MJC analyst Gabby Gaudet will share her longshot and exotic plays with The Racing Biz each Saturday. Photo courtesy of the Maryland Jockey Club.

MJC analyst Gabby Gaudet will share her longshot and exotic plays with The Racing Biz each Saturday. Photo courtesy of the Maryland Jockey Club.

In the latest edition of our weekly feature with Maryland racing analyst Gabby Gaudet, she scopes out Laurel’s featured allowance test.

RACE 8

The skinny: An allowance/optional claiming race for fillies and mares three and up that have never won three races other than, or claiming price $32,000.

Notably: Four stakes winners square off in this allowance test, including flashy Maryland Racing Media Association winner Ilikecandy.

Gabby’s take: “I think #7 Ilikecandy, the favorite, could very well be a single for a lot of people.”

And don’t forget: #4 Before You Know It and #6 Knit One Purr Too

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#7 ILIKECANDY

  • Second start off the layoff for Graham Motion trainee
  • Won the Maryland Racing Media Association Stakes by seven in February, off until October
  • Returned with a fifth in pricey allowance company at Keeneland
  • “That 7-furlong race coming back was very tough,” says Gabby.  “There were some graded stakes-type horses in there, like Flower Spell and Drama Drama.”
  • Trainer Motion has a positive return-on-investment on horses making their second start off a layoff and, notably, has had Ilikecandy work six furlongs twice since that last race.
  • Bottom line: “I think she is going to want further, but I think she has the class and talent to win at seven furlongs.”[/boxify]

LIVE LONGSHOT

#6 KNIT ONE PURR TOO 

  • Dane Kobiskie trainee was third at the same level last out in a race rained off the turf.
  • 12-1 in the morning line.
  • Sophomore Tale of the Cat filly has enjoyed perhaps greatest success sprinting on the grass — including a win in the $100,000 Stormy Blues Stakes at Pimlico — but has never been out of the money in four tries on the main track.
  • Though she’s won three of 10 starts, she has never gone farther than six furlongs.
  • Trainer Kobiskie has won at a 30 percent clip during the Laurel meet (12 wins in 40 starts).
  • “I think she’ll like the added distance, and I think she can improve with it,” says Gabby.
  • Bottom line: “She’s a very live longshot here.”

And don’t forget about #4 Before You Know It.  The Claudio Gonzalez trainee has won three straight, most recently crushing second-level allowance foes by more than six. Gonzalez is winning with 28 percent of his starters during the Laurel meet, and Gabby says, “You can’t really throw out any Claudio Gonzalez horse right now.”

But she also points out that the field Before You Know It beat in her last was only so-so.  Second-place finisher Chance Encounter had been claimed for just $5,000 two races previously.  “There were some good horses, but they have such in-and-out form that it’s not the same compared to what Ilikecandy faced at Keeneland.

  • And a Pick 3…

  • Race 7 – 1, 4, 5
  • Race 8 – 4, 6, 7
  • Race 9 – 1, 3, 5, 13
  • Ticket cost ($0.50 unit): $18.00

ILIKECANDY WINS THE MARYLAND RACING MEDIA ASSOCIATION STAKES

[su_video url=”https://www.theracingbiz.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/WMCap36_x264.mp4″ title=”Ilikecandy kicks clear in the Md. Racing Media Association Stakes.” width=”420″]

“Good luck!”

(Featured image, of Ben’s Cat, by Laurie Asseo.)