Bullet Gone Astray and Swagger Jagger head a field of a dozen 3-year-olds in this afternoon's $100,000 OBS Championship Stakes at the Ocala Training Center.
The race is the fifth on the card in the annual OBS race day. Scheduled post is 3:15 p.m.
It is a non-wagering race. But it has significance for fans watching at the OTC and on its the OBS web site
Bullet Gone Astray, Swagger Jagger and several other horses in the race could move on to other stakes races during the next several months at Gulfstream Park or at Tampa Bay Downs.
Bullet Gone Astray caught attention on Aug. 1 when he was the runaway winner of the Mountaineer Juvenile at Mountaineer Park in Chester, W.Va.
The son of Gone Astray has been winless since then in five races. All were stakes at a mile or shorter, including the Hopeful (Grade 1) at Saratoga.
Trainer Henry Collazo has been looking for a two-turn stakes race for Bullet Gone Astray, and he feels that the Ocala race could be the right spot.
Collazo said he did not strongly consider running Bullet Gone Astray in the $350,000 Holy Bull (Grade 3) at 1 1/16 miles this coming Saturday at Gulfstream.
"I don't want to put him in that deep right now," Collazo said. "This (OTC) will be a good test. I always let the horse take us where he shows he wants to go, rather than us taking the horse somewhere."
Luca Panici has ridden Bullet Gone Astray in all seven of his previous races and has the mount again today.
Swagger Jagger won the Pulpit Stakes at one mile on turf on Nov. 28 at the Gulfstream Park West meet held at Calder. Eddie Castro will ride Swagger Jagger for trainer Michael Maker.
The OBS stakes also has Extinct Charm, winner of a stakes at Aqueduct, and Unbridled Trick, winner of a stakes at Thistledown in Ohio.
--Jim Freer
Bullet Gone Astray, Swagger Jagger and several other horses in the race could move on to other stakes races during the next several months at Gulfstream Park or at Tampa Bay Downs.
Bullet Gone Astray caught attention on Aug. 1 when he was the runaway winner of the Mountaineer Juvenile at Mountaineer Park in Chester, W.Va.
The son of Gone Astray has been winless since then in five races. All were stakes at a mile or shorter, including the Hopeful (Grade 1) at Saratoga.
Trainer Henry Collazo has been looking for a two-turn stakes race for Bullet Gone Astray, and he feels that the Ocala race could be the right spot.
Collazo said he did not strongly consider running Bullet Gone Astray in the $350,000 Holy Bull (Grade 3) at 1 1/16 miles this coming Saturday at Gulfstream.
"I don't want to put him in that deep right now," Collazo said. "This (OTC) will be a good test. I always let the horse take us where he shows he wants to go, rather than us taking the horse somewhere."
Luca Panici has ridden Bullet Gone Astray in all seven of his previous races and has the mount again today.
Swagger Jagger won the Pulpit Stakes at one mile on turf on Nov. 28 at the Gulfstream Park West meet held at Calder. Eddie Castro will ride Swagger Jagger for trainer Michael Maker.
The OBS stakes also has Extinct Charm, winner of a stakes at Aqueduct, and Unbridled Trick, winner of a stakes at Thistledown in Ohio.
--Jim Freer
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