Dirt Devils: Last Gunfighter to keep on firing

Graeme points out some Dirt performers worth keeping an eye on

Graeme North returns with the latest installment of Dirt Devils, highlighting Dirt performers worth monitoring...

Readtheprospectus is the first addition to our list of horses worth following at the Aqueduct winter inner track meet as, on top of recording a personal best in running down Readthebyline late on in an allowance optional claimer over a mile and seventy yards on January 10th, to quicken up so well in the manner that he did to catch one that got first run on him suggests he is a better horse than his current 107 form rating suggests. Readtheprospectus has a very solid profile. Not only is he lightly raced and progressive, effective on both turf and dirt, the form of his penultimate win has been boosted since by the runner-up Windafull. Readtheprospectus looked to have plenty on conceding 3lb to main form rival Readthebyline and even more so when allowing that rival a length and a half start after the tempo dipped considerably in the middle half of the race where the leader passed the six-furlong pole in a time equivalent to a timefigure of 63. Readtheprospectus' rider Ramon Dominguez, since hospitalised and in intensive care after a fall, didn't panic, however, and under a very confident ride put his mount in front virtually on the post. To record a final timefigure of 89 from such a low starting point midrace suggests Readtheprospectus can be credited with another 6lb on top of his rating. He's set for a minor stakes win before long.    
     
Talk of the Classics is premature so far as Elnaawi is concerned but he looks a three-year-old to keep on the right side nonetheless after his victory in a maiden special weight on the 12th January. He won that race posting a form rating right up there with his 92 timefigure, but that doesn't do him full justice as he set a very strong pace for the first half mile - he passed halfway in a time equivalent to a time rating of 107 - before steadying things in the third quarter prior to clearing away in the stretch. That 92 can be upgraded to 100 taking the race as a whole and distances beyond a mile look sure to bring out more improvement from this son of Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense. 

Riptherubberoff might have been beaten at short odds dropped into maiden claiming company on the 16th and is still seeking a win after six starts but her best form - a Timeform rating of 81, at Belmont last July - shows she is more than good enough to win a race of this type. And that might well have been this one had she not gone off so hard in first-time blinkers. She took the field through the quarter-mile and half-mile marks in calculated timefigures of 87 and 92 respectively, so it was little surprise she had little left in the final furlong where she was run down late by outsider Make the Moment who had been well off the pace early. Riptherubberoff's form rating of 74 (timefigure 70) can be upgraded to 78 in view of how she ran her race and she's worth another chance. 

Having been out of sorts for some time Equivocation's latest third in the claimer over the extended mile that ended the same card suggests he is very much one to be interested in next time.  An all-the-way winner here last February at the same trip when recording a Timeform rating of 92, Equivocation has seldom got anywhere near the front since but a return to front-running tactics brought about a return to form and had he not gone off so hard - he passed the half-mile and six-furlong marks in times equivalent to a timefigure of 95- he might well have lasted longer in front in the stretch. A form rating of 77 is a good platform to build on but he deserves that to be upgraded to 82 as he ran the race. A long shot here, he could still represent some value next time given his apparently inconsistent profile. 

Finally, Last Gunfighter isn't a particularly original inclusion given that he has won his last four races, but his latest win in a minor stakes event on the 19th was his best yet, suggesting that he is still improving. Considering the steady fractions at which the race was run, the fact he could run down a couple of useful rivals in Isn't he Perfect and Arlo, who got first run on him in what was effectively the fastest part of the race, suggests the result doesn't do him full justice. His Timeform rating of 110 wasn't matched by his 103 timefigure, but given how the race developed that 103 can be upgraded to 112. Like Readtheprospectus, he's on the verge of a breakthrough at lower Graded level.  
Update:

Not a bad start with five winners from our first eight runners with Mischief Maker and Notesfromabroad landing a double for this column at Aqueduct on the 13th. Mischief Maker upset odds on favourite Opus A in a minor stakes event with her best performance yet and isn't too far off the level needed to reach a place in a minor Graded event. The horse she beat the time before, Read The Research, couldn't make it three for the week in an allowance optional claimer but her defeat once again came at an extended mile (and in a stronger race, too, than the one in which she caught our eye previously) and she is retained along with Mischief Maker in the expectation that she will be dropped to a more suitable six furlongs next time (seven furlongs would suit equally as well but there are no races over that trip on the inner dirt).

The winners have continued since with N.F's Destiny and Clawback both scoring impressively and both are retained along with Thor's Mjolnor whose last run once again came at too short a trip - he's only one to be interested at a mile. Notesfromabroad is dropped from the list, however, despite her win as it was advised she should be followed for one run only in the expectation she would pick up a weak maiden. She has but probably hasn't the scope to do much better, while La Bella Chabella is also dropped for now after finishing fourth in her maiden after once again going off too hard. She has more ability than she's shown but needs to settle down. 

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