[ateamstupid]

Leg E (Race 12): 24TH RUNNING OF THE SMILE SPRINT HANDICAP (GRADE II). $500,000, 3+, 6 FURLONGS.

1 - WEIGELIA (Mike Trombetta / Cornelio Velasquez)
Was starting to think this Safely Kept six-year-old was losing a step, then he busts out with a wire job in the Ponche H. two back, from the 12-hole no less. That effort earned him a -2 TG, besting his previous top of -1, so he's obviously got plenty of pep left in that step. Certainly takes to this course (17/8-2-2) and that can be key in Summit races. Working strongly at DEL for this. Will have to outrun some real quick ones to get to the front in here, so the rail draw isn't optimal, but he stands a longshot chance.

2 - HOW'S YOUR HALO (Brian Prichard / Manoel Cruz)
Speedy colt really jumped up three back to run a huge and narrow second behind Paradise Dancer in the $40,000 Radar Love, but that seems to be the exception rather than the rule, as he does a lot of retreating in most of his races. Was crushed by Mach Ride last out, albeit after contesting a hot pace, but he's made a living running behind some of these, and now he's got two tough shippers to deal with as well. Probably a pace casualty.

3 - PARADISE DANCER (Kirk Ziadie / Jose Lezcano)
CRC veteran has kept his form tremendously since the $40,000 claim by Ziadie, winning a few overnights and running few bad races. Plenty capable of coming off the pace, which should serve him well in this, and he's been putting up some big numbers recently. He earned a -2 1/4 TG for his win over How's Your Halo last fall and earned a 106 BSF for his trouncing of Kopper Kilgoar before that. His last was certainly strong too, although he wasn't facing much. Definitely a threat from off the pace, probably at a fair price.

4 - FABULOUS STRIKE (Todd Beattie / Robby Albarado)
The wild card to this race, this Smart Strike gelding showed serious promise running with some solid sprinters last spring and summer at BEL, but it wasn't until the fall that he really turned it on, starting a string of easy wins and giant figures at MNR. He ran 115, 119 and 118 on the BSF scale and -3 3/4, -6 and -5 1/4 on the TG scale at MNR before trying his luck in the G3 Aristides at CD last out. The result? Another easy win, a 115 BSF and -3 1/2 TG. With that said, he was allowed to walk through the first quarter-mile that day, and the race was over right about then, so we still don't know what he's going to do against a quality field on a pressured pace. Could be the real deal, and probably is, considering that he's been running big races for a long time now, but we'll see today if he's truly the cream of the crop.

5 - KOPPER KILGOAR (Tim Hills / Manny Aguilar)
Notebook gelding has yet to run anything close to competitive with this caliber of field.

6 - MACH RIDE (Steve Standridge / Elvis Trujillo)
Useful sprinter turned into a potential superstar with his last start, a monstrous front-running score in the $50,000 Champali, a race for which he earned a 108 BSF and -2 TG. Guess the blinkers really helped him out, eh? Super thing is that he's proven in the past that he doesn't need to be on the lead to be successful, so he looks like the best alternative to the top two.

7 - SMOKEY STOVER (Greg Gilchrist / Aaron Gryder)
Connections of the fallen Lost in the Fog ship in this white-hot gelding, fresh off his third stakes win in a row, and he draws perfectly to stalk the pace or head out if for some reason there's a lack of pace. Recent figures (113, 105, 111 BSF, -3, -3/4, -3 1/2 TG) make him a clear contender and set up for a nice East/West showdown with Fabulous Strike.

4 - Fabulous Strike
Won't get such an easy time of it against these
7 - Smokey Stover 3RD
Should get the dream trip, hot to the touch
6 - Mach Ride 1ST
New horse in blinkers?
3 - Paradise Dancer 2ND
Old-timer can still throw down with the big boys

EXACTA - $111.60
TRIFECTA - $396.40