Thursday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: Always Practical returns from layoff at right distance
Aqueduct | Race 2 | Post Time 1:09 p.m. (ET)
Linda Rice sends out a pair of runners in this starter allowance for fillies and mares. The one likely to attract more support is Sheer Will (#3), who just missed at this level last time as the 9-5 favorite. She ran well against a decent field, making a wide bid to lead in upper stretch before getting run down by a stablemate in the final furlong. She has been in great form lately, but I do wonder if we've already seen her ceiling. She improved unexpectedly when she stopped the clock in very fast time beating claimers two back. Now that her form is so exposed, she's going to be a short price and I doubt she has further upside.
I prefer Rice's other runner, Always Practical (#2), who returns from a bit of a layoff following a victory against $50k conditioned claimers in September. While I generally don't love horses going to the sidelines following wins, this filly has been training pretty consistently during the time away. It would appear that she just had a series of very minor issues, since she hasn't gone more than two weeks without registering a workout during her time away. Rice also has pretty strong statistics off this kind of break. She is 19 for 70 (27%, $2.03 ROI) off 90 to 180-day layoffs in dirt sprints at NYRA over the last four years. Always Practical ran better than it appears at Saratoga when contesting a pace that came apart on July 11 and then chasing the pace going too far out of the Wilson Chute. She put it all together last time against a field that has proven to be even stronger than it seemed at the time. The layoff should ensure a fair price.
The other horse to consider is Vanilla (#6), who has won both prior dirt sprints. She got the job done off a layoff last time and may have room for further improvement here. She's the other horse I want to use, but I am mildly concerned that this distance may be too sharp for her, especially without much speed signed on.