Five fillies take on the Dir Land Bonanza

The filly milers that didn’t make it to Italy for Equinics this week stopped over in Virginia for this week’s feature race, the Sir Land Bonanza. The race is for three year old females, and runs over eight furlongs of firm turf. The purse is worth $55000 and everyone here gets a piece of it. The race drew a field of five fillies, and they appear to be well matched, with all but one of them prior stakes winners. The oddsmakers just kinda looked at each other and said “your guess is as good as mine”. With a favorite at 2/1 and the “longshot” at 4/1 odds, this race promises to be as exciting as any of the big Equinics races running this week.

PP 1) Dixieland Again Sired by Awesome Again, Trained by nowanadia. Dixieland Again makes her eighth career outing here. She has one stakes win to her credit. She carries a 2-2-0-1-0 record in her eight previous starts, with a best speed of 83.9, earned two starts back right here in Virginia. She took to turf in in her second start, and responded with back to back wins, including her stakes victory. Both of her victories have come at this distance, but they came in the early juvenile routes last year. As the juvenile crop has started to mature, she seems to be more comfortable in a slightly shorter race. She has been breaking at a stalker’s pace, but both of her victories have been wire to wire efforts. She has had very little success trying to close from off the pace, and she faces some good early speed here. She is going to have to survive the early pace here with a piece of the lead to be a factor in the stretch. Where she finds herself at the half should tell the story for her here.

PP 2) Spiritwalker Sired by Buddha, Trained by kyclocker3. Spiritwalker makes a field high ninth start in this race. She is starting in her third consecutive stakes and seeking her first win. She brings a career mark of 2-0-3-1-1 record to the table from her first eight starts, with a career high speed of 83.6 earned in her last outing. That outing was an eight and a half furlong stakes in Pennsylvania, where she finished third, fading badly in the second half. After making her first five starts on dirt, the switch to turf netted her a nice speed lift, and over half her career earnings in the next three. She seems to like the distance, going 2-0-2 in five routes. She is at her best from just off the pace, and she has a tendency to get in trouble if she gets out front too quickly. The jockey will have to tread a fine line here, to not let her expend too much energy early and still be within striking distance. The break should tell it all here. If she breaks too fast, she’s unlikely to be a threat in the stretch.

PP 3) Ball Or Strike(IRE) Sired by Ballingarry(IRE), Trained by holdorfold. Ball Or Strike(IRE) has five career starts. Her last three have been stakes runs, and she has one stakes win. Overall in her first five, she carries a record of 2-1-2-0-0 record, with a career best speed of 84. That speed was earned in her last outing, a seven and a half furlong stakes right here in Virginia, where she opened up a big cushion and owned the field at the wire by two and a half lengths. She has never been off the grass in her short career, and with the speed and heart she has been showing, there has been no good reason for her to leave turf. This will be her longest run to date, but her last three have been at seven and a half, and she has held up well. She should be able to get the extra half furlong. She is a rabbit, and has held the lead from the gate in four of her five starts. She’ll have some pressure from the stalkers here, but she shouldn’t have a problem extending that trend here. There is an extra half furlong for the closers to work with here, but if she duplicates her last, she is still going to be tough to catch. She should at the very least break the trifecta here.

PP 4) Good Cause(IRE) Sired by Giant’s Causeway(IRE), Trained by ck2stable. Good Cause(IRE) makes her sixth career start here. All five of her prior starts have been at stakes level, and she has wins in three of them. Her record through five is a nice 3-1-0-1-0 with a best speed of 82.7 earned two starts back. Her last outing was a seven and a half furlong stakes in Florida, where she finished a slowly closing fourth. All five career starts have been on turf, and she has done quite well for herself. This will be her longest run to date. She has been slowly increasing her distance and she doesn’t seem to be having problems as she stretches it out. She did find herself with a lot of distance to make up in her last at seven and a half, and couldn’t quite bring it home. She is a deep closer, and as her record indicates, her close has been quite consistent. She should be the filly with the most energy left at the half in this one. The big question is how much she’s going to have to make up against a hot early pace. The extra half furlong is a double edged sword here. The top of the stretch should be the telling point for her. If she’s within about three at that point, she will threaten at the wire.

PP 5) Pay No Attention Sired by Johannesburg, Trained by Simsters1. Pay No Attention comes into this one as the morning line favorite in her eighth career start. She has two stakes wins on her resume, and steps back down in class after making three starts at graded level. Her first seven starts ended in a 3-2-0-1-0 record, with a best speed of 86.6 earned two starts back. She comes off her worst race to date last start in a Grade 3 outing in Florida, where she finished a dismal eighth caught in the crunch at the top of the stretch. She is yet another filly in this group that has never tried the dirt, and two Grade I places say that this is a good decision. She has performed well in both sprints and routes. Two of her three wins have been in sprints, but she has posted her best speeds in longer races. She is a midpack closer, and her sweet spot is about three to four lengths of pace at the half. She gets in trouble if she gets much farther out in the first half. She has the speed to stay in that range in this field, and the step down in class is nothing but help. Should be in the mix at the wire here.