Daily Handicapping

#8 BIRD STORM goes route to sprint, adds blinkers, and fires fresh off of a series of improving efforts. #3 PAPERS TO PROVE IT debuted at PID in a race where, after getting bet down to 2-1, he was acting up in the gate and then proceeded to set the pace before tiring half way through. He may have learned from that experience and today runs off of a bullet workout on October 21st. #9 SALSORICE has shown improvement in all three starts and now makes his first start since being claimed out of the Delaware Park meet by trainer Mike Stidham.

#7 RODEO MISS gets back in with other state-breds and back on a fast track after three decent efforts against open-company. #2 GETTING COZY looks like she’s in a winnable spot after missing as the favorite in her last two and today taking her 4th consecutive class drop. #8 BETSY LAVERNE doesn’t win a lot, she’s 1-22, but she sure does like to run 2nd and 3rd.

Eight out of the twelve runners entered here in the main body make their first start. One of those who looks live is #5 CAN’T COMPLAIN off of a solid series of works including a sharp, best of 80, bullet 5 furlong work from the gate on October 24th. #1 RAGIN RENO gets to stretch out around a bigger oval today after running evenly in his debut at Delta. In an interesting coincidence, #2 DYNAPAC shares the October bullet 5 furlong work with CAN’T COMPLAIN but his was not a gate work. He’s another who figures here as he already has three in the money finishes to his credit.

Four out of the six entered in today’s running of The Pontalba will be making their regular dirt debuts which makes for a bit of a handicapping dilemma. #2 GREELEY’S ROCKET has a perfect exacta finish record but that has been over grass and synthetic. He’ll be tough if that form transfers to dirt. #1 BLADING GOLD RING also has a perfect exacta record but both of his races were on turf. He was beaten last time out by stable-mate Red Hot Buddha, who is also in this race, but BLADING GOLD RING is showing more frequent and more impressive works than that one and note that he is also credited with a 5 furlong bullet work on October 24th that two of the runners in the day’s previous race also share. #4 RIGHT TO RULE may have an edge on the other two in the fact that he actually has two wins over regular dirt already, one coming at Lone Star and the other Remington Park.

#3 KELLY’SPREMONITION in his last four races has run out of condition twice, and both times has landed in the trifecta, once at 36-1 and once at 16-1. He could be overlooked again and today he gets back to his proper N2L level. #5 WOVOKA GHOST DANCE in four starts over the grass has never been worse than 2nd and he races here off of a solid work pattern. #6 JO’S THUNDER is stepping up in class but he has been in good form all year with 8 in the money finishes to show for his 11 starts in 2009.

#1 COMEDERO is undefeated and notice that in his last race he beat Brassy Boy by 5 lengths and Brassy Boy was the last horse to finish in front of #5 WESTERN SMOKE, who will likely be the heavy favorite here as he is riding a 3 race win streak including a win in the G3 Sapling last time out. #4 ENUMERATE is the other runner in here with graded stakes experience. He was 2nd behind Backtalk in the G2 Sanford before turning in a rather poor performance in the G1 Hopeful, but he can be forgiven for that as he did seem to bounce back into good form in his most recent start.

#8 RECOLLECT makes her second start with the blinkers, her first since being switched over to trainer Steve Asmussen, and it looks like she may have landed in a rather light field today. #7 SHOW ‘EM ALL has never been worse than 3rd in three career starts but the concern is that year long gap in between races. #5 LUCKY LULU ran her career best race when closing fast in a 7 furlong turf race up at Woodbine. She may have won that one if it had been at today’s 1 mile distance but she is another with a sporadic race pattern as she has had four well spread out races this year.

#6 LEIGHANNA ROSE was a dominating 6 length winner in her debut at LAD and that was after breaking from post 12 in a field of 12. That race was an off the turf affair run over a sloppy track so today she gets to try a fast track as she makes only her 2nd lifetime start. Here we go again, a Cody Autrey entry with Corey Lanerie named on both. #1 STORM BATE has more recent works and rarely misses the trifecta. She steps up into allowance company here today after being claimed for 10k off of a three race win streak. #4 LIL RICK’S GAL is another stepping up in class but she was also on a roll earlier this year getting two dominating wins in a row as she rolled through her claiming conditions.

#11 CLUB TEJANO takes a class drop after a 4th place finish in a 25k race at AP. Notice that the 2nd place finisher that day was Wovoka Ghost Dance so keep an eye out for that one’s performance in today’s 5th race. #8 SALIC LAW has a strong tendency to run 2nd. Last season he turned in four 2nd place performances out of five races, all at this level. #4 TENPIN SALSA could be a factor today as he gets back on the grass course. He turned in three very good grass races at EVD before faltering a bit in his most recent, a race that was taken off the turf at LAD.

Five out of the eight runners in this field make their debuts today. One of those first timers is #5 STARLITE STARBRITE who has been working steadily well for trainer Tom Amoss, and she is also by the sire Mutakddim who regularly gets winners with 20% of his first time starters. #6 PHONYVILLE isn’t showing a lot of works, but the ones listed are sharp. She is from the first crop of sire Pollard’s Vision and her dam, Proud Little Phony, is 2-2 with two year olds. #4 HELIOTROPIUM is another first time starter. She races for trainer Steve Asmussen and is by sire Candy Ride who wins with 16% of his first time starters.

#2 AUTO BE A BEAR has three 3rds to show for three starts, but today tries the blinkers and landed in with a somewhat suspect group today. #4 J. B.’S CHARISMA has hit the board five times in 16 starts, four of those coming this year, and usually runs rather evenly. #9 COTTON IDE KATE is the lightly raced class dropper of the field. She ran a decent fourth in an open company MSW at LAD and now, after that one not so bad race, she quickly takes the plunge down to 10k state-bred maiden claimers. She appears to have a class edge but it’s curious that she did not get one more try against special weight company, or even state-bred special weight company.