A Handicapper's Picks

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Hello everybody and welcome to A Handicapper's Picks, a separate column that will cover TW. Another will cover races at GHF. The purpose of this column is to handicap certain races and pick the likely winner from the bunch. This is by no means to be used as a judging tool for a race, and if you are judging a race that is in all caps and marked as important I encourage you NOT to read that week's column until after you have judged the race.

The column will only cover races that are marked as important - i.e, all caps or a race series like the Risorgimento. This is so that there isn't any confusion. Occasionally, undercard races may be covered as well - in such cases, I will post in the race thread letting the world know so that whoever is judging knows not to read this column until after they have judged. This was just a fun thing that I wanted to do. I will never handicap races that I am judging, but I will handicap races that my horses are entered in. Please do not get upset by my handicapping; this is for fun. Fun fun fun.

Without further adieu, here I go!

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September Week Three brings us some great fields to handicap here on TW! I will cover the Just A Game Stakes and Consumato Derby in this posting.

JUST A GAME STAKES
This nine furlong race over the turf has drawn a strong field seven, and I cannot tell you how excited I am to see this field come together. Analyzing the field, I can safely say that Dazzling Dame and Innocent Passion are likely to be the favorites. Dazzling Dame has scored some great turf victories all year and cannot be underrated. She is a top rated senior mare among youngsters looking to stand her up. She stands out as a strong contender for the win in this race. Innocent Passion recently won the Butter Cup Sprint and is coming in hot off of that race. She is more of a sprinter but proved she could handle distance when she took the Handsome Mile. Not to be forgotten are Fleet Majesty and Calamity Queen. Calamity Queen has been knocking at the door for a couple of months now and could surprise with a win in this field. Fleet Majesty is only a grade four but proved herself recently when she took the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes against top older mares. She's a real fighter and cannot be overlooked.

Given the conditions of the field, I'm picking Dazzling Dame as the most likely winner of this race. But my long shot choice is Fleet Majesty since the pace will be set up perfectly on the front end for this closer to sweep in and pick them off.


CONSUMATO DERBY
This eleven furlong test on the dirt has attracted both the winners of the last two races, GS Super Charged and Indian Darling, as well as Preakness Stakes winner Sizzling Dawn. It's a strong and worthy field. My personal picks for favorites are Sizzling Dawn and GS Super Charged. Sizzling Dawn is well and proven at eleven furlongs, and she loves the Wire track. Both of these things were reflected when she stole the show in the Preakness Stakes. And she has definitely been competing and running well against older horses since she was a juvenile, and she can handle these horses. The only problem for her may be the pace. GS Super Charged is improving at the right time for this race. He was a clear winner in the Novizio and may improve enough off of that to place well here. Not to mention his closing style is perfect against a fast field, which this may turn out to be. Not to be forgotten here, The Rising and Indian Darling are both looking strong. The Rising surprised with a third in the El Sol Del Mar Memorial most recently and could be improving at the right time. Indian Darling was beautiful in her win last week and could be looking for more.

I'm picking GS Super Charged as the winner. If the race is fast, it should play out well for this classy colt. But my long shot choice is most assuredly Lusitania's Soldier. He improved well to finish second in the Valorizzare and his style is great for the race. He's also been racing well enough this season and could be ready to tackle this competition.