Cooper looking to buck trend of seconds
?q=100)
When reached by phone at her stable Thursday morning, Emerald Downs trainer Kay Cooper was quick to complain about a recent bout with “seconditis.”
Indeed, wins haven’t been easy to come by for Cooper, who had a 34-4-9-0 record at the meet as of first post Friday. But in Sunday’s race 5, a $23,000 maiden special weight for fillies and mares 3 years old and up that will be contested at six furlongs, Cooper has Emerald’s top rider, Kevin Krigger, aboard one of her horses for the first time this year and a very real chance to saunter into the winner’s circle.
Krigger will ride the front-running 3-year-old Empirical, who missed winning by a neck in a maiden-claiming race on July 27 and also finished second in her May 24 debut while posting a career-best 56 Beyer Speed Figure, the highest in this seven-horse field. She’ll start from post 5, while another Cooper trainee, the 4-year-old Fine by Me, with two second-place finishes to her credit as well, will break from the rail with another Kevin – Orozco – aboard.
“Post position, I wish they were flip-flopped,” Cooper said. “They’re gonna be battling against how both of them are comfortable running. Empirical wants speed, and Fine by Me likes to come a little off of it.”
While Cooper says the six-furlong distance fits Empirical “to a T,” she laments the fact that she hasn’t been able to find a longer race for Fine by Me, whose recent 52 Beyer is the best last-out figure in the lightly raced field.
“She wants to route, and the route races just have not been going,” Cooper said. “We’ve not had a filly route race go all meet, which is disappointing. So I have no idea of her upside because we’re dying to run her in a route.”
There are two unraced horses, Oh Maddie and Free to Be, in Sunday’s field who hail from top barns. Free to Be starts for Tom Wenzel, while Oh Maddie just worked three furlongs in 34.80 seconds and has a trainer in Blaine Wright who has a 19 percent strike rate with first-timers.
Charlie Essex’s Pearl Blue, who came back from a rough bump at the start to finish third in his July 3 debut, has already demonstrated a keen ability to come from behind and could be a major factor in the stretch.
Cooper also has a 6-year-old gelding, A View From Above, dropping down for Sunday’s race 8, an $8,000 claiming affair that will be run at six furlongs. A View From Above ran the best race of her career off a six-month layoff in winning a $15,000 claiming race on May 10 at Emerald but has failed to finish in the money in three subsequent starts at that level or slightly above.
“We’re just trying to get him in an easier category, but I didn’t do a very good job,” said Cooper, acknowledging the depth of the 11-horse field. “He’s been kind of a hard horse to place.”
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.