O T B Bob poised for first turf win
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – It’s common among handicappers these days to bemoan the ubiquity of the break-and-grab ride in turf races, wherein jockeys on horses whose past performances suggest speed take a big hold right out of the gate, and a race that’s pace-ful on paper winds up paceless in the running.
But surely – surely! – the featured seventh race Friday at Arlington will be run at something faster than a common gallop. The two-turn turf race over 1 1/16 miles, open to second-level allowance horses or $40,000 claimers, drew eight entrants, and no fewer than four of them would be properly placed on the front end.
If the race is truly run and O T B Bob can come anywhere close to the Arlington turf form he displayed last summer, he should win, hopefully at a fair price for trainer Jim DiVito and jockey Rosemary Homeister Jr. The 5-year-old O T B Bob, realistically spotted under the $40,000 claiming option, never has won a grass race, but his second- and third-place Arlington turf finishes last summer against stronger foes than he meets Friday suggest an imminent breakthrough. O T B Bob’s lone start at this meet came at six furlongs, a distance well short of his best, and should give backers hope that he remains fit and ready to capitalize.
Revolt looks like the other horse who fits the prospective race shape, but he fits more solidly for something like a $25,000 claiming price, and Sandia Crest, a third in-form, off-the-pace type, probably is in a bit tough, too.
From the rail out, the pace elements – all of whom show solid current form – are Crewman, Shanghai Red, Doimakeyahappy, and Dad Are We Here. Hopefully, no one will be yelling about yet another grab-fest just after they break from the gate Friday at Arlington.
Hogy seeks second Hanshin win
Hogy finished 13th as the favorite in the 2014 Hanshin Cup but won the Hanshin in 2013, comes off a sharp allowance victory at Arlington, and has a chance to win the Grade 3, $100,000 Hanshin for the second time on Saturday.
Hogy, who drew post 3 in the one-turn Polytrack mile, was one of nine horses entered in the Hanshin on Wednesday. Also in the race is another two-time Hanshin starter, Mister Marti Gras, who drew the rail and runs back just one week after finishing unplaced in the Stars and Stripes Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on turf. The rest of the Hanshin field, from the inside out, is Midnight Cello (who was supplemented), Stormy Pacific, Agent Di Nozzo, Hammers Terror, Lashad, Taken By the Storm, and Empirestrikesagain.