Charles Town: Go Maire Tu may be overlooked in Tuesday feature race

The race was so long ago that it no longer shows on the standard 10-race past performance lines of Go Maire Tu. In April 2012, coming off a third-place finish going seven furlongs, Go Maire Tu was asked to stretch out to 1 1/16 miles for a starter handicap. He won by nearly three lengths at odds of 26-1.

The circumstances look very similar in Tuesday night’s $30,000 co-featured eighth race at Charles Town, a 1 1/16-mile starter handicap for horses who ran for $5,000 or less the past two seasons. Go Maire Tu won’t be anywhere close to 26-1, but despite his past success switching to a longer distance and a current four-race winning streak, the 6-year-old gelding nevertheless doesn’t figure to be one of the top betting choices in a full field of 10 older horses.

Owned and trained by Mark Shanley, Go Maire Tu most recently defeated similar starter handicap foes on Jan. 16, when he rallied from eighth to get up by a neck at 5-1. He’s listed as fourth choice on the track’s morning line at 6-1 for Tuesday night’s race.

Two of the horses who figure to take heavy action from bettors are Singing My Way and Count On Lou, who will break alongside each other in posts 1 and 2.

Singing My Way ran well in several starter handicaps during his four-win campaign in 2013, including a dominant victory in a $10,000 starter going a mile and 70 yards at Suffolk Downs. He regained his good form on Jan. 8 when he dropped a couple of class levels and crushed $5,000 claimers by more than 12 lengths going seven furlongs at Laurel.

Count On Lou, a six-time winner last season and 16-time winner lifetime, was claimed by Ronny Brown for $12,500 a month ago. Prior to shipping to Charles Town, Count On Lou was a neck shy of owning a four-race winning streak at Penn National. Two of those good performances came in $5,000 starter events.

Jade Prince is the 3-1 second choice on the morning line despite an ugly-looking last race and the disadvantage of drawing post 10. In the race won by Go Maire Tu last month, Jade Prince fell at the eighth pole. Prior to that, he showed flashes of talent last fall, winning a second-level optional $25,000 claimer at Charles Town with a career-best 90 Beyer Figure and taking a $5,000 starter at Fort Erie.