Friday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: Soundbite should appreciate added ground off the claim
Aqueduct | Race 3 | Post Time 2:08 p.m. (ET)
Backstretch Rose (#6) brings the best recent form into this starter allowance event. She’s lost her last three races at relatively short prices, but she’s run well each time. She lost on a head bob when beaten by the in-form Elliptic two back, and then last time just didn’t seem the relish a sloppy track when chasing home a winner who relished the surface. That is a mild concern here with rain in the forecast for Friday. I also have some reservations about her running style as she stretches out to this distance. She tends to race from the back of the pack, and she may not get the pace setup she needs stretching all the way out to 1 1/8 miles.
Dazzy (#5) has also competed reasonably well at this level, albeit not with the same success as Backstretch Rose. She performed adequately at this level two and three back and actually ran better than the result might suggest in her lone nine-furlong attempt in December. Her most recent start at Parx was a poor one, but she stumbled significantly at the start before making an early move. She’s better than that and has a chance to rebound here.
The speed of the race is obviously Magic Eight Ball (#1A), who got right to the front end and drew away to an 11-length score against conditioned claimers last time. However, that performance may not be as strong as it appears. There was an extreme rail bias on Dec. 27 and Magic Eight Ball rode that advantageous inside path every step of the way. It’s possible that she also stepped forward off the claim for Michelle Nevin, but I want to see her produce that kind of effort again.
The problem with this race is that I like Magic Eight Ball’s stablemate Soundbite (#1). You generally don’t want to settle for short prices on entries where you strongly prefer one half to the other, but I can’t get too picky on a Friday card with limited wagering appeal. Soundbite showed ability early in her career when starting out with the Brad Cox barn before tailing off and switching to Mike Trombetta. She seemed to put things back together last time at Aqueduct, where a drop in class certainly helped, yet she was even more dominant than that three-length margin of victory suggests. She traveled well behind the leaders and actually lost momentum when stymied at the quarter pole before finding another gear to run away late. She was claimed out of that spot by Nevin, whose barn has done well this winter. I also like her stretching out to nine furlongs given the finishing ability she displayed last time.