Pete Axthelm Stakes

[bdw0617]

there is a pretty good stakes race down at calder that no one is talking about

9th at calder, ungraded 3YO turf 7 and a half furlongs.


Storm in may, birdbirdstheword, pleasant strike, world war, buffalo man, sleeping indian and others. hell of a non graded stakes if you ask me.

anyway, what are your thoughts? I hate races with good horses coming off long layoffs.. my inital pick would hav been Mysterious Peintre, i liked his last race... but there are just too many good horses off layoffs. birdbirdstheword has turf written all over him. he won a non graded stakes on turf last year. been off for a WHILE.

storm in may was in the derby but is a gbetter turf horse than dirt horse.

Pleasant Strike was a nice horse mid summer but has wained off, but is coming off a layoff.

Oh and buffalo man, I haven't seena turf race for him on his PP's... but he's by el prado. just thought I"d throw that in.

fun race to watch, but I can't logically handicapp a race like this. hell I even can make a case for world war. a damn good one at that.

[TJ]

Hi BDW,

There never was any logic involved with handicapping over the Calder strip. This one is a turf race so possible more formful, but Calder makes Saratoga's graveyard look small by compaison. Very tough race and anytime I dabble I tread lightly and only use prices at Calder.
This is a tough race but I'll bite using the bet a little win a lot strategy:
1st) A Bit of Madness....ran against Storm in May at this distance over this racetrack, bumped hard midstretch and finished 4th.
2nd) Izzie's Halo..........ran against most of the favorites in his last start. It was his first race in 5 1/2 months and his first turf start. He reared and stumbled at the break, I expect him to break running today.
3rd) Buffalo Man.....By El Prado, what took them so long to get him over the turf? Heard he had a problem in his last race that has been resolved, he's 50-1 :>)
4th) Sleepng Indian....Mr. Jerkens otherwise known as the giant killer, will probably be the chalk. I respect him too much the miss a big exacta because I left him out.

[imnumberjuan]

TJ

I also get that sense of Calder, I have marked it on my own mental handicapping map as "Here there be Dragons".

[bdw0617]

I actually don't mind calder's dirt track. some of my bigger licks this year have come from calder. the thing a bout calder, is you have to know the riders and what they like/dislike and what their tendencies are. will save you alot of headache and alot of grief.