Missed the Boat steps up off the claim
Missed the Boat is more than doubling his claiming price, but there are plenty of arrows pointing to him being the winner of a $25,000 claiming race Saturday at Emerald Downs. The one-mile race for 3-year-olds and up headlines an eight-race card that gets under way at 2:15 p.m. Pacific. It drew a competitive field of seven horses and goes as the seventh race.
Missed the Boat will be going for the hat trick following back-to-back wins going a mile for trainer Kenneth Person.
Missed the Boat came from a stalking position to win a $5,000 starter race with a $10,000 claiming option or $12,500 for Arizona-breds by a neck on March 23 at Turf Paradise. In his first start of the Emerald meet, he took them all the way over a track labeled sloppy in a $10,000 claimer on June 3.
It was his seventh win at Emerald, so we know the 6-year-old Kentucky-bred gelding by Midshipman likes the local surface, and he will be making his first start for trainer Candi Cryderman who was acting on behalf of Thomas Sauvageau when she claimed him June 3. Cryderman has a 20-percent strike rate and 90-cent return on investment with newly claimed horses moving up in value by 50 percent or more over the past five years.
There is other speed in the field, so Missed the Boat’s versatility will help him. He will break from post 6 from where jockey Alex Cruz will likely try to ease him into a stalking position.
The Kenneth Person-trained Complicate also is going for his third-straight win. The 4-year-old Kentucky-bred gelding by Lookin At Lucky took them all the way going a mile on turf in a conditioned allowance race that carried a $25,000 claiming option on May 6 at Turf Paradise. Person was acting on behalf of Missed the Boat Stable when he claimed Complicate out of his win on the main track at Turf Paradise in his previous start in a second-level allowance race with a $15,000 claiming option.
Complicate, who will be making his first start at Emerald, is not as versatile as Missed the Boat. In all four of his wins, he was either on the lead or sitting second at each call, so he might be vulnerable in a race that figures to unfold at a fast clip.
Complicate will break from post 5 with Jose Zunino up.
The speed of the speed is the Harold Belvoir-trained Forever Gold, who will break from the inside post with Javier Matias aboard. This will be his first time going two turns, and he could help set things up for his stablemate, Muncey, who can stalk.
A 5-year-old Kentucky-bred gelding by Munnings, Muncey is coming off a narrow loss in a $20,000 claiming race June 5. He did not get off to a clean start in the six-furlong dash, and after making a strong move to make the lead in the stretch he was overtaken by Fantastic Day in the final yards.
Muncey has yet to win going two turns, but he has come close and could be dangerous with a patient ride by Jennifer Whitaker.