Horses to Watch: Note these 6 who raced over the weekend
In this biweekly series, racing analyst J. Keeler Johnson shares promising horses from his handicapping watch list, reviewing runners who have recently caught his eye and previewing horses scheduled to run back in the near future.
Results
Friday
Oaklawn, race 7: Calling Card ran below my hopes when making his first start against winners in a 1 1/16-mile $125,000 allowance optional claimer. After rating in midfield behind fractions of 23.66, 48.20 and 1:13.63, he lost ground against the top two finishers and came home third by seven lengths. However, I try not to drop watch list members off a single defeat, so I’ll give Calling Card a chance to rebound next time.
In contrast, I was impressed by the victorious Sandman and am adding him to my watch list. Coming off a third-place finish in the Street Sense (G3), Sandman likewise rated in midfield before finishing up strongly (final furlong in a swift 11.98 seconds per the Equibase GPS result chart) to win by 1 3/4 lengths in 1:38.71. This Mark Casse trainee is progressing in the right direction and may have additional upside.
Saturday
Tampa Bay Downs, race 6: Nic’s Style picked up her fifth win from six starts when conquering Florida-bred rivals in the seven-furlong FTBOA City of Ocala Florida Sire. Never more than 1 1/2 lengths behind splits of 22.38 and 44.87 seconds, the 4-year-old filly took over in the homestretch to score by 2 1/2 lengths in 1:21.84. A nice performance.
Fair Grounds, race 3: Following a couple of defeats against open company, Touchuponastar got back to his winning ways while facing fellow Louisiana-breds in the Louisiana Champions Day Classic. Favored at 1-5 to win the 1 1/8-mile race for the third year in a row, Touchuponastar carved out slow fractions of 25.02, 49.48 and 1:13.99 before accelerating his final three furlongs in 36.94 seconds to win easily by 5 1/4 lengths in 1:50.93.
Los Alamitos, race 8: What went wrong with Gaming in the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2)? It’s hard to say. He stayed within a length of reasonable 23.93, 47.75 and 1:11.87 pace fractions set by stablemate Getaway Car, but came up empty at the top of the stretch, weakening to finish third by 6 1/2 lengths as the 1-2 favorite.
This marked a regression from Gaming’s runner-up finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile over the same 1 1/16-mile distance. Is 1 1/16 miles simply too far for Gaming, who scored his signature win in the seven-furlong Del Mar Futurity (G1)? Or can we attribute his faltering Los Alamitos Futurity performance to an off day? We’ll need to see more from Gaming to know for certain, so I’ll keep him on my watch list for the time being.
I’ll also add to my watch list the impressive Los Alamitos Futurity winner Journalism. Coming off a maiden victory racing two turns at Del Mar, Journalism took another step forward in his stakes debut, tracking the pace on the outside before pulling clear of Getaway Car to prevail by 3 1/2 lengths in the good time of 1:43.04. As a son of Curlin out of the Uncle Mo mare Mopotism, Journalism has the pedigree to shine in the spring classics, so I’m optimistic he’s a serious Kentucky Derby contender for trainer Michael McCarthy.