One handicapping angle that has worked well for a friend is choosing horses that had the misfortune of running against a “killer” (a very good horse). There was a maiden race yesterday at Oaklawn that fits that bill. Mighty Mischief ran an 81 Beyer first time out, and lost by a head. He came into today at 3 to 5 and won easily earning an Equibase fig of 100.
The 8-1 fourth choice was a horse named Reserve trained by Ron Moquett. He ran with the leader for a quarter mile and then packed it in finishing a distant 7th.
Reserve is a son of Tiznow, out of a mare that ran route races in England and the UAE. The 2nd dam was a G1 winner routing on the turf. The 3rd dam is by the great Roberto. He was $120,000 buy as a yearling by the owner of Oaklawn Louis Cella. Moquett is known as the trainer of Whitmore, but he has been a good long shot trainer over the years. Let’s be watching for Reserve’s 2nd start.
Let’s grab one more horse out of that same race.
Time Is Yours is a nicely bred son of Not This Time. This one was a $120,000 yearling purchase before the sire got hot. The mare was an unraced daughter of Ghostzapper, but the 2nd dam was multiple graded stakes winner Capote Belle. The trainer is Kelly Von Hemel who has been a solid 20% winner at Oaklawn and Prairie Meadows. This horse hopped at the start, and had some traffic issues finishing 5th.
Buying A Race Horse 