Fixed Race at Fg Xmas Eve

[brianwspencer]

Originally Posted by ArlJim78

Well for those who missed it, our boy Direct Splash made his return to racing Saturday at Delta Downs. He scratched out of a stakes race to run in a tough five furlong allowance race for LA breds.

He hopped up at the break and essentially had no chance at that point, spotting the field several lengths. He did motor up into contention and ran what I would call a respectable fourth considering the start.

It looks to me that he has maintained the sharp form that he displayed on Christmas Eve. Kudos to the connections for getting this guy turned around and racing competitively once again. Hopefully in his next start he'll receive better racing luck.

Glad you caught that too! I was impressed that he more or less held his form -- even with the tough break.

I looked at the times at Delta -- the best time there in the last three years for five furlongs was the track record holder who got the distance in 57.2. That sort of made the winning time Saturday of 59.3 seemed a little dissappointing for a tough allowance heat (by the way, Saturday's winner has run some huge numbers in his career -- regular 5-ish numbers and even a 2 before! No shame in losing to that one!). But then I noticed that the track record was really a standout performance. By and large, all the 5 furlong races at Delta, regardless of class tend to be run between 58.4 and 102.1.

Factor all that in, and his terrible start -- and getting beaten five lengths was pretty impressive.

Since you brought it back up AJ, I checked out the redboard room on TG for the sheets for Saturday's race. Remember all my speculation about the "improvement" that Direct Splash made over his career top? Turns out I was right, according to them (he ran a 7.5, over his career top of 9) -- that his rail skimming, uncontested trip up front was really only an improvement of about a length and a half/length and three quarters over his career top from earlier this Spring before he tailed off.

I'd certainly agree with you -- that once you factor in the start from Saturday, that race really did a great job validating his race from Christmas Eve. That race turned out (as most could see, in retrospect) to just be a classic case of a horse rounding back into form and being aided by getting loose on the lead in the slop. Bet it's not the first time you've seen that happen, right?

Bet it won't be the last, either!

Direct Splash looks like a good addition to any stable mail -- this start will likely look worse on paper than it really was, and this guy may be a great play next time he gets in the gate if they spot him at an appropriate level.