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Wednesday, March 11, 2015

The enigma of Kid Shelleen

Kid Shelleen, 3yo chestnut colt by War Machine out of Nebula, has all of the tools to make it big.

I was very excited by early reports received from the trainers; size, speed, stamina, obedience... he seemed to have everything going for him.  Analysis of his numbers during his first year on the track confirmed all that I was told.  Why then, did this colt struggle to a record of 5-0-1-0 during his 2yo season?  Why was his best PSR just a moldering 85?

In his fifth and final race of the season, the 8F Texas Stallion Stakes Juvenile, the numbers were 79-92-92-69-1030.  Excellent to be sure, and certainly worthy of better than a middle-of-the-pack 5th place finish.  

The winner of that race, Der Rise, had numbers of 74-87-88-72-974.  Those look very good for a 2yo stayer, but in an 8F race such as the Texas Stallion Stakes, I would have thought that the Kid's numbers translated better.  

In fact, Kid Shelleen had the best speed numbers in the race, by a fair margin, and stamina/kick ratings that would be more than adequate for a mile.  

I still have hopes that this colt will be something special.  The numbers usually don't lie.  Sometimes though, buried deep in the stats, like an undecipherable hieroglyphic, is a weakness that will prevent a horse from attaining success.  We'll see in 2019...

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