Showtime Deb looks wide open

It’s more than fair to question the quality of the $75,000 Showtime Deb, the Saturday feature at Hawthorne, but the race doesn’t lack for quantity and thus is a playable proposition for interested bettors.

Ten Illinois-bred 2-year-old fillies were entered in the Showtime Deb, a six-furlong dirt race. None has run fast, and the race could open wide for an upset.

The morning line has Primity as the 3-1 favorite. Could be; maybe not. Pity the linemaker trying to parse a field full of lightly raced horses with top Beyer Speed Figures ranging from the mid-30s up to 50.

Loveyoulikecrazy earned that 50 finishing second Sept. 23 in an open Hawthorne maiden race, but then proceeded to take a meaningful step in the wrong direction when she was sixth with no apparent excuse in a similar spot Oct. 23.

Primity, in fact, is the Showtime Deb’s lone winner. She debuted Sept. 17 going five furlongs at FanDuel (formerly Fairmount), showed speed, and pulled away in the final furlong, looking less than hapless, to beat four Illinois-bred rivals. The Beyer came back a lackluster 39, and Primity might not even be the top contender from the barn of trainer John Wainwright.

:: DRF Bets members get FREE DRF Past Performances - Formulator or Classic. Join now!

Wainwright also sends out Cantoo, who also got a 39 Beyer making her debut at FanDuel, where she lost an open maiden sprint by a neck after an inside trip. Cantoo returned Sept. 23 at Hawthorne in the same maiden race where Loveyoulikecrazy finished second, but Cantoo’s chances ended at the race’s beginning: The assistant starter appeared to hold onto the filly slightly too long when the gate opened, causing her to rear and spot her rivals far too many lengths.

While Wainwright has two, leading Hawthorne trainer Larry Rivelli runs three fillies – none of whom looks like much. Mom’s Town, 7-2 on the line, enters as a five-race maiden with four losses in $20,000 and $25,000 maiden-claiming company. Her lone dirt start came in a one-turn Colonial Downs mile, and she failed to impress. Go On Girl surely will show speed under jockey E.T. Baird, while Rivelli’s third runner Gulf Bender is a mystery; she took betting making her career debut this summer in a Colonial turf sprint but blew the turn and was beaten a mile.

Joyzella’s two past performance lines make you want to take a closer look, but there’s nothing on video suggesting she’s more than what comes across on paper.

The nine horses with racing experience have showed little enough that Cat Royale, who makes her career debut, easily could be talented enough to win. Her work pattern holds appeal, and both her siblings to race, Cat Attack and Purr Sea, were fast 2-year-olds.

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