Race 1:
There are a pair of horses in #2 RED BO and #8 MEANBONE that will be making their second start of the meet and are exiting a starter allowance event back on Feb. 14. Both horses offer upside coming out of that race finding class relief here and a more favorable pace scenario than the one earlier this month. The race shape as noted below on OptixGRID was S/Slow rated (O4S) opening half-mile and came home (OFS) VF/VeryFast. That played against this pair running on from off the pace and should also note the top four finishers were in a blanket at the wire.
As shown on OptixPLOT below the pair are capable to track closer to the pace (Quad II Squares) given the dynamics and class drop. It should be noted the position and Large Square of #1 GUSTA MON SHOES – a position that makes him a threat in this race. With that said, he has the look of a “soft favorite” as this will be his first start back in 179-days now a 10-year-old runner.
Race 2:
Similar to Race 1, there are a pair of horses in #4 ICE SPHERE and #6 ELITE AND BIG making their second starts of the Oaklawn Park meet with upside from their debut. These horses are not coming out of the same race, however, had similar early trouble that took them out of their running styles – styles they are capable to get back to here. #4 ICE SPHERE ran a competitive fourth back on Feb. 7 after the slow start and closing ground to finish third. He is one that does have more early speed as shown in Quad I on OptixPLOT and under today’s conditions is capable to be a threat with that type of trip. #6 ELITE AND BIG was tangled up at the start (TROUBLE_S) back on February 2nd taking him out of position and his run style early on. Tough to see on the running line alone, though he did show an early move and overall visuals to suggest he will be more forwardly placed in the future. With that said, he still has an uphill battle needing to improve significantly taking on older horses in here.
