New Jersey’s summer season continues this weekend with the $65,000 Cheese Icing Memorial, a mile-and-three-sixteenths stakes race for three-year-olds and up. It’s a relatively wide-open affair, but the morning-line favorite is a lightly-raced horse whose five-race winning streak earlier this year looms large and intimidating over the assembled field of eight.
I.P. Native is a late-starter in the Sim universe, making his debut early this year at the age of 4. But his trainer ruffian99 caught lightning in a bottle almost immediately with this son of A.P. Indy out of an Our Native mare, winning his debut in the Kentucky slop with a speed rating of 95 and impressing the railbirds with his speed and power. After winning his New Year’s debut, the colt peeled off six wins in his next seven races in front-running fashion, including stakes wins in South Dakota and Louisiana, with his speed figures topping off with a 110 at South Dakota in the Private Quill Stakes. His ability to go to the front and outlast everyone is quite remarkable, considering I.P. Native’s preference for classic distances. Even a recent slump—where he was caught late in the Grade II Abraham Lincoln Handicap in Illinois and never got clear into his usual front-running position in Maine’s Exalted Commander Stakes—shouldn’t deny this great-looking horse his role as the favorite.
He’ll be ridden in the Cheese Icing by J. Benisz, New Jersey’s leading rider and one of the Sim’s best young turks. While he was unavailable for comment on the race, the jockey room was abuzz with rumor and speculation about what Benisz would try to do on Saturday. There were some whispers that the jock would try to restrain the horse, rate him just enough to stop the favorite’s recent slide and have enough left at the end. Others thought he’d force I.P. Native to go all-out from the break. Benisz is on record, though, as stating I.P. Native is one of the “best horses you might not have heard of—yet” in the handicap division this year.
Miswaki Minister and Masterofyourdomain are the primary challengers on the Jersey Shore this weekend.
Miswaki Minister is that rare Sim horse, a graded-placed stakes winner who was dropped in for a $50K tag in May after a long-stretch of near-misses and disappointing outings in big races. Picked up by the stalchico stable, this four-year-old son of Miswaki has begun to show a spark for his new trainer, hitting the board in each of the four starts since the claim in allowance company, including an impressive allowance win three back. He should figure into the pace of the race in his typical stalking position, yet the added distance shouldn’t be too much of an issue. He’s being tested once again for class versus stakes-level competition, but figure him in your exotics wagers.
Masterofyourdomain is a five-year-old from the madesq stables whose very best days may have passed. This Grade I-winning son of Holy Bull has only hit the board twice in 2005, following a four-year-old campaign in which he impressively won the Maryland Special and the Topicount Special, both Grade I events. He is another starter who likes to be at or near the front from the start, but the amount of pace horses in this effort might impact his chances negatively. Still, even off his form, he looms a major threat.
Happy In The Sun, for the burn2shine stables, is making his belated stakes debut, and this son of Millennium Wind won a North Florida allowance last out. His speed figures fall a little shy of the favorites, but he too is expected to sit just off a strong pace. Astronaught Jones(IRE) is a reformed claimer whose trainer, cypress, picked him up for $2500 last fall, and quickly turned this son of Astronef(IRE) into a two-time allowance winner. On the surface, he appears somewhat overmatched, but his speed figures are on the rise. Hollowfly’s Hollow(GB), for the hollowfly stable, is a three-year-old stakes-winning son of Beat Hollow(GB) who’s opting out of the many three-year-old stakes in the East this weekend, choosing instead to take a shot at the handicap division in advance of the fall classics. He was most impressive winning stakes races in Ireland and California earlier this year, and he’s one of the few horses in the field who may work best closing ground late; a very live long shot.
Last Dance Tonight is a five-your-old daughter of Victory Gallop, and trainer djones4321 has seen fit to try her against the boys in Jersey. She’s a capable mare who is stakes-placed, but hasn’t hit the board this year, and her best days may have passed her by; up against it. And Mannart Megaspeed is a three-year-old son of Aldebaran who was claimed by trainer court66 for $5K just last week. The horse has never been over a mile, and his speed figures have just barely broken 80 this year; maybe his trainer knows something special here, and the horse could be a rabbit in the field; very ambitious.
My selections:
- I.P. Native
- Miswaki Minister
- Hollowfly’s Hollow(GB)
Happy wagering and good luck to all!