Foot in the Door

(WED) February 18th, 2026

8:47 p.m. I've been trying to pick up some clues from the starting barriers, though unfortunately haven't quite found what I've been looking for. Perhaps I should change my approach? Let me go watch the race video for the last couple of years. Maybe that could give me some hints.

What I belatedly realized was that February Stakes is basically a race for trailers and lookers. Considering the mile distance, it won't be strange if front runners performed well but in fact, the high-performers in the past are mostly trailers and lookers. The only two times when runaways made the top-3 in the past 10 years, the race was run at an average pace. This means that unless February Stakes runs at an average pace, it's unlikely for runaways (and front runners) to perform well possibly, because the tight lap would make it harder for them to hang on. As you might already know, February Stakes usually gets into a tight lap when it runs with a full field, thanks to the downhill at the beginning as well as the turf sidetrack.

I guess I got my foot in the door. Will try and see if I could figure out the type of trailers and lookers to choose.

The End

Caterpillar