Firing At Let 8 Ride Again With Missle Bomb

Look, all the kids cereal in the world wouldn’t be able to sugarcoat my performance in #Let8Ride through the first two weeks of the contest. My top picks haven’t been close, and even my “saver” plays have failed to win on either opening day of the four-day contest.

Thankfully, though, each week is a new game. The losses are buried, and exorcising the demons is only a win away. Unfortunately, today’s eighth race—a maiden special weight for two-year-olds—is no gimme as 11 juveniles are expected to face the starter, including five newcomers.

And it is one of those newcomers—Missle Bomb—who interests me most. This colt cost Silverton Hill $225,000 at the 2014 Keeneland September yearling sale, and though Darrin Miller has conditioned him at the Churchill Downs Training Center, it is understandable that he ships to Arlington rather than Indiana Downs, Ellis, Belterra, or elsewhere because this colt is absolutely “bred for Polytrack” (if such a thing actually happens).

By Tale of the Cat, Missle Bomb is the second foal out of stakes-winning Lemon Drop Kid mare Miss A Bomb, who won her debut on Polytrack at Turfway Park, and while her first foal, the More Than Ready filly A Little Bit Sassy, has no wins on Polytrack, she did win on turf as a two-year-old. Miller has a positive ROI with both first-time starters and debut runners in the MSW level, and despite only having one starter at the Arlington meeting so far, attracted the services of 19% rider Jose Valdivia.

Missle Bomb is the top pick, but given my record so far, let’s hedge a bit with #2 Shogood, who should benefit from the pacesetting experience last out while stretching out a bit and coming off the rail with a bullet work in tow for new trainer Scott Becker, who gets Chris Emigh to jump off #10 Three Golden Rules, who was 6 ¾ lengths back of Shogood last time.