Hollywood Park Race Track - May 21, 2008 R4Post time: 2:54PM Warren’s Adventure faced Missing Treasure in a 7F race on 3/10 at SA, with Warren’s Adventure out finishing him by 1 ½. At the 3/8ths pole, Missing Treasure was a head in front of Warrens Adventure and yet Warren’s Adventure simply out kicked that one in the stretch. I prefer Warren’s Adventure to Missing Treasure. After watching the 4/25 race with Kimmysclassylady and Missing Treasure, my sense is that they are probably about equal in ability, with the slight advantage to Kimmysclassylady. Kimmysclassylady got away perfectly smoothly, Missing Treasure didn’t seem to be running quite as smoothly, in tight a bit in certain spots down the backstretch, though never steadying or checking. Kalookan Lessie is highly regarded on the ML being the 7/2 second choice, and in fact, 4 of the 5 handicappers at the DRF have chosen Kalookan Lessie as their top selection, but in 22 starts she has but two wins and those came at 5 1/2F and 6F, her last win being back in July of 2006. I do think today’s distance of 7F is a bit beyond her range. I watched her 2/22 race in which she steadied at the 1/8 pole, and her momentum was certainly impeded, but sometimes horses that have trouble are over bet in their next race, and I am not convinced she would’ve won that race. She is 0/2 on the synthetic surface even if we exclude her last race in which she steadied at the 1/8 pole. At 7/2 on the ML I prefer others. Jazzerin I think might be overlooked at 8-1 on the ML. She did not have a good trip last time on 4/30, breaking awkwardly, and having to go 6 wide into the stretch and drifting out a little in the stretch, and yet she still rallied well to get second. On 4/30 Beyla broke outward which didn’t help and Jazzerin had what appeared to be even more trouble and yet she rallied to get second. Beyla was the 7/2 second choice in this race, and perhaps the public will excuse the last based on that, but I prefer Jazzerin at 8-1 ML to Beyla at 7/2. Beyla was certainly more highly regarded as at 7/2 last time out whereas Jazzerin was 22-1, but I think Jazzerin might be improving. Asian Eyes is coming off a long layoff but I think if it weren’t for the layoff, she would be my top pick. Speedfigurewise, she is the one to beat if she can duplicate her efforts from last year, and the trainer Peter Miller is very capable with horses coming off long layoffs. Perhaps not quite as reliable as the very top trainers, but he is one of those trainers that starts few but has good numbers with the limited number that are in his barn. Contender. Spy Aly – Steven Knapp off a 9-month layoff? No thank you. Cherie’s Dream is a bit of a tough read and an X factor for me. Can’t discount this ones chances completely, as she is trained by the capable Ben Cecil and has run decent against good Allowance horses such as Igraine, and she did win a 32K claimer on the downhill turf, so she has some ability for sure. Mixed signals, but possible. Bartok’s Bling also has run pretty well on the synthetic surface. After handicapping 9 horses I came to her and was hoping to finish up and eliminate her, but this is not the strongest field for this level, and her numbers on synthetic last year sprinting are competitive. She has run two bad races in a row, but one was at 9F and was pulling in that race. The last race was on the downhill turf and she ran badly with no apparent excuse. I would consider this one bad race and not two, and at 12-1 I’ll take a shot on finding out if she has gone off form, because if she hasn’t she will be competitive. Win EXA Total Betting Units = 4
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