Nice 7 furlong 2yo race at Churchill today
 

http://www.brisnet.com/bris_link/pdf...cher_93997.pdf

this is only an Allowance N1X ,
but this field is basically looking like a Grade 3 2yo stakes.

Some expensive colts and geldings and some big name connections
(Zito/Lapenta, Pletcher/Winstar, Zayat, Tafel ... etc..).

One or two of these guys may have some potential.

9 horses entered
6 of the horses morning line odds are from 3-1 to 6-1

Eatons Gift is the horse to beat.

I like the Pletcher colt and the Zito colt the best here.
Zito's colt (Stevil) looked pretty impressive in his debut. That race in New York and his Monday work at CD seem to indicate that - unlike others in here - he might actually be a dirt horse.
Pletcher's colt (Referee) was VERY good in his debut, and then got in over his head and had an odd trip in the 2-turn G1 at Kee. He has been working well over this track, and I think the cutback in distance will help. It looks to me like the pace might set up perfectly for him to stalk and pounce.
Considering that they are both 5/1 ML, I think they COULD be good plays come post time.

Eaton's Gift is a very impressive animal. Had a problem in debut, layoff , looked like a monster on the keeneland track, big local worktab

I like Stevil -if he shows any improvement off his debut. He out-gamed Honour Above Self, and I would call that one a very "solid" but not spectacular horse. Recent work strong.

Referee did look great in his debut. He won at Turfway and he was right in behind the first flight getting some kickback , and showed a big late move. big local worktab

I really have no clue about American Hustler. Fairly precocious pedigree. Is that some turf influence on his damside? Only run on synthetic tracks????????

The Tafel homebred Unbridled Vicar lacks early speed, has a nice sprint-closer style. Looks fairly classy and has proven can show a response - on polytrack. Not a pedigree master here, but the pedigree looks fine for dirt to me? 4 works @ Hawthorne , wish i had a Hawthorne "clocker":cool:

The five horses you named finished 1-2-3-4-5 and The Bid picked the winner.
Nice job guys.

Referee is my early favorite 2 year old of the crop. Had a large bet on him today, still thought he ran extremely well. Absolutely horrible trip, in tight the whole time and nowhere to go turning for home. Hopefully that will help his odds next time out.

The KK Yonegwa race was a monster maiden race.

oh yea.


this turned out to be a pretty solid race.
Eaton's Gift ran them off their feet. Looks like a versatile power sprinter type.

Referee finished well enough that you have to expect good things from him in the future. This could possibly be a horse that makes some noise in the prep races...

Stevil will become the best of this group.
Slow start and wide trip. Tough to make up any ground today.
I'm no Zito fan, but he has a solid group of 2yos. Watch out for Da'Tara.
Definitely breaks maiden next out.

I vividly remember handicapping that race - and thinking it was a VERY tough looking early season 2yo maiden race.

I could not believe how much money Eaton's Gift was taking when the betting opened! He was being bet like he couldn't lose...and was even alarmingly live in offshore internet exchange markets.

I think something like three or four stakes winners have come out of that race. Besides the top two finishers - Breeders Cup Juvenile 6th place finisher Old Man Buck was also in that 4.5 furlong dash.

No doubt about it Drugs, that was a serious heat. The money EG took in that race was no fluke.

Take a look at the offshore exchanges on Time Flies when she debuted at Kland at 36 to 1, missed the break by 10 and got beat a nose on the line.