Swot Analysis brings Louisiana-bred speed to open-company allowance
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Speed is his strength. Class may be a weakness. Friday, the Louisiana-bred Swot Analysis will be given an opportunity in open company and looms a threat to wire the field in a second-level allowance/optional $62,500 claiming feature at Aqueduct.
Swot Analysis, trained by Mark Casse for West Point Thoroughbreds, wintered at Fair Grounds where in January he got beat a neck by stablemate Bron and Brow in a Louisiana-bred stakes. He came back in February and March to win a pair of Louisiana-bred allowance races. In his victory on March 5, Swot Analysis set splits of 21.35 seconds for the quarter and 43.79 for the half-mile before holding on to win by three-quarters of a length, running six furlongs in 1:09.74.
“He’s extremely fast,” Casse said. “It’s going to be interesting to see how Louisiana-breds stack up there. His numbers say he can. He beat a bunch of good horses.”
Mike J was third to Swot Analysis on March 5 and came back to run second in an allowance at Evangeline Downs with a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 88. The mare Ova Charged finished fourth in that March 5 race. She won 8 of her first 9 starts, with the lone loss a second in the Grade 3 Victory Ride at Belmont in 2021.
Swot Analysis breaks from the rail under Trevor McCarthy.
Swot Analysis figures to have ample pace challengers. Saint Selby, River Dog, and Cees Get Degrees all like to be forward.
Saint Selby, trained by Rob Atras, is making her first start since last Sept. 30.
Conversely, trainer Linda Rice has two entrants coming back on short rest: Big Engine and Dot’s Dollar. A closer, Big Engine finished fourth in a third-level allowance/optional claimer on April 20, so this is technically a slight drop. Running back on eight days is nothing new for Big Engine, who in February won an optional claimer eight days after finishing fourth in the same condition.
Over the last three years, Rice is 5 for 20 with a $3.84 ROI with horses running back in eight days, according to DRF Formulator.
Dot’s Dollar was claimed by Rice last October for $50,000 and didn’t run again until April 21, when he won a first-level allowance by 5 1/4 lengths with a career-best 95 Beyer Speed Figure. Rice is 2 for 18 the last three years with a $0.61 ROI with horses running back on seven days’ rest, per Formulator.
Apprentice Jason Huayas, mired in a 1-for-51 slump at the spring meet, is named on Big Engine, while Javier Castellano is named to ride Dot’s Dollar.
Nova Rags, trained by Bill Mott, has finished second as the favorite in this condition in his last three races. He is a closer who figures to get a nice pace setup and is drawn well in post 7 of 8. Junior Alvarado rides.
No Sabe Nada returns to the dirt after a last-place finish on turf at Laurel Park for trainer Ned Allard.
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