Mountaineer, Maiden Special Weight 8:55 PM ET

Race of the Day, May 4, 2014

Mountaineer Race Track, Chester, WV, Race 6

Maiden Special Weight, 5f, 3 and up,  8:55 EST, Purse: $19,400

After a few days with the royalty of the sport, let’s take a trip to the Mountain.  Mountaineer Race Track in Chester, W.V., races about 10 months out of the year, Sunday through Wednesday, starting at 7:00 EST. It features all levels of racing, but mainly feasts of a steady diet of $5,000 restricted claimers.  Many horses will race at the Mountain towards the end of their careers.  It can make for some very interesting backstories and give a locale for some old tough warriors to earn their keep.

We have a maiden race and an allowance at that.  Some horses are here to win, some to prep for the eventual drop to maiden claiming.  Always pay special attention to horses that shipped from Turfway or Keeneland.  These horses are typically in better condition than locally raced horses.

Questions

  • Will Zion Hill (1, 12-1) be a first-timer of importance? We can check the board for clues.  If he’s under 6-1, he might be live.
  • Who is in better form, Pampero Storm (#6, 5-2) or Phil’s Wildcat (#7, 7-5)?
  • If there’s a good pace, will Western Seeker (#4, 6-1) be able to close into it?

Analysis

It seems like a likely two horse race between Pampero Storm and Phil’s Wildcat.  I like Pampero Storm a bit better. It’s his second time in the barn of trainer, Luis Jurado, and he ran well last time.  I expect an even sharper effort today, and would be happy to take a price of 2-1 or higher.   Playing multi-race wagers, such as the Pick 4 that begins here or the Pick 5 that began the race before, I’d want to include both of the top horses.  Good luck and enjoy the Mountain.  We’ll be back Wednesday for a new week of racing.

Postscript

Wow, a dead heat between Pampero Storm and Phil’s Wildcat!  Western Storm has a bad start and Zion Hill received no support (and he didn’t finish).  The stretch drive was thrilling, and I expected Phil’s Wildcat to go by, but Pampero Storm was resilient and showed his good form. It’s often much easier to eliminate bad horses in maiden races than in higher level races, and you can often find some decent prices.  You can follow our race of the day live on twitter at @alldayracing.