Battlefield Breeders Crown: The Cavalcade Of Freshmen and Sophomores

Once again, this TwinSpires blog and the exclusive Breeders Crown Countdown blog are working in tandem. We are splitting up our comments on the Oct. 27 Breeders Crown finals at Woodbine between here and there.

At the other blog, we present the older divisions in the classic series, while the two- and three-year-old events are covered below. And follow us on Twitter -- @FrankCotolo and @RayCotolo, as we report live on the Woodbine program.

Shuffle your attention once more to be abreast of all the coverage, available exclusively at TwinSpires in cooperation with the Hambletonian Society. Here are our comments and suggested contenders in the order of the frosh or soph event on Saturday, Oct. 27.

Two-Year-Old Filly Pace

Off of a striking win at The Red Mile, Parlee Beach comes to this affair fresh and strong. She qualified at Mohawk to prep and should be ready to pounce on the top choice, I Luv The Nitelife and top the exacta with that one. You may want to add Love Canal for a trifecta. She was our choice in the elim and was a strong second at 13-1 with Somewherovrarainbow, who is bound to be sharp again but may have to settle for a smaller share with these.

 

Three-Year-Old Filly Pace

We are ready to support what could be a major upset in this mile with Apogee Hanover.

This race could wind up with a shuffling speed duel that will give our choice a clear path to take advantage of a closing kick that impressed us greatly in last week’s elim, won by Romantic Moment. That won will have to contend with American Jewel and Economy Terror and the three could cancel each other out.

In fact, using Shelliscape for the exacta with Apogee Hanover is a wise move that could produce great results if the speed we expect is not at a surplus. This is a wonderful scenario for an explosive wagering strike.

Two-Year-Old Filly Trot

We have been fans of frosh-fillies sired by Kadabra since we delivered readers Poof She’s Gone in the Mistletoe Shalee at 6-1. When Bee A Magician began the season we were all over her nine wins from 11 starts. She comes into this event poised to beat To Dream On (she is the only filly to defeat that one) and if she lives up to her 3-1 morning line she is a super overlay.

Royal Assets could play a role in an exotic combo, having a propensity to follow winners. She is in a great spot to lay low and sneak into the picture late at a great price.

Three-Year-Old Filly Trot

Check Me Out can come close to being the first soph-filly trotter to get a bundle of votes for Horse of the Year since CR Kay Suzie earned that honor—but she has to win this event convincingly. We think she will do that and that only some strange misstep that gets her galloping will stop her. Toss out her loss at The Red Mile since she made two wide moves. From the rail here she should command this affair.

What may make for a juicy exotic is the inclusion of Bluff. We thought Bluff would be the one to beat Check Me Out in the Kentucky Filly Futurity but she never got started in that mile. We will excuse her for that and bank on her getting a good spot early, possibly sucking along to Check Me Out and saving enough ground to get second or third while others fade from giving chase.

Two-Year-Old Colt Pace

Three words describe this race: Captaintreacherous, Captaintreacherous and Captaintreacherous (photo right). It has become hard to be anything but cute when talking about a race with this monstrous freshman. He will be 1-10 and there will be little you can do with him. He may race to another world record here as he faces the same types he has been beating regularly. No one knows if he has raced his best and as his third birthday looms we can only watch and try to muster more awe.

Rockin Amadeus may be on his tail for second, though even at 20-1 the exacta will be slim.

Two-Year-Old Colt Trot

Pine Chip scratched from this final but that is hardly consequential since his chances of beating Wheeling N Dealin were slim to none. In fact, who among this group can hand “Wheeling” his first defeat? It is difficult to make as strong a case for any other colt here but Wheeling.

Last week we took a 60-1 shot, Caveat Emptor, who finished fourth. He may sit in a good spot this time around, leaving as we thought he would in the final, and be up to making this a whopper of an exacta. For a trifecta with some price to it, put the probable second choice, Dontyouforgetit for third.

 

Three-Year-Old Colt Pace

This will be the first time all season that we support Sweet Lou. We beat him throughout the year and rightfully so—except at The Red Mile. That was an impressive race against the best of this mediocre crop. Along with Mel Mara, a perfect late-season star, Sweet Lou should handle the likes of the lesser talent involved.

This rag-tag field is what is left of the crop: Michaels Power, Bettors Edge, Escape The News, Heston Blue Chip, Panther Hanover, Dapper Dude, Thinking Out Loud and Hillbilly Hanover were all second- and third-stringers in the division this year.

The fact that Michaels Power will get money only helps our duo. Bettors Edge won his elim with everyone on top of him but he will attract money. Thinking Out Loud is a hometown favorite that has one big credit to his season and it was in Canada, Hillybilly Hanover is thriving late but was nowhere most of the season and Dapper Dan brings very little to the table with his resume.

Sweet Lou stunned the crowd here last year as the frosh-colt pacing hero but at three he was disappointing, though productive by most measures. In class and condition, our pair of picks are the best.
 

Three-Year-Old Colt Trot

 
Supplement, shmupplement [sic], Market Share is the utter best of this division and how he lost last week to Intimidate qualifies as a freaky moment that should become an asterisk in the history books.

It’s true that we backed Little Brown Fox through the year and thought he could have won the Hambletonian had he not jumped in his elim to be disqualified, that was then and this is now—and now, Market Share is undeniably the best. He won’t be worth much to win and the exotics promise to be puny, so we leave this one up to you 

For the events with older divisions of this year’s Breeders Crown, click here.

Ray Cotolo contributed to this edition.