Milers Cup – Will We See A $5m Winner?
A small but high-quality group of nine older male middle-distance specialists will face the starter for the Milers Cup, a Grade 3 event that carries a healthy $1.1 million-dollar purse. With only one of the runners carrying double-digit odds, it appears that it’ll be an exciting event. One large factor will be the soft going caused by recent rains in the area.
SURELY NOT THE CAT is the only longshot in this field, going off at 19/1. Even though he is the only one whose “Capper” color is not bright red, his vast improvement when returned to 2-turn racing last time out may be an indicator that this Hard Spun runner could run big. The onyourmark trainee ran a solid 4th with a 110 speed figure in a tougher-than-usual minor stakes with a large number of graded-stakes winners involved. His one lifetime attempt on slow going is less than encouraging, however.
PREPARE WELL goes off at 5/1 for zbayou, who has run him at exactly this distance in his last 16 starts. The last eight of those were all graded stakes, of which he won three. Pretty consistent, huh? The only mysteries are: Has never run at Japan, and his only off-track run was before he’d even broken his maiden. That one try was consistent in quality with his other speed ratings at the time, so at least the soft going shouldn’t hinder him much. One thing, this is is 2013 debut after a couple of subpar efforts ended his 2012 campaign.
NUREYEVER makes his graded-stakes debut at 7/1 after a nice late-closing allowance-race run at this track encouraged trainer dixieracer to give him another shot at glory. The Octagonal colt will need a huge run to compete here, and his past experience on soft going hasn’t been good. Likes the course when it’s fast, though…
LOTTA LAUGHS has a pair of strong runs at this track, one of them on soft going; this lightly-raced peeps3 trainee is highly regarded at 4/1 here. The A.P. Indy runner has just one graded-stakes win, but appears to be ready for a strong effort in this spot.
DUBLIN RIDER is another lightly-raced runner with a good bit of ability, but the Pulpit offspring tries off-going for the first time. The dublinlad trainee showed us a lot with a strong 2nd in his graded-stakes debut last time out and could be very tough at 6/1 if he handles the surface.
MONTE IS NO KITTEN gets 5/1 odds despite the fact he’s never run in a graded stakes and has never tried soft going. Trained by bmonte, this son of Kitten’s Joy has been consistent in lower-level stakes, beating a number of graded-stakes winners in the process. Will need his best effort here.
RISQUE has been in five graded stakes in the last few months, grabbing a place and a show in the process. Trained by equistable, this Unbridled’s Song product is 2-for-2 on soft surfaces and looks to have a good chance to break through and get a star next to his name. 9/1 odds are nice and juicy, too.
VANITY THIEF has been a strong allowance performer since moving to the turf ten starts ago, grabbing four wins and only missing the tote board twice. A colt by the mysterious Irish sire Kingsgate Native (He was gelded and returned to the track “in real life” after proving to be infertile, and is not in the Sim now), he takes a swing at the bigtime here for foxon2 at 8/1. Has never raced on non-firm turf.
ADJUDGE goes off as the 3/1 favorite, and is in search of the $5 million plateau. The har barn would have much happier if the rains had stayed away, but it’s still hard to argue with this Bernardini runner’s fine record. He has pulled off eight graded-stakes wins and numerous placings and six 115-plus speed ratings, including his last pair. If the turf course here at Japan were firm the 3/1 odds would be a bargain, but things look tough with a number of proven soft-course runners here.
Let’s see… Where did I put that ouija board… Ah, here it is! The board tells me (after reading the PP’s all by itself)…
RISQUE should take advantage of the soft going and light the tote up very nicely.
LOTTA LAUGHS has been tough at this course and also likes the soft stuff.
ADJUDGE can grab 3rd on class alone though he appears to hate the soft going.
Good luck all!