The Locksmith
A salty field of eleven older runners converge on the Surrey turf course for the Grade One Locksmith Stakes this week. It is run at one mile over a firm turf course for a purse of $500,000. The winner’s purse would be a drop in the bucket for many of the entrants. All told the field has accounted for over seventeen million dollars in purses. Five of the runners are already millionaires. Another group of five enter the race off victories including one grade one, two grade twos and a grade three. We have one mare in the field, Historical, who is seeking to become the first female winner of the race which has been run three times previously. Let’s take a look at the field.
#1 Tool Academy took five tries to break his maiden as a two year old but midway through his three year old season he began to show signs of life. Last June he won an open allowance at a mile and one sixteenth with his first triple digit speed, a 103. Since that race he has topped triple digits in six of eight races, including a win in the listed Fort Meade Turf Route last November against older horses. Five of Tool Academy’s seven victories have come at a mile and one sixteenth but he ran his best speed, a 111, last out when fourth in the one mile Grade Three Blank Eddie.
#2 The Grind is a lightly raced five year old with only eighteen starts to his credit. He won his first and only stakes in December when he took the Go West Sal Turf Mile with a career best 114 speed. Prior to that he was third in the Grade Two Church Mound Stakes at one mile. Since the Go West Sal, The Grind has had two starts. He was off the board in a stakes on January 28th and then won a dirt allowance on March 24th.
#3 Redoute’s Cat is a four year old who is undefeated at the one mile distance. His victories include the Equestrian Order Turf Mile last November and the Grade Two Arcade Handicap in his most recent start. Both times he ran a 114 speed, his career best. Aside from one allowance win at a mile and one eighth, this pure speedball has been caught in the stretch in all of his other starts beyond one mile. He’s been good enough to hit the board in longer races, including a third place finish in the Grade Three Panhandle Park Derby but really one mile looks like his sweet spot. There’s a lot of speed in this race but this colt may be the speed of the speed.
#4 Empire Causeway is the first of the multimillionaires in this field. Claimed by current trainer atomic for $2,000, Empire Causeway has earned over $3.8 million. Much of that purse money came in his most recent start, the $5,000,000 Grade One Sand Castle Fee Duty which he won with a strong stretch run by a length and one half. That race came at a mile and one sixteenth but his win in the Grade One DiCaprio Handicap came at one mile last October and his career best speed of 116 came at one mile also, when he was second in the Grade One King Kong Mile in December.
#5 Cape Bojador is only missing a grade one win to fill out his resume. The five year old millionaire has three grade two victories and two grade three victories to his credit so far in his career. All five of those graded victories came at one mile. That includes his most recent race, the Grade Three April Showers Cap. Overall he has won six of his last seven races and all of those starts came at one mile. His last two speeds have been 113 and 114 which tied his career best.
#6 Adjuge was born to be special. Out of a multiple grade one winning mare Puentelarra and a half-sister to another grade one winner, the four year old son of Bernardini had big shoes to fill. With almost four million dollars in the bank he’s done his family proud. Adjuge came out quickly winning his first grade one at six furlongs as a two year old. At three he won four graded races at one mile including the classic French 2000 Guineas and the Grade One Sourball Mile against his elders. He was given a little time off over the winter and returned with a dull seventh in a listed stakes race. He was sharper next out when winning a one mile allowance and sharper still in his most recent start when he just missed in the Grade Two Bourbon Mile, finishing second by ½ length while running a 115 speed.
#7 Inevitability is the rich old man of the group. The six year old has over four million dollars in the bank, the most earnings of this loaded field. Last season he won the Grade One Sand Castle Fee Duty at a mile and one sixteenth before running fifth in this race. This year he again exits the Sand Castle Fee Duty but this year he was sixth behind Empire Causeway. He actually has not won since last year’s Fee Duty although he has hit the board in two races including a second in the Grade Two Jack the Man Stakes.
#8 Yesterday’s Gone is a lightly raced five year old with only twenty starts but he’s won nine of them including the Grade Three Witchcraft Stakes last June. He’s run eighteen straight triple digit speeds, topped by a 117 in that win. Sixteen of his last eighteen starts have come at either a mile or a mile and one sixteenth. He was given a long break over the winter and has won two of his four starts this year, both allowance races. In his other two starts he was third in an allowance and sixth in the Grade One Sydney Mile in his most recent outing.
#9 Historical is a six year old mare looking for her first victory over males. She’s faced them three times and has not hit the board. She’s in the best form of her career having run triple digit speeds in seven of her last nine runs. That includes her first and only stakes victory, the mile and one sixteenth Braxton Turf Mare Route in December. She started off this year with two thirds in listed stakes competition but has been off the board in her two subsequent starts. She did tie her lifetime best speed of 104 in her last start and was only beaten two lengths.
#10 Vuvuzela is a four year old winner of over two million dollars. He’s shortening up to one mile for the first time since last July when he was fourth in the Grade One Jean Brat against three year olds. Since that race he has wins in the mile and one sixteenth Grade Two Fivestarnick Handicap and the Grade One mile and one quarter Fall Tent Show which he won with a career best 118 speed. He has not hit the board in four starts since that victory although those races all came at a mile and one quarter or a mile and one half. It will be interesting to see how well he copes with the shorter run in this spot.
#11 Mr. Ivor enters off the biggest victory of his career. The four year old won the Grade Two Sundown Mile in his most recent effort, running a career best 113 speed. It was his second win in a row and fourth in his last five starts. All of those victories came at either seven and one half furlongs or one mile. He had run in stakes races as an early three year old with his best finishes coming when third in a listed stakes and an owner restricted stakes but his form has really come around in the last eight months. He’s run triple digit speeds in eight of his last nine starts.
Good luck to all!