Ghost, but it’s only one race and as I said before, Java’s War needed that effort and should be ready to start moving forward at this time… You just have to love both of their running styles for the KD… (Also, keep in mind that Java’s War is probably not loving the running surface at Tampa Bay Downs)!
Verrazano ran a 74.0 which was very nice and easy for him, he did go a little overland while contending the pace, so the trip would adjust that number up to 75.0 which is a really nice lung opener for him, in his next race he should put in an effort at least as 78.5 which is in line with his 77.0 on February 2nd. Now, Flashback is a little more difficult, he ran a hard race against a very fast early race, plus he double moved in the opening quarter plus a few other negatives, his pace number is simply off the charts which should serve him well, after his previous effort in a pace-less race. So he finally got to race hard, this should propel him forward – I can’t help but feel his form is very similiar to Bodemesiter who ran two terrific races in last years Triple Crown. So these 4 top horses are all on the forward going road (as far as I’, concerned) right now… This crop while really really good is also a crop of young colts that are being handled completely differently. More to follow…