{"id":5415,"date":"2008-12-08T14:54:47","date_gmt":"2008-12-08T19:54:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.capperspicks.com\/blog\/?p=5415"},"modified":"2008-12-08T14:54:47","modified_gmt":"2008-12-08T19:54:47","slug":"horses-to-watch-81208","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/horse-racing\/horses-to-watch-81208\/","title":{"rendered":"Dec 8th, 2008: Horses To Watch"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Greg Melikov\u2019s December 8th Horses to Watch<\/h2>\n<p>Horses worth watching, a list of runners compiled by handicapper\/turf writer Greg Melikov that should do well or improve significantly next time out, won six times, ran second eight times and finished third once since Oct. 24. These thoroughbreds are worth considering when charting your <strong><a title=\"Horse Betting\" href=\"\/horses\/\" target=\"_self\">horse betting<\/a><\/strong> strategy. \u00a0 <!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>AQUEDUCT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Shaughraun: Broke next to last from the outside 10th post, raced 11 \u00bd lengths behind after a half-mile, turned for home five wide in fifth, finished willingly to make up 2 \u00bd lengths and ran second by a neck at a mile on the inner track Dec. 7.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CALDER<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Witty Woman: Raced fourth early, dropped to sixth more than 8 \u00bd lengths behind after a half-mile, rallied from fourth to make up more than 2 \u00bd lengths in stretch and finished second beaten a neck at a mile on the turf; ran final quarter in 23 4\/5.<\/p>\n<p><strong>FAIR GROUNDS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Fifty Five: Broke ninth and last, raced more than 10 \u00bd lengths behind in eighth after a half-mile, came inside on far turn, angled out for drive, went inside in stretch rallying from seventh to second, made up five lengths and gained second by a nose at 1 1\/16 miles on the turf Dec. 6.<\/p>\n<p><strong>HAWTHORNE<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Bow Tie Pasta: Broke sideways ninth and last, moved to fifth 2 \u00bd lengths behind after a half-mile, steadied repeatedly along backstretch losing a couple of lengths, dropped to seventh after six furlongs, made up a length in stretch and finished a game fourth at 1 1\/16 miles on Dec. 6.<\/p>\n<p><strong>HOLLYWOOD PARK<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Bow Tie Pasta: Broke sideways ninth and last, moved to fifth 2 \u00bd lengths behind after a half-mile, steadied repeatedly along backstretch losing a couple of lengths, dropped to seventh after six furlongs, made up a length in stretch and finished a game fourth at 1 1\/16 miles on Dec. 6.<\/p>\n<p><strong>LAUREL<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Anjunothat: Stalked contested pace in third more than two lengths behind after a half-mile, eased out midway on turn, took command in upper stretch and drew off under confident handling to win by nine lengths at six furlongs on Dec. 6; ran final quarter in 24 2\/5.<\/p>\n<p><strong>PHILADELPHIA PARK<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Novation: Sprinted to front, led by five lengths after a half-mile, steadily increased margin in stretch and cruised to easy win by 14 \u00be lengths at six furlongs on a sealed muddy surface Dec. 2.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RETAMA PARK<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Peggy Charlese: Raced six lengths behind in sixth after a half-mile, rallied six wide on turn, closed from fourth in stretch to make up 2 \u00be lengths and finished second by 1 \u00bd lengths at six furlongs on Nov. 28.<\/p>\n<p><strong>TURF PARADISE<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Ransom Captive: Tracked pace more than 2 \u00bd lengths behind in fifth after a half-mile, awaited room for the drive, advanced to third in stretch, steadied near sixteenth pole and gained second by a neck at a mile on the turf Dec. 6.<\/p>\n<p><strong>TURFWAY PARK<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Southern Squire: Broke in the air, raced seventh early, moved to sixth more than 6 \u00bd lengths behind after a half-mile, split horses betting for the drive, gained second in stretch, made up 3 \u00bd lengths and lost by a half-length at 6 \u00bd furlongs on Dec. 5<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.betus.com\/ats\/11892\/mid\/680\/racebook\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Greg Melikov\u2019s Horses to Watch Sept 15th, 2008\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sportsimagestore.com\/showbanner.asp?affid=11892&amp;banid=680\" border=\"0\" alt=\"racebook\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Horses racing worth watching, a list of runners compiled by handicapper\/turf writer Greg Melikov that should do well or improve significantly next time out&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4543,1923,1922,234,4544,4545,1927,6143,493,1928,4546,4547,1920,1918,1926,1924,66496,1917,1925,4548,1919,4550,1046,1050,1051,4549,1921,4551,6142,4552],"class_list":["post-5415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-horse-racing","tag-aqueduct","tag-arlington-park","tag-belmont-park","tag-breeders-cup","tag-calder","tag-churchill-downs","tag-delaware","tag-fair-grounds","tag-futures","tag-greg-melikov","tag-hawthorne","tag-hollywood-park","tag-horse-gambling","tag-horse-race-news","tag-horse-race-odds","tag-horse-races","tag-horse-racing","tag-horse-racing-articles","tag-horses-to-watch","tag-laurel","tag-online-horse-betting","tag-philadelphia-park","tag-props","tag-racebook","tag-racebooks","tag-retama-park","tag-triple-crown-horses","tag-turf-paradise","tag-turfway-park","tag-woodbine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5415"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5418,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5415\/revisions\/5418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}