Sour Kraut Cup

Sour Kraut Cup
Grade II
A mile and one half
Firm Turf
$250,000
Fillies and mares, 3 years old and up

                Saturday will be the 7^th running of the Sour Kraut Cup.  The field of eleven is loaded with 7 former stakes winning horses and four those being  Graded Stakes winning horses.  Five winners of previous Sour Kraut Cup races have won Grade I races before retiring.  The former champions include Seattle Hit (5), Kristeene S. (3), Huge Slide (2) and Skogby’s Dame (2) who all won Grade I races.  Today’s field already has a five time winner of Grade I races, La Pata Daisy, but she is not one of the favorites.  Also of note Lordpye has two entries in the race Day of Pye and one of the early morning line favorites Rebel Yell N.

            Bustout Connection goes off at 50-1 with only 2 wins in ten races in its short career.  The biggest win for this horse is in allowance company.

            Rebel Yell N (War Chant X Persian Bold), one of the Lordpye entries, has won six stakes races in its career.  It has finished first or second 15 times in its 29 races.  This horse likes to sit at the back and wait for its moment to shine.  I look for this horse to be a top contender and possibly steal the race at the finish.

            Day of Pye (Royal Academy X Cozzene) is the other Lordpye entry might have problems with this field of champions.  Its only big victory was in an allowance race.

            La Pata Daisy (Sadler’s Wells X Jules) is outstandingly bred horse for Grade II races.  As stated earlier it has won five Grade I races and a Grade II race.  At one time it won six of seven graded stakes in a row.  Before the last race the filly had won two stakes races in a row could another streak be about to begin.  This horse will sit in the middle of the pack probably making its move at the turn, so as to outrun the closers.

            Marigold will be one of the front runners in this race hoping to steal a victory.  This longshot has a stakes victory in its past and has done well, yet this will be its first time in the Graded races.

            Sweeping Home (Touch Gold X End Sweep) will attempt for the first time to race over 10 furlongs.  This allowance winning horse likes to be up close to the leaders.  This will only be the second time in Graded races for this horse who has seven of its twenty-nine races.

            No More Options (Diesis X Cozzene) will make its seventh attempt in the Graded races.  It has won a Grade II race and also is the winner of six stakes races.  One thing to not about this horse is that O/T Goldsmith pick up this beauty in a $30K claimer and look what has happen since.  It’s expected this filly will race up front trying to take the lead and possibly wire the field, but if it sits back and conserves its energy — watch out.  So many options for this O/T,  and what a steal at $30K.

            Golden Wolf (Golden Missile X Cryptoclearance) has had difficulty in previous Graded races (0-4).  Its expected that this horse will sit in the back and wait.    

            Star Indy (Star Watch X A.P. Indy) is a stakes winning horse that has yet to light up the board in Graded races (7), but did finish in fourth place three races back.  This front running horse has the speed to take this race, but with so many horses sitting right off the lead I’m not certain its gonna happen.

            Getaloadofthis (Distorted Humor X Ela-Mana-Mou) is a Grade III winner that has placed 1-2-3 in fifteen of its sixteen route races.  It’s won its last two races in a row posting triple digits.  This co-favorite has plans to sit off the lead and make the final charge at the end.  This 4YO filly has the best average (102) of all the horses in the field, the question is will it do it one more time.

            Mesquite (Black Minnaloushe X Northern Baby) is won fourteen of its thirty-six races earning $800K for O/T Alexander.  This horse has already won a Grade II and Grade III race and is currently on a four race winning streak that includes the Tabitha Bewitched Stakes (G3).  This co-favorite should be right next to Getaloadofthis as they head for the stretch, making it a great finish.

            At the wire:  There are so many great horses in this race, and history states that Grade I victories are in the future for the winner.  No More Options and Star Indy are most likely to have difficulty in wiring this field.  Rebel Yell N will have to make a valiant charge at the finish to steal this victory.  Today I like the two co-favorites Getaloadofthis and Mesquite, but La Pata Daisy at 8-1 to hard to lay off putting on top.

Prediction 4 – 10 – 11 – 2

Good luck tomorrow at the races

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