Well-matched field of five challenge Shannon Doctor Bonanza
The Shannon Doctor Bonanza, a 7f race for 2yo fillies in Kansas, is named for a stakes-winning Miswaki mare who, strangely enough, never ran in Kansas and never won as a 2yo and never won a 7f turf stakes. The five fillies in this race will all be trying to beat Shannon’s record on all three counts.
The race favorite, Sun In Action, is trained out of the Sjmeola3 barn. The chestnut Bahri filly has earned her 7-5 odds with a very nice record. In five career starts, Sunny has a maindem win, a win and a place in stakes, and in her last start she notched a second in the GIII Fast Lane with an 84SP. The extra half-furlong she gets here will suit her stalking running style. Sunny is currently ranked 12 in the 2yo filly turf sprint division, and she looks to move up the rankings after this race.
The 2-1 second betting choice is exploit99’s Storm Candles. The chestnut filly is by Vindication out of an Awesome Again mare. Stormy has seen some success in her short careeer. In four starts she has earned a maiden win, and a win and place in allowance company. In her last start, she ran a 75SP at 7f on turf to lose by just over a length. In her lone win she was on the lead, and may need to get an early and uncontested lead her if she is to win.
Troubleinparadise(IRE) is also coming out off of a graded race, but the Barathea(IRE) filly did not enjoy quite as much success as did Sun In Action. Simonlee’s chestnut filly has seen turf only once in her debut race, where she ran midpack at 5f. As it was a yielding turf course, it is hard to predict how Trouble will do in this race. Since her debut, Trouble has seen only dirt. She picked up a maiden win in New Jersey at 5f with a 73SP, and followed that up with a pair of thirds in stakes at 6 and 6.5f. The extra half-furlong in distance doesn’t look to be a problem for this filly, but her ability on turf is in question.
Rainbow Finster G is Buxpasser’s entry in this race. Rainbow was at 9-2 on the morning line. The Mining filly is out of a stakes-winning Storm Cat mare. Rainbow gets her first start in stakes company, but she has six races under her and should take the class jump like a pro. Of those six races, Rainbow has earned a pair of wins (at 6 and 5.5f on turf) and in her last two a third and second at 4.5 and 6.5f respectively. That last race saw the filly lose by just a head. She’s shown an inclination to take the early lead, so it would not be surprising if she did so here. Rainbow clearly has heart, the question is speed. Her top SP is 76 (last time out) and she will likely need to improve by a few points if she wants this win.
Kobras6’s filly All Alone is the longshot at 7-1. The Wheelaway filly is the most lightly raced in the field with just 3 races thus far. After a poor dirt debut, her trainer switched her to grass and watched her take off with a second by a half-length at 5f followed by a win in her last start at 7f. That race saw her edge out a win by a close head right at the wire to earn a 78SP. She looks to have a fine future as she gets more room to run, but in the meantime has shown enough of an improvement at each successive start to indicate she’s underestimated in the odds. It would not be a shocker if this filly ran top-3.