Killin Me Smalls gets class bump in Saturday feature

Killin Me Smalls could be a handful when he runs in a $25,000 optional-claiming race that will serve as Saturday’s feature at Northlands Park. The six-furlong race for 3-year-olds and up drew a solid field of nine horses and goes as race 6 on an eight-race card that begins at 1 p.m. Mountain.

Trained by Greg Tracy, Killin Me Smalls is stepping up in class but is the only horse in the field with a race this year, and it was a good one. He is coming off a sharp front-running win in a $17,500 conditional-claiming race at Fair Grounds on Feb. 28, and he beat a pretty nice horse in Whiskey Bravo, who won his next two starts. After winning a $17,500 conditional-claiming race on turf at Fair Grounds on March 19, Whiskey Bravo received an 80 Beyer Speed Figure for his win in a $25,000 open claimer on turf at Evangeline Downs on April 19.

Killin Me Smalls used his good speed to win his most recent race, but he is versatile, and with speedsters Kingoftherockies and Pakal in the field, there is a good chance that jockey Scott Williams will tuck him in behind what figures to be a hotly contested pace.

Kingoftherockies can fire fresh, and over the past five years, his trainer, Robert MacDonald, has an impressive 44 percent strike rate with horses coming back from a layoff of 180 days or more.

A 5-year-old gelding by Cape Canaveral, Kingoftherockies is making his first start since going unplaced in the $50,360 Red Diamond Express last Sept. 21. Beginning with a three-length score in his 2013 debut, Kingoftherockies reeled off six straight front-running wins last year before going unplaced in the $50,240 Sun Sprint Championship. Included in his streak was a win over Arctic Ceal in the $49,120 3- & 4-year-old Sales Stakes.

Pakal, trained by Ernie Keller, led all the way to beat the classy Bearrock N Roll in a $12,500 claiming race at Hastings on Oct. 12. Bearrock N Roll came back to win a $16,000 claiming race at Hastings on April 27, and Pakal has been training forwardly this spring.

Live a Little, also trained by Tracy, wants more distance, but the shape of the race could work in his favor.