The Fleet Sprint Handicap – Grade III
OP Race #1 6f Dirt Graded Stake
Purse $500.000 For Four Year Olds And Upward.

This race pretty much typifies how handicaps at HRP have become more about the hack than the horses. It has been a gradual evolution with one or two stables specializing in bringing either fast working lower grade horses or horses that have been great over different trips or on different surfaces to get a low weight and inevitably their one big win but now everyone is catching on and these races really are an entity on their own. There is one horse in this race that probably should be in this race and that is the clear top weight West Coast Party, I hope for once we will see something a bit different but despite being a really good sprinter, I suspect that he will suffer the fate that other top weights have.

Here is how they line up and good luck trying to compare the form because we have a huge mix of horses running for this nice prize.

1 West Coast Party Martyparty Silvera Ru 122 —

As I said, this is probably the best dirt sprinter in the race with the best jockey and a great draw so you would think this race would be at his mercy……..well it is not as clear cut as that. The winner of the grade two SA Sprint Championship last year he took the grade three Palos Verdes Stakes on seasonal debut and then nearly did the unthinkable in the Fool Handicap but just failed under top weight. That run proved it is possible and this is a horse that worked 1.10 and 1 over this trip a couple of weeks back with plenty of ticks in the boxes to try and do the same thing. I actually think he is getting better and better since the days the last owner was silly enough to run him in a cheap claimer he has not stopped improving and he may just be the one to stop the gamers and win this race like he should.

2 Buy Low Sell High Asgar Franco M 118 —

Well, when you consider this one matched that 1.10 and 1 work time that West Coast Party posted you would think that in receipt of 4 Lbs he should be clearly better than that horse but then when you compare form you can see that as usual it is not that clear cut! He won the Harrods Creek as a three-year-old and was then second in the Razorback handicap at four and both of those efforts put with the draw and the work time suggest he would be a great bet in this race. But and here it comes, his inconsistency will be a problem. I am not sure what happened between the Razorback and his last run, but I am willing to put those efforts down to the trip because I believe he is just a little better over a sprint trip and he won’t get a better chance to win a big sprint than he has today.

3 Chemical Burn Mb Stables Van Dyke D 117 —

Claimed in January after scraping home in a $25.000 claimer Mb has worked his miracles with seemingly little effort and now this five-year-old is working 57 and 2 and winning in sub 1.09 six-furlong times. If ever there was a specialist in finding the hack to win these races with a horse coming from rags to riches it is this stable so don’t be surprised to see this one winning with bottom weight today.

4 Bladamiro Arindel Hernandez C J 118 —

Now this one has a 1.10 flat work to his name and without looking too hard I would say that is the fastest six-furlong work by any runner in this race. Now couple that with a good draw and 118Lbs and you have your winner……oh hang about I have said that about every runner so far! Ok, so despite the lack of stakes form, he has run in the sorts of allowances that may as well be stakes races, in fact he won in a sub 1.09 time as a three-year-old, so despite an average looking 4 from 19 record he does look on paper, at least good enough to win.

5 Devil Made Me Doit Maxmillion Farm Corbett G W 117 —

OK, so we have had plenty of horses that are working BC winning times but running in smaller races to get a weight break here and now we have one that is going after the other hack to win handicaps at HRP. Not only is all of his best form on turf but indeed all of his wins have come in route races on the grass, so this follows exactly the sort of hack you need, a grade one winner on a different surface and over a different trip thus ensuring a low weight. So, what are the chances of this coming off? Well, we saw he could sprint when second in a five-furlong dash last year and we know he is all class on his win in the BEL Derby and third in the BC Turf so why not! This is a handicap after all!!

6 Stormy Liberal Big Guns Stables Prat F 117 —

This is an interesting one, I really liked his last two efforts when third to West Coast Party in the Palos Verdes and then fourth in the San Carlos last time and he gets five pounds for a length beating by the top weight and in normal circumstances that would be enough to see him going close to a win. The works are very good but then all of this field is working like stakes winners so that isn’t the everything, but I do feel he is flying a little under the radar here.

7 Hollywood Cruiser Threshold Geroux F 117 —

Has won five of his last eight so is in good form at the moment, but this is a huge step up. Having said that I have talked about the hack of fast workers coming from obscurity with bottom weight in these handicaps and category nicely into that category.

8 Absolution Maxmillion Farm Cedillo A 118 —

I would say on the old engine that this one was going in as a pacemaker for his stable companion but with this new engine the pace pattern is much harder to manipulate, so he will race here on his own merits. Won a claimer in a sub 1.09 last time so like the horse inside him goes into this on the from zero to hero hack and if you go back to a work in March when he clocked 1.09 and 4 on the dirt over six furlongs it is very possible, he could be good enough with 118Lbs. He has been changing hands like a randy teenager which can be another sign of an improved run so just maybe this one could spring a surprise that will only be obvious after the race.

9 Rudy Is With Me Mb Stables Centeno D E 117 —

I am not sure how Mb does it but this one got beaten less than a length in a similar handicap over the same trip and today he ends up with one pound less. Add to that a 57 and 2 work and yes, we have yet another winning chance. Let’s not forget this one was good enough to compete in the BEL and The Travers as a three-year-old and is trained by the magic man himself.

10 Fighting Dragon Night Rider Stables Zayas E J 117 —

Beaten in a $14.000 claimer and just getting home in a $9.000 claimer just a few months ago this five-year-old is now working 1.10 flat and as usual this trainer has turned a claimer into a potential great, winner. The weight is great, but the draw is less than helpful but once again we have another possible winner that fits the handicap hack perfectly.

11 Tiz Trippi Rock Creek Castellano J J 118 —

The handicapper is once more shown to be a little one dimensional as this one gets 4Lbs for the neck he was beaten by West Coast party in the Palos Verdi but has to give a pound to Stormy Liberal for beating him nearly a length in the same race. That all should mean that he is well in at the weights, but he has the handicap of gate 11 to cope with and that can be a bit of a bigger impost than a pound or two. A consistent sprinter his works like everything else is in the 1.10 area so as long as the race engine doesn’t kill his chances, I can see him going to the lead and being tough to get at.

12 Di Canzone Invicta Group Llc Bravo J 117 —

This grand type has won 13 races and is a real dirt sprinting veteran who can run over any trip. I like a seven-year-old with a low weight because age can be a small advantage in these races, but the car park draw is very often less of an advantage so I feel he may be up against it today.

SUMMARY

Oh My!!! Well, if ever there was a race where 12 horses could all win for very different reasons, then this is it. Only after the race will we know which hack has worked but a small part of me hopes West Coast Party can beat the odds of the top weight and take this one. I am not going to even try and pick second, my best advice would be to put a dollar on all of them and hope the winner is more than 12/1.

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES