Cocked and Loaded faces full field in Arlington-Washington Futurity
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Sure, you could just go ahead and play the 5-2 morning-line favorite, Cocked and Loaded, in the Arlington-Washington Futurity, the Saturday feature at Arlington. He won the $247,000 Tremont Stakes and was a fast spring debut winner at Keeneland, a better résumé than any of his 12 rivals boast.
Or you could play the 3-1 second choice, Shogood. He scored one of the sharpest-looking 2-year-old maiden wins of the meet, going wire to wire in a July 15 romp.
But both the favorites have holes, and in a field as big as the local futurity this year, and with 2-year-olds changing and evolving day by day, it’s worth fishing around for a better price.
The Grade 3, $100,000 Arlington-Washington was shortened from one mile to seven furlongs on Polytrack last year and stays with that configuration this time. It goes as race 7, and the forecast calls for a lovely Saturday. Post time for the feature is scheduled for 4:21 p.m. Central.
Key contenders
Cocked and Loaded (Last 3 Beyers: 68-79-NA)
* Not a big, powerful 2-year-old but precocious in his understanding of racing and willingness to wait early and pass horses when it counts. He did that in his debut win and did it breaking from post 1 when winning the Tremont at Belmont. But the thing about 2-year-olds with an early mental edge – at some point, their peers begin catching up.
* A disappointing sixth in the Sanford Stakes but wound up in a tough spot and ate a lot of dirt, according to trainer Larry Rivelli.
* Never tried a synthetic surface but is bred for it and has worked on Polytrack since May.
DRF Formulator fact: Over the last five years, Rivelli is 9-0-1-0 in graded stakes, and his starters at single-digit odds have been second, fourth, sixth, sixth, and eighth.
Shogood (Last 2 Beyers: 79-79)
* Tied for the best Beyer Speed Figure in this field and accomplished it twice, both over the Arlington Polytrack, but he has yet to race farther than 5 1/2 furlongs and does not figure to shake loose on the lead in this start.
* The July 15 maiden win came during a period when the main track was biased toward inside-speed runners such as Shogood. On that card, five of the six Polytrack races were won by the first-call leader.
D. Shifflett (Last Beyer: 57)
* Professional debut win in a high-end Del Mar maiden claimer. Quickly returned to Arlington to work twice for this start.
* Reminiscent of trainer Mike Stidham’s One Go All Go, who won a $62,500 maiden claimer in his debut, then finished a close, troubled third in the 2014 Arlington-Washington Futurity, boosting his Beyer from 69 to 85.