The Gun Runner
1 Mile Turf Stake Purse $1,000.00 Open 3 Year Olds.
1st Winned Team 7 Illusions Garcia Mar
I thought this mile would really suit this brilliant son of Decima, but after his game win by the narrowest margin, I was left wondering whether he may just need a little further. Traveling easily from his ace draw he flipped out off the rail and looked like he was going to cruise to victory, but rather than kicking away he had to dig very deep to keep his nose in front. I don’t want to diminish the huge effort of his rivals but his win just left me wondering whether given some extra ground he may have found his turn of foot more easily. It is a question that will be bugging the owner too as the BC approaches, but whichever race he goes for it is clear that he will be a force to be reckoned with.
2nd Crickets Martyparty Gutierrez Mario
Proved himself today to be a turf horse that everyone needs to be wary of as he continued his excellent turf record of three wins and three seconds on the surface. When he took up the running just past halfway, I thought it was only a matter of time before the horses queuing up behind him would leave him for dead, but he fought on like a tiger and very nearly pulled off the win. He may be a bit forgotten behind all the great horses from the bigger yards but there are very few better than him on the turf and just maybe he is improving quicker than some.
3rd Prickly Mb Stables Buick W T
There was some criticism of Buick as he took over the reins from Moore and became the jockey of choice for the big names, but I think that was more tactics than anything else as he seems to have indeed become the big race jockey of choice with a win rate approaching 30%. He seems to favor closing and came from mid pack on this son of Tactical who ran a career best race today. His turf record is building nicely after a couple of runs on the dirt in the big State bred races and after taking a while to find the top level, he certainly looks like he has arrived now.
4th Feared Team 7 Illusions Davis D
Credit to the trainer here as they switched tactics with the gaming button and turned this on pacer into a closer today. In truth the journey may have looked different, but the result was probably the same as he ran into fourth a length behind his stable mate. A good effort by a horse that ran just ten days ago proving once again that there are things we do in this game that are not born from evidence but rather habit and if there was an advert for a horse being able to run his best race on a short back up this was certainly it.
Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded