Sycamore

TRACK BANDIT PREVIEWS

Saturday's $150,000 Sycamore S. (G3) over 1 1/2 miles of Keeneland's turf

course appears ripe for the taking by TRANSDUCTION GOLD (Formal Gold), who won

the race last year and has displayed reasonably good form without winning in six

starts this year. However, pari-mutuel considerations lead us in another

direction in an attempt to make more bread, so we'll side with the improving

TELLING (A.P. Indy).

A lightly-raced four-year-old with a solid 9-4-2-2 career mark, Telling

elevated his game a notch over the summer after switching to the turf. After an

easy 2 1/4-length allowance score over a soft Arlington course, he finished a

close third in a slowly-run Rossi Gold S., then rallied from 15 lengths down to

finish two lengths in back of SILVERFOOT (With Approval) in the Stars and

Stripes Turf H. (G3). Off for two months, Telling reappeared on Polytrack in the

the Turfway Park Fall Championship (G3), but faltered after a middle move.

Having shown a lack of fondness for Polytrack previously, that performance in

entirely forgivable. At 12-1 on the morning line, Telling looks like the value

in the Sycamore.

Transduction Gold should certainly be in the mix. He's placed in four of six

starts this season, including the Clement L. Hirsch Turf Championship (G1) and Del

Mar H. (G2) in his last two. His BRIS Speed ratings have hit the triple-digit

threshold in his last three starts, and his fondness for the local sod is a

factor of great importance. If he stays anywhere near his 7-2 morning-line

price, he might be worth a win wager.

ALWAYS FIRST (GB) (Barathea [Ire]) should have got a lot out of his

eighth-place effort in the Kentucky Cup Turf (G3) on September 13 considering it

was his first race in more than a year. He was having a solid 2007 campaign,

which included a score in the Stars and Stripes Turf H., before hitting the

sidelines last fall, and one of his near misses was a neck second to Ascertain

(Ire) (Intikhab) in the Elkhorn S. (G3) over this course and distance.

South American MY HAPPINESS (Arg) (Festin [Arg]) has had three starts since

his importation and fared well in his two attempts on grass. The multiple Group

1-placed veteran missed by a half-length in a key allowance/optional claimer at

Arlington on August 9, then held third in the Kentucky Cup Turf over the

undulating Kentucky Downs course. He earned a decent BRIS Late Pace figure in the

former and might pick up some of the pieces late.

Silverfoot, the old man of the field at age eight, snapped a

long losing skid with his Stars and Stripes triumph, then ran surprisingly well

when 2 1/2-lengths fourth in the Arlington Million (G1). Are we seeing a

resurgent Silverfoot? Maybe, but at an expected low price I'm not willing to

bank on it. Remember, this is the same horse that has finished in the top three

only three times in his last 16 starts.

Two interesting up-and-comers proficient at or near this distance are GOOD

REQUEST (Dynaformer) and GUADALCANAL (Graeme Hall), who each captured an

entry-level allowance in their respective last starts. Good Request beat

Guadalcanal by four lengths in winning his at Saratoga almost three months ago,

so he his the more likeable of the two, and is an intriguing inclusion in

exotics plans. Guadalcanal, who outfinished both Icabad Crane (Jump Start) and

Big Brown in the Belmont S. (G1) while still a maiden, will need a strong pace

up front, which might be provided by RUMOR HAS IT (Awesome Again), the

improbable 59-1 winner of the Kentucky Cup Turf. We just don't see a repeat of

that occurring, and we'll insert the proverbial if you missed the wedding, don't

attend the funeral at this juncture.

Two of PHIL THE POWER's (Red Bullet) four career wins have been on the grass,

and his late kick on the turf can be powerful, though it didn't quite help him

enough in stakes of lesser stature in 2007. ELUSIVE FORT (SAf) (Fort Wood), a

multiple Group 1 winner in South Africa, has been a disappointment since

arriving on these shores, though he does count a runner-up finish in the

Appleton H. (G3) as his best stateside performance. He's an underlay at 4-1 on

the morning line. HAPAHEART (Hap), who won his first two attempts on turf at

River Downs, exceeded expectations when only five lengths behind Rumor Has It in

the Kentucky Cup Turf. It will be a tall order for him to improve on his

fifth-place performance here, though.