Author Archives
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Weight Won’t Keep The Grandmaster Down in Shakertown
In 2017, the Shakertown moved from being for four year olds and upward to allowing three year olds to also take part. Since that change, only once has a three year old not ended up as a winner, as they get an eight point weight allowance. That’s significant in any form of racing, but especially in our virtual world, so it was hard to get excited about the chances of the four older horses in the field.
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Smokey Stover Looks to Continue Great KYO Prep Season in SA Oaks
This weekend represents the last chance to qualify a horse into the KYO next month. With three 100-point races going on Friday and Saturday, and then a 10-point race on Sunday, there is still plenty of room for movement on the KYO leaderboard, and for new entries to crack the top fourteen.
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Purse Doubles for Appalachian This Year
For the first time in its history, the Appalachian will see a $400.000 purse. Not too shabby for a race that debuted in 2004 as an ungraded stake and a $100.000 purse. For the last four years, it ran for $200.000, but now that amount has doubled.
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Big Weight Disparity Is the Story Of Shakertown
The Shakertown first appeared in the game in 2004, but a major change was made to the race in 2017 that has played a significant impact. Prior to that year, the race was for four year olds and upward only, but in 2017, they allowed three year olds to take part.
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Into The Darkness Thwarts Maggie Greene In The Orchid
In The Orchid, Maggie Greene had the opportunity to win the stake for four consecutive years. If it has been done before, it is something that only has been done very rarely. This year’s Orchid would be a little different, with the added furlong to the race, but there would also be the element of rain.
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Big Stretch Run Wins The Fantasy For The Intouchables
There would be no issues with rain at OP, and our field of seven were set to battle not only for the nice purse, but for the 100 KYO points that were available to the winner. That winner would be a filly named The Intouchables that nearly raced last week in the FG Oaks, but trainer Smokey Stover would opt to scratch the horse and run for the bigger purse here.
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State Star Handles The Slop Like A Pro In GP Oaks
State Star was making her graded debut in the GP Oaks, and it was also the first time that she was running more than seven furlongs in her career. Recent works suggested she’d be fine with the distance and could handle this crowd. One thing that was not a first for her was running on a sloppy track.
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Maggie Greene Looks for Historic Fourth Straight Orchid Win
We could see history here in The Orchid. Unfortunately, there is not a convenient place to look at the stake history of everything that is run within the game, but in all of my years in writing for the SRF, I don’t think this has ever happened. We have the chance to witness the same horse win the same stake for four consecutive years.
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Top Threats in GP Oaks Seem to Start from Outer Half of the Gate
There are many big races this weekend, and one of them is a race that we would probably call the Mb Oaks, as that trainer as simply dominated the GP Oaks recently, winning the race in four of the last five years.
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Eight Look to Make Winning The Fantasy a Reality
There was plenty of reason for trainers to choose The Fantasy if they wanted to run in a KYO prep this weekend, as the $600.000 purse shares the distinction with the Ashland as being the races that offer the most to be awarded out. As if that was not enough, it also has 100 KYO points on the table for its winner.
