US Handicappers' Corner: Shackleford bows out with a win

Shackleford tasted success on his final start.

Timeform's Simon Rowlands takes a look back at the best of last week's action in the US...

The weeks immediately following the Breeders' Cup tend to be a quiet time of the year in North American racing, but things did step up another gear at the weekend just gone, with a smattering of Grade 1s and a larger number of Grade 2s.

The G1 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct was not quite the richest race, but it commanded just about the most attention, with the undisputed champion female sprinter Groupie Doll stretching out to a mile again. 

Despite the race being a handicap, Groupie Doll and the 2011 Travers winner Stay Thirsty were favoured by the weights and dominated the market. Groupie Doll tracked before going on in the straight, and looked like prevailing until joined and outnodded by Stay Thirsty near the line. Top-weight Coil was two lengths back in third.

The result suggests that Stay Thirsty ran to his best - comparable with the effort that saw him just denied by Flat Out in the TVG Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont the time before - and that Groupie Doll underperformed, if only slightly. Timeform has the pair running to 123, with Groupie Doll remaining on 128, a figure she had posted three times in success earlier this year.
 
The G1 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs saw the final career start of the popular performer Shackleford. The Dale Romans-trained colt had won the 2011 Preakness and this year's Metropolitan Handicap but had been a bit off form in recent starts. He got an uncontested lead and then showed all his old battling qualities to hold Take Charge Indy and Bourbon Courage, running to a rating of 121, 3 below his lifetime best. 

Of more consequence for the future were a couple of two-year-old races which turned up a handful of smart performances. Uncaptured made it six wins out of seven in the G2 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs, showing courage aplenty to hold off the well-regarded pair Frac Daddy and Dewey Square and running to 116. 

Even better came from Overanalyze in the G2 Remsen at Aqueduct, the son of Dixie Union best of three Todd Pletcher-trained colts in coming again to nose out Normandy Invasion. This was Overanalyze's second 119 effort on Timeform ratings (following his more clear-cut success in the G2 Futurity at Belmont) and he figures as joint-second-best male juvenile, behind 123-rated Shanghai Bobby. 

That said, the runner-up Normandy Invasion (rated 117p) makes even more appeal with 2013 in mind. The son of Tapit - a May foal, having just his third start and first out of maiden company - came from a long way back to edge ahead briefly, only for his effort to flatten a bit close home. 

This race did little for the form of the G2 Nashua at Aqueduct earlier this month, as all three horses to have run in that race (won by the highly promising 115p-rated Violence) were well beaten in this.

Further 2013 Triple Crown clues could be forthcoming in the weeks ahead, and the final edition of this US Handicappers' Corner will be in mid-December, after the Starlet and the Futurity, both G1s for two-year-olds at Betfair Hollywood Park. 

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