Looks to Spare

[madelyn]

A trainer out at High Pointe claimed this horse in April for $5K at Hawthorne - just won a $200K stakes at Mountaineer. In fact his form after the claim could make a handicapper wonder what went on with this five year old before that claim??

[kimberley mine]

* Before the claim, this horse ran every two to three weeks continuously, with a 2-month spell from January to March of this year. He raced two weeks after the claim, then dropped back to racing once every four weeks. He steadily moved up the ladder after that.
It kind of feels like they were trying to race the horse into shape. It was working well enough that they were picking up a regular check, but not so well that the horse was truly fit.

* Before the claim, this horse had gate issues.....off a step slow, broke in the air, hopped at the start, off a bit slow, etc. He got a clean break in his allowance win after the claim and a clean break in the stakes win. I'm guessing he had some gate training in between.

* Also before the claim, when this horse blew the break, his jockey would rush him to the lead. After he would blow the break, the jockey would try to get to the front as fast as he could and wear the horse out.

[Shergar]

It is a bit of a head scratcher.

Kimberly Mine made some good points. Conceding that it appears he wasn't handled the best by his previous connections, but a 5k claimer jumping up at taking a 200k stakes does beggar belief.

He blew up the tote board winning a stakes at Mnr. Hard to imagine a horse ridden by D. Parker at Mnr. would go off at 75-1. Granted there was a few very nice horses in Carve, Commanding Curve, Page McKenney etc., but Parker owns that track.

[TJ]

Look where he turns up Saturday...in the GR I Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park. TJ

10th Race. (C10) Approx Post 5:28PM STAKES
THE JOCKEY CLUB GOLD CUP
"Win and You're In Breeders' Cup Classic Division"
Purse $1,000,000 (Up to $60,000 NYSBFOA) One Mile And One Quarter
FOR THREE YEAR OLDS AND UPWARD.
1 Wicked Strong(L) B.c.4 126 Rosario, J Centennial Farms Jerkens, James
2 Coach Inge(L) B.g.4 126 Ortiz, Jr., I Repole Stable Pletcher, Todd
3 Constitution(L) B.c.4 126 Castellano, J WinStar Farm Pletcher, Todd
4 Effinex(L) Dk B/ Br.c.4 126 Alvarado, J Tri-Bone Stables Jerkens, James
5 Looks to Spare(L) Dk B/ Br.g.5 126 Parker, D O'zbekiston Racing DiPrima, Gregory
6 Tonalist(L) B.c.4 126 Velazquez, J Evans, R Clement, Christophe

[geowarrior]

Very interesting.

I looked at his pedigree. We know Pollards Vision can sire a nice horse, but the female side? Any thoughts? http://www.pedigreequery.com/looks+to+spare

[hpkingjr]

There is certainly some back class in the distaff side. Little Hut was dam of Habitat (champion) and Northfields( decent stallion) Juliet's Nurse was broodmare of the year in 1966.

[madelyn]

5th is better than I believed he would do!! Is that a $30K check??

[TJ]

5th is better than I believed he would do!! Is that a $30K check??

Hi Madelyn,
He only finished a length behind Coach Inge (who was 3-1) for 4th money. Not bad today...yep he gets $30,000 for running 5th, 6 times what they paid for him:>) TJ

[geowarrior]

Looking at the PP's I thought he'd be way up the field. Good for him.

I wonder where he'll turn up next?

[madelyn]

Gee maybe something softer like a GRADE II?? This is definitely a puzzler.

[geowarrior]

A Grade II or III was what I was thinking.

I also wondered if he might have run even better had the track not been sloppy....

[madelyn]

Actually I found out this morning that the trainer pushed two Very Hard Works during the week right before he shipped up, all hush hush and nothing published. Maybe the horse was a bit tired?

[geowarrior]

That might make sense though, if it's difficult to get him fit as alluded to earlier in the thread.

Curiouser and curiouser.

[kimberley mine]

I looked up his record on off tracks...before the JCGC he ran on a wet dirt track exactly once. Whether he had trouble handling the slop is not clear, because once again he blew the break, was rushed to the front by his jockey, and faded in the lane.

The Gold Cup chart says he blew the break, but unlike in his previous races where he blew the break, the jockey didn't rush him to the front. Instead, he tracked behind the field and made a mild rally.

My feel on it is that he was just plain overmatched...not the slop, not too tired, just facing better horses....but at the same time, he didn't disgrace himself.

[TJ]

Looks to Spare's trainer banned for 10 years. Suspended owner/trainer Umarov, says he was treated unfairly by Kentucky officials because he's Muslim. TJ
http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/ ... r-10-years