Runnin'toluvya formidable in West Virginia Breeders Classic

Nine West Virginia-bred stakes worth $1 million make up the Saturday card at Charles Town. Seems like a lot of dough, and it is, but Runnin’toluvya, heavy favorite for the featured $300,000 West Virginia Breeders Classic, won a million-dollar race all on his own this year.

Charles Town-loving Runnin’toluvya on April 20 pressed the early pace, took over midway through the nine-furlong race, and went to a half-length victory in the Grade 2, $1 million Charles Town Classic. Whatever else the 5-year-old gelding does this year for owner Grams Racing Stable and trainer Tim Grams essentially is gravy – which is a good thing, because the Charles Town Classic effort appears to have taken a toll.

Runnin’toluvya returned a month later at Charles Town and easily won a statebred-restricted allowance race, but a road trip to Monmouth Park for the Grade 3 Iselin yielded a distant fifth-place finish. All well and good, and following that start Runnin’toluvya got a three-month freshening. He returned Sept. 21 at Charles Town as the 3-10 favorite in a West Virginia-bred stakes race – and lost. Perhaps it was a combination of a sloppy track and the layoff, but even so, Runnin’toluvya has been virtually unbeatable at Charles Town, where his record now stands at 17-13-3-0. If he bounces back to his more standard performance level Saturday over a nine-furlong distance at which he’s won all three of his starts, his nine foes have somewhere between little and no chance, but the surprise defeat last month at least introduces a shadow of doubt.

Though he finished third, well behind Runnin’toluvya, last month, North Atlantic is the obvious alternative if you’re doing more than merely taking shots. North Atlantic took a run at Runnin’toluvya in the 2018 Breeders Classic, only to be turned away and handed a 2 ½-length defeat. But his nine-furlong record stands at a solid 8-4-4-0, and if the favorite’s foundation has a fault line – probably it does not, and even if it does, he’s still easily he most likely winner – maybe North Atlantic can surge.

The supporting feature, the $175,000 West Virginia Cavada Breeders’Classic for fillies and mares, has an equally heavy favorite in Anna’s Bandit. Anna’s Bandit could only finish third in the 2018 renewal of this race behind the high-level mare Late Night Pow Wow, but has no such rival Saturday. She’s 6-4-0-2 at Charles Town and carries a three-race win streak into the start for trainer John Robb.

There are several formidable short-priced favorites, too, in the bevy of $75,000 stakes on Saturday’s card. Parisian Diva in race 4, Penguin Power in race 5, and T Rex Express in race 9 all approach standout status. The sixth race, the Dash for Cash Breeders Classic over 4 ½ furlongs, appears to be a two-horse battle between Dr. Feelgood, who has won 6 of 7 starts, and Last Print, who has won 6 of 9.