The folks at
Western Fair have turned Friday’s Molson Pace, which wasn’t looking very
inviting, into a compelling race. Casie Coleman has accepted an invitation to
start Cheddar and ARNRD has filled the spot left open when Something For Doc
was pulled from the race. Foiled Again, who won the last two editions, will
also be entered.
Keystone Velocity, who
made his last ten starts over the Yonkers half-miler and won the open there a
couple of weeks ago, has drawn the six. Rock On Moe, State Treasurer, Versado
and Aracache fill out the field. The latter, who starts from the two, loves the
little track at London. He wired the field in his elimination last year and
found his way to the top in the final, after leading a five across charge around
the first turn from the outside post. Razzle Dazzle (Campbell) and Foiled were both
stuck outside for much of the mile. Aracache doesn’t match up very well with
the likes of Cheddar and Foiled, but with his gate speed and an inside post, he
can make the race interesting for those chasing him. He took the field out in
:26.3 last year.
The purse has been cut in
half, but the field is just as good or better than last year’s. The switch to
an invitational format does eliminate the domination of the event by the Burke
stable. Won The West was the winner in 2010 with Foiled second. In 2011 Foiled
won his elimination, while Atochia was elevated to first in the other prelim when
Art Professor was docked for interference. Foiled won the final. And last year
three of the eight starters in the final were from the Burke barn: Foiled beat
stablemate, Clear Vision, with Atochia finishing fourth.
Cheddar has demonstrated
the ability to get around a half. He equaled the WR of :49.2 when he won the
Quillen at Harrington in W-W fashion in the fall, and he finished third in the
Jug.
He drew the trailing eight
post in Friday’s Molson. He’ll start behind Foiled and Aracache. Those two will
rocket out of the gate, still, it’s a
trailing post on a tiny track, and there’s no getting around that. This will be
his first start in eight months. A foot abscess prompted Coleman to shut him
down early last year. Cheddar qualified at Mohawk in :52.2 a couple of weeks
ago.
ARNRD, on the other hand,
has yet to prove those tight turns are to his liking. He was raced hard last
year, and got one bad post after another, regardless, Dance finished out in the
Cleveland Classic at Northfield, was third in the Windy City and fourth in the
Messenger. He drew the seven in his Jug prelim and the five in the final, where
he finished sixth. He drew the eight last week in the Dan Patch where he placed
fourth. ARNRD finished out in the Maturity in his other 2013 start. His bad
luck continues in Friday’s race as he has drawn the seven. His game is not
blasting out of the gate so drawing the outside on this track against Cheddar
and Foiled is a lot for Dance to overcome.
The draw presents a
challenge for Betterthancheddar and A Rocknroll Dance.
No comments:
Post a Comment