8 Try To Give ‘Dreaming Of Love’ Nightmares in Grade III Queenston

5/2 morning-line favorite Dreaming Of Love will lead a relatively short field of 9 fillies and mares, 3 years old and up, who will gather at Epsom for the featured 15th race of the day on Saturday, the Grade III Queenston Handicap, a mile and one-eighth tussle on what is promising to be a firm grass course. The starters by Post Position:

PP 1 – Shrewd Vixen (Johannesburg x Ela-Mana-Mou(IRE) x Ribot) – This five year old mare, bred and trained by mikeg, comes in to this race with a slightly rebounding form. After a dismal showing in the Equinics on a yielding turf course two races back (dead last with a 72 speed fig), this Johannesburg daughter dropped back in class just a bit to an ungraded stakes and came back with a 97 SF and a 4th place finish. She likes racing up near the lead when she’s on her game, and is in danger of getting caught up in some highly flammable fractions. If she’s able to rate, she’s got the ability to run with these, but would need to show me one more time that the comeback is still coming back, and that she can handle Graded company..

PP 2 – Giantiano (Giant’s Causeway(IRE) x Fappiano x Mill Reef) – Another of the early speedballs here, this five year old mare is coming off of a sparkling wire-to-wire win at this exact distance LTO in an ungraded stakes race. Much like her counterpart in against the rail, Giantiano hasn’t shown an ability to handle Graded company yet, although like a number of others in this race, HAS shown the ability to get enough speed to run with these and then some. Plus, it rarely makes good economic sense to bet against a ‘super’ stable, in this case, the super1 folks. If she gets a clear enough lead, or learns to rate properly, this girl could give you some nice value at 7/1.

PP 3 – Dynahigh(IRE) (High Chaparral(IRE) x Dynaformer x Thunder Gulch). This 4 year old filly, from the burnin barn, is yet another (surprise!) front-running filly. The difference here is that this girl’s had some success in Graded company, coming off of a solid 2nd in the Grade II Hanna Barbera ‘Cap at 10 furlongs. She dropped off of 1st at the third call, so the lack of an extra furlong here shouldn’t hurt. If any of the early speed gals are going to make the others quit early, this one’s probably the best bet, as she’s done it against the best company so far. Still, with a couple of nice stalker/closer types, this much early speed capability has got to make more than a few of these front-runners a bit nervous. Talent, though, has a way of rising to the top, and this girl is definitely talented.

PP 4 – Sland Gram (Grand Slam x Machiavellian x Sadler’s Wells). Here we get our first closing type. But there are issues here as well. This four year old filly from the bigb stable certainly has the back-class, as she’s won a Grade I as well as a Grade III in her career, but not in a while. Her last four graded stakes have netted her 8th, 8th, 10th, and 13th place finishes. She is coming off of a decent 3rd in an 8f ungraded stakes race, and she was closing. If she gets the pace she wants, this race could set up nicely if she can race back to her high form of early last year. Still, 5/1 might be a bit generous for a win here.

PP 5 – Dreaming Of Love (Sadler’s Wells x Mr. Prospector x Unbridled). She’s the morning line favorite, she’s got the back-class for this race, she’s royally bred, she has a top-flight jock, she’s the only millionaire in this group (by a wide margin) and she has the perfect running style for this group. That all said, there are still a few questions that this 5 year old grand dame of the snowchief stable needs to answer before she has her picture taken in the winner’s circle. She’s coming off of a 4th place finish in an ungraded stakes, although the times were pretty hot in that one (she finished 5 back while still running a 98), and although the race before that one she ran a very strong race to win the ungraded Prospector Bluffy Cap (with a 102 SF), you still have to go back 8 races to find a Graded win for this gal. On yet another hand, she’s been freshened nicely for this one, and she has run very well on 35 days rest. She’ll be sitting right off the pace, and, with a good trip should be flying past the leaders in deep stretch.

PP 6 – Dew Bomb (Sakhee x Bluebird x Sharpen Up(GB)) is a four year old filly bred and trained by manager, and is one of the stalker-closer types that’ll be running in the 2nd tier of horses early on. She’s been in allowance races her last 4, winning two of them, but falling back in her last time out, to a well-beaten 5th, 8 lengths back. While she also has shown some back class, with a solid 2nd 6 races back in a Grade I, her figures more recently have been a bit below several of her competitors here. While she’s certainly far from out of this one, I’d be surprised at a top four finish here on Saturday. Again, much of her chances will ebb and flow with the pace here early.

PP 7 – Happy Ruler (Behrens x Copelan x Iron Ruler) is the second longest shot on the field at 25/1, and it’s probably not a coincidence that the only longer shot, at 50/1, is a three year old filly, just like this girl from the folks at happystabl. She’s got a pretty gaudy record at 8-5-0 from 18 lifetime starts, but she hasn’t done well in Graded stakes (8th and 14th in 2 lifetime Graded starts), and her lifetime best speed figure of 92 probably won’t get her a check here either. But she certainly has a right to improve, and this is going to be a very good horse, but she may be in a bit over her head for this one.

PP 8 – WCHS (General Assembly x Explodent x Halo) is an interesting call at 5/1, at least for exotic bets. Trainer julann is bringing this 4 year old filly in for her first Graded stakes race, though certainly not her first stakes (this will be her 13th stakes race, including her 12th in a row). She has a 2-4-1 record in those previous 12 stakes, but she’s topped off at a 100 speed fig. She’s shown a bit of versatility in her style, although she definitely runs with the leaders when she runs her best races. This could be an all-or-nothing kinda filly in this company, and I think she’ll need the race of her life to finish in the money here, but if she gets that race, she could win it all.

PP 9 – Dropping Verses (Lemon Drop Kid x Vision and Verse x Danzig is the other 3 year old in the field, and while this is going to be a VERY good racehorse in her time, I’m not thinking that time is here yet. Trainer tjelroy brings her in with a lifetime high speed figure of 86, and frankly, at this point in her career, I’m not sure she’s fast enough to run with some of these yet. She’s certainly capable of beating other 3 yr olds in ungraded stakes (which she’s done twice), but the step up to Graded class AND against older horses in May just seems a bit too much. But then again, that’s why we actually RUN the races.

My Picks:

1) Dreaming of Love – Stalks just behind the battling speed, runs past them at the finish.

2) Dynahigh(IRE) – Wins the battle of the rabbits, not quite enough to hold off the winner.

3) Sland Gram – Tries hard, passes horses, can’t get to the top pair.