Lucy’s Bob Boy faces new challengers in Blue Ridge

Lucy’s Bob Boy has already trounced most of the top West Virginia-breds on the grounds at Charles Town multiple times during a career in which he has won 22 of 29 starts locally. He faces many of those same older horses again in Thursday night’s $30,000 Blue Ridge Handicap. What makes the seven-furlong overnight stakes for open company intriguing, however, is the presence of two newcomers from out of state.

Let’s Get Crackin, who last year around this time ran in the Grade 2 San Carlos at Santa Anita, and the well-traveled Twin Engine, who has competed at seven different tracks since June, will challenge Lucy’s Bob Boy in the featured seventh race.

The Blue Ridge was originally scheduled for Jan. 7 and reset for Feb. 14, only to be wiped out by bad weather both times.

Late in 2013 and early 2014, Let’s Get Crackin put together four consecutive Beyer Speed Figures between 95 and 100, but then his form deteriorated as he plummeted from racing in the Grade 2 San Carlos to an $8,000 claimer within four starts. He won his first race for new connections at Penn National in December, earning a 95 Beyer, but subsequently dropped to a 68 when finishing second in a second-level optional $25,000 claimer.

Twin Engine, whose road stops last summer and fall included Saratoga, Churchill Downs, and Keeneland, returns to the distance where he finished second with an 86 Beyer in December at Laurel Park.

Blue Ridge Handicap, race 7

KEY CONTENDERS

Lucy’s Bob Boy (Last 3 Beyers: 84-91-86)

◗ In his lone start this year, Lucy’s Bob Boy cruised to a front-running 3 3/4-length victory against statebreds as the 2-5 favorite.

◗ Oddly, his regular rider, Arnaldo Bocachica, has the mount on In the Fairway, a horse Lucy’s Bob Boy easily beat four times since last March. Luis Batista will be aboard Lucy’s Bob Boy for the first time.

Let’s Get Crackin (Last 3 Beyers: 68-94-65)

◗ The question for handicappers is whether this 6-year-old can replicate the 94 Beyer he earned in a conditioned $12,500 claimer at Penn National or if the Beyers in the 60s he recorded in three of his last four starts are what he’s capable of at this stage of his career.

Twin Engine (Last 3 Beyers: 65-86-77)

◗ His two best races since July, a third-place finish for a $50,000 claiming tag at Saratoga, and a second in a third-level optional $32,000 claimer at Laurel, both came at the same seven-furlong distance as the Blue Ridge.

◗ The horse who beat him at Laurel came back to win again, posting a 91 Beyer.