RACE 1:
#9 HE’S SO ZAZZY is worth a look as an alternative to the favorite given some upside following his February 22nd start. Despite finding trouble from the start (TROUBLE_S) throughout his trip (TROUBLE, TRAFFIC) he still ran on late and finished well once finally able to get into the clear. It should be noted he was entered to run at this starter allowance level back on March 14th however at the mile distance and should prefer this spot sprinting instead.
#7 ICATIRO one of two entered for Diodoro and already a winner at this starter allowance level here from back on opening weekend. He fired a big race off the bench for the live barn and backed up that effort with another good run on February 20th running against the flow making a wide move to finish third. Freshened off that pair of races he will come back to this level and similar efforts make him a fit here, however will need the right pace for his run style.
RACE 4:
#12 MUCHO MAS she had some seemingly positives heading into the March 26th race, but with that said did not find herself competitive that afternoon. That is tough to ignore, however there are changes in play here both in terms of the class drop and distance that could see a move forward in a wide open event. When she ran on March 26th she was positioned as a Large Square in Quad IV, and while Eramia did try to use for early speed was unable to keep pace at the sprint distance. That could come into play here and show more tactical speed taking on the route of ground and as shown more tactically placed on Standard PLOT as a Quad II Square. MUCHO MAS returns with class relief here again making just her second start for a claiming tag and some encouragement after the “effort” last out to return in just two weeks here. The distance at a route will have to be answered on the track, but that question extends to many in this field experimenting with the two-turn distance for the first time. She does have one start around two turn back in 2018 over a sloppy rated track and was not asked (NO_PUSH) to run as she did not handle (NO_HANDLE) that racing surface. In terms of OptixFIG in the “Past 3 Runlines” she has a race on par (highlighted) with the OptixFIGRANGE for this event.
RACE 7:
#2 SO ALIVE he will ship in this afternoon from Fair Grounds and looks well spotting into this claiming event. It should be noted following his February 9th effort was entered three times as a main-track-only runner unable to get the right surface to race. One of those events was at a condition similar to today and a race he stacks up well in based on class (OptixGRADE) and OptixFIG. The pace scenario this afternoon should also suit his off-the-pace run style. While the PLOTs here are a bit “messy” and noted for the “RED” PlotFit does come with a “Sun” Contention and honest SpeedRate. With some positional speed Quad II/IV and as a Large Square should have the Contention needed to put in a late run. Trip looks similar for #6 COSMOLOGIST and has some upside coming back this afternoon for Martin. This will be his third start of the form cycle and noted he ran a competitive race back on February 27th coming back after 340-days off. That seemed to play into a slight regression on March 20th, however he should get something out of that race as he was asked to race a bit closer to the pace before losing ground. A similar “third-off” pattern was used last season and did improve in that race as part of his form cycle.
