Charles Town: Rescheduled Blue Ridge Handicap picks up a new player
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The $35,000 Blue Ridge Handicap, the feature on one of six cards at Charles Town that have been called off since Jan. 21 due to extreme winter weather, will contain nearly all of its original cast when it reappears as the headliner on Tuesday night’s program. Although the original morning-line favorite Warrioroftheroses did not re-enter, his place in the eight-horse lineup was filled by Twenty Hawks, a 7-year-old gelding who might offer good value as the second longest price in the program at 8-1.
Twenty Hawks is just 2 for 12 over the past two seasons. But one of those victories came last February in a similar overnight stakes at the same 1 1/16-mile distance as Tuesday night’s eighth race. Most recently, Twenty Hawks led wire to wire going 1 1/16 miles in a first-level optional $12,000 claimer on Jan. 10.
His trainer, Ronny Brown, is off to an 8 for 34 start (24 percent) in 2014 and is 9 for his last 34 (26 percent) with a profitable return on investment of $3.38 with last-out winners returning in less than 30 days in a route.
In the absence of Warrioroftheroses, 9-year-old Congressional Page inherits the role of morning-line favorite at 5-2. Congressional Page, almost exclusively a sprinter during his 32-race career, will be asked to stretch out to 1 1/16 miles for the first time.
The once classy Congressional Page was second in a pair of Grade 2 stakes going seven furlongs in 2010, the Gulfstream Park Sprint Championship and the Commonwealth at Keeneland. He also won the 2009 Schaefer Mile at Hoosier Park.
Reclaimed by owner-trainer Mike Trombetta for $62,500, Congressional Page will stretch out while making his first start since Dec. 8. Trombetta’s record with horses switching from dirt sprints to routes following a break of 31 to 60 days is only 2 for 25 (8 percent) over the past two years.
The 6-year-old front-runner Burnt Offering is 11 for 31 at Charles Town, including a 7 1/2-length win the last time he raced 1 1/16 miles in October.
Golden Set, beaten only 2 1/4 lengths in the $450,000 West Virginia Breeders’ Classic in October, will be making his first start since finishing a distant second to West Virginia-bred star Lucy’s Bob Boy in November.