Nightcap Recap's ability can make up for lack of experience

Sunday’s ninth race at Emerald Downs, a six-furlong conditioned allowance with a purse of $24,000, has attracted a field of six.

Two have run in 13 career races apiece, while another has 11 races under his belt, one has eight, and another has four. Nightcap Recap, trained by Kay Cooper, has only raced once. On the strength of his maiden win, he is very likely to go off favored.

On June 14, Nightcap Recap went right to the lead and never relinquished it, holding off the heavily favored Lead the Charge by three-quarters of a length. For the victory, Nightcap Recap earned a 72 Beyer Speed Figure, which is the best in Friday’s field.

This precociousness didn’t exactly surprise Cooper, whose trainees were winning at a 31 percent clip entering Friday night’s races.

“He showed us he had talent in the morning and was pretty well schooled,” she said. “I knew his style of running. He’d overextend himself if he wasn’t fit.”

:: Access morning workout reports straight from the tracks and get an edge with DRF Clocker Reports

Prior to the dazzling debut, Cooper conceded that her barn had some problems with Nightcap Recap, and she credited her exercise rider as well as jockey Kevin Orozco, who has the call again Sunday, for their patience with the gelding.

“Kevin’s done an excellent job getting him there,” Cooper said. “He’s been a handful in the mornings.”

Leading up to the June 14 race, Cooper put Nightcap Recap through a pair of bullet six-furlong works in 1:12 and change.

“I wanted to make sure he ran through the wire from the gate, and that’s what we did,” she explained. “The first one was a gate work all the way through the wire. The second one, we set him behind a horse.”

Nightcap Recap will break from the far outside in Sunday’s race, which is restricted to horses who have never won two races or Washington-breds who have never won three. The three 4-year-olds entered will carry four more pounds than their 3-year-old counterparts.

The other speedsters in the race, 4-year-old Da Smoke and 3-year-old Blackberry Jam, are situated in posts 1 and 2, respectively. Cooper doesn’t feel like her horse needs the lead.

“I don’t feel that’s gonna be a requirement with him,” she said. “I think he’s going to be very universal as he develops more confidence in his rider.”

If Nightcap Recap runs as well as or better than his debut, it could be tempting for Cooper to wheel him back for the one-mile Seattle Slew Stakes on July 19, but she instead plans to run the Washington-bred son of Conveyance at the same condition as Sunday in a 6 1/2-furlong sprint on July 25. Should he do well there, it will be on to the meet’s premier 3-year-old stakes, the 1 1/16-mile Muckleshoot Derby, on Aug. 16.

“I think going a route is going to be his biggest forte, but I don’t want to scramble him too much,” Cooper said. “It’s a big step going from six and a half to a mile and a sixteenth.”

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.