Steve’s Interesting Horses

When LoneSpeed first went live just two short months ago, the initial plan was for this website to feature a number of “smart horse racing minds”, as I said in the introduction video many of you have watched.  I wanted to have four or five regular contributors.  Well, when I realized how few people were visiting this site day to day, and how many times I had to post the same link on Twitter to get even 100 people to read a new article, I sort of decided I needed to grow LoneSpeed before I could ask people to devote THEIR time to helping ME build MY website while getting nothing in return.  Well, today is a big day for LoneSpeed.  While the name Justin Dew appears in the byline for this article, the author of the below content is none other than Steve Decaspers.  We’ll get his bio up on the website eventually, but suffice it to say Steve has worked in racing, bets on racing, and is an accomplished tournament veteran, having qualified for the NHC multiple times, including 2019.  Below are his initial thoughts on the Breeders’ Cup and his “interesting horses”…

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Since I’ve been referenced as the person who strangely calls horses that he may or may not use “interesting” I thought I owed it to the fast growing LoneSpeed readership to share my list of “interesting” horses.

And how’s this for a deal – they are ALL different (not planned…just how it worked out) than Justin’s list. This was an excellent exercise to do to just quickly get familiar with the fields, and it led me to the identification of a horse that’s gone from “interesting” to “LOVE!!!” in the Distaff.

Turf Sprint

Lost Treasure is interesting because he’s run 7 times in 8 weeks. Who’s training this horse? Juan Serey? He’s also a trouble-finder, having lacked room in his last three races. The Euros are 0 for a decade in this race, but I think this son of War Front may have what’s necessary to pull the upset.

Filly & Mare Sprint

Skye Diamonds is interesting in that she’s a hard knocking mare that can come from just off the pace, post a 99 Beyer and – most interesting – she has a prep race, which she didn’t have when I used her in last year’s F&M Sprint.

Dirt Mile

Seven Trumpets is interesting use in the Dirt Mile because he’s a 3-for-3 at Churchill, should love the distance and took a sub-optimal path along the rail in the Gallant Bob on Pennsylvania Derby Day. Has he run fast enough to win this? Not yet…but a couple lengths of improvement isn’t out of the realm of possibility.

Filly & Mare Turf

Eziyra (Ire) gets the interesting classification here – I like that she seems like a 12F specialist shortening up to the 11F of the F&M Turf, as opposed to some of her opponents who look like they may be mile and a quarter types trying to get that 3^rd Turn. Many can win here, but I’m thinking Eziyra could be forgotten despite being trained by the great Dermot Weld.

Sprint

Imperial Hint is interesting because he’s 0 for 2 at Churchill, but may have had excuses. If the excuses are legit and he takes to the track, he should lay down a 114 Beyer Speed Figure and be crowned champion sprinter by 2 lengths. What’s interesting is that he may be 5-2 or better.

Turf Mile

Next Shares is the interesting horse because of how dumb you’ll feel if you don’t use him and he wins. The last two wins were dominant, and he ran 59 feet further than the winner three back at Del Mar when he got a strange ride and packed it in late. This is one of those classic cases where you’ll probably get 15-1 or 20-1 on the horse with the best form and best figs going into the race.

Distaff

Blue Prize (Arg) likes to win and likes the track. She just isn’t particularly fast or sexy. But sometimes the fast and sexy horses get into the race a little early, and Blue Prize is the type of runner that could clunk up late for an upset win. Then again, she gets REAL interesting when you consider that she ran at least 12 feet further than all of her opponents in the Spinster and 79 and 65 feet further than the place and show horses.

Turf

Waldgeist (GB) is interesting because he was less than 2 lengths behind Enable in the Arc and will probably be 5X her price.

Classic

West Coast is interesting because if the Awesome Again was a prep, he could win this by open lengths. Sometimes wide-open races aren’t that wide open at all, and the Classic feels like that could be the case.