With no racing in Minnesota scheduled for a while, the Canterbury horses have remained in Northern Florida and one of those, Hold the Spice (5-1), makes his second local start after finishing third in his Oldsmar debut.
Gelded four year old just now coming into his own. A maiden winner of a Minnesota-bred special-weights mile in his 3YO finale, he did well to finish third here, closing off a slow pace into the hottest fractions of the race.
Following his first start in five months, he returned with two purposeful works and is back at what has proven to be his best trip. He has incrementally ascending figures on the Thoro-Graph scale and Dean Butler, who got familiar with him last time, takes the re-ride.
The N2L claimer he exists went a tick faster than the open $40K run on the same card, and High Heater (5-1) drops in here with a switch to Antonio Gallardo, so you know he’s live–as is Soul of the Hero (9-2), who broke maiden on this course and owns the best performance figure of the group.
We liked ‘Spice’s’ last race visually. Check out the Tampa Bay Today Video on the homepage and see if you agree: RACE 9 on FEB. 21.
We’re taking Hold the Spice straight, at 3-1 or greater, and key-boxing exactas with the two rivals named above.
