Grade 1 Clerk Of Scales
This Saturday’s feature race at Ontario will be the Grade 1, $500,000 Clerk Of Scales Stakes, which has drawn an small (but interesting) field of seven 3yo colts. The distance is 9.5 furlongs over the fast dirt track. Amongst those gathered are the hero of the G1 New Yorker, the runnerup in that race, and the Simsters residency’s restricted-Triple Crown champ.
Should be a good one…
THE COMEDY STORE is an Any Given Saturday colt trained by singleall. He’s won 4 of 6 non-Graded races, but has failed to make any impression in his four Graded tries. He goes off at 6/1; maybe the CPU thinks he can uncork another effort like that flashy 107 he ran in a 9-furlong allowance back in April… To do so, he’ll need a big improvement over his recent pair of Graded tries.
DEEP NAVIGATOR is ranked #15 in the division and comes off a dynamic upset victory at this track in the Grade 1 Labatts Ontario Oaks. Trained by stickpin10, the Henrythenavigator colt has been 1st or 2nd in five of seven dirt runs. Gets much CPU respect at 9/2 and looks like a tough one to beat.
GANDALIAN INVADER is a Smart Strike colt who hung on reasonably well in the Grade 1 New Yorker and may have a chance to redeem himself at this shorter distance. That was the verdugote trainee’s only Graded try thus far and he gets a 16% rider for today’s run; a couple positive signs for this 7/1 shot. Plenty of questions to answer, but he has a chance to earn some cash.
SEE THE WAND, the 5/2 betting choice, is the hero of the Grade 1 New Yorker and has won 5 of 6 on the dirt. The Sea The Stars colt is trained by gr8white, who is hoping his classy colt can continue making a run at Eclipse consideration. Obviously a major contender here.
GHOST NINJA has won 4 in a row since his failure in the Grade 3 Moises Alou Cap in March, and swept the GR Simsters’ residency-restricted equivalent to the Triple Crown in the process. All three of those wins were done in the easiest fashion, but this is a tougher test. The Ghostzapper colt, trained by peeps7, is well-regarded at 4/1 despite the move into open-company Graded racing.
LUCKY PRAYER has won or been right there in all eight of his fast-track routes, and the Unbridled’s Song colt led to midstretch in the New Yorker last time out. The kevoman3 trainee is blessed with loads of early speed and the shorter distance may help him in this spot. He’s the 2nd choice at 3/1.
ITCHYCOO PARK is a King Kamehameha colt going off as the longest price on the board at 8/1. While he’s only won twice in ten starts, his strong run in a minor stakes last time out encouraged trainer slotfather to take a swing at the big time. A solid showing here would be “all too beautiful”, but much improvement will be needed.
The ol’ crystal ball comes out…
Looks to me like the best scenario is a repeat of the finish of the New Yorker, though SEE THE WAND will have to move earlier to catch LUCKY PRAYER, and the winning margin should be a lot less.
DEEP NAVIGATOR has shown that he loves this track and has the same rider aboard for this. Could pull the upset, but I’ll stick with a 3rd-place run for him.
Good luck at the races!