The Sangster G2

Twelve fillies and mares invade the Victoria race track to compete for $375,000 in the Grade Two Sangster.  The race will be run at six furlongs over a firm turf surface.  With the exception of Wintertime Gold, the only three year old in the field, the rest of the runners are fairly evenly matched with odds ranging from 9/2 to 11/1.  Let’s take a look at the field.

 

#1 Wintertime Gold                                        51/1

Wintertime Gold is the only three year old in the race.  The South African-bred daughter of What a Winter has won all three of her starts this year.  Her two most recent victories came in listed stakes races against fellow three year olds.  She prefers to run on or near the lead but whether she has the speed and class to keep up with older mares at this point in her career is questionable.

 

#2 Ribelle                                                            9/2

Ribelle is our favorite in this spot.  The four year old daughter of Tapit has ten wins on her resume from twenty three career starts.  A multiple listed winner this year, Ribelle has only tried a graded stakes once before and that race came at one mile, a distance she obviously is not suited for.  If there is one concern about this mare it is that she has already made four starts this season, including two in March.  On the plus side she has run triple digit speeds in all four of those races.

 

#3 Breathtaking Freak                                    8/1

Breathtaking Freak was named for her impressive breeding – Frankel x Mr. Prospector x Northern Dancer and as a racer she has provided trainer bobmarley with some thrills.  The four year old filly is already a graded winner.  As a three year old she took on older mares and beat them in July in the Grade Three Summer Handicap at six furlongs.  She made three starts after that race, all in graded stakes and she finished second once and fourth twice.  In her last four starts her lowest speed was a 104.  She hasn’t run at all this year but if she comes back in the form she left she will be formidable.

 

#4 Whats To Know                                          7/1

Whats To Know is a five year old daughter of grade one winner Nobody Knows who did her best running in turf sprints.  Her sire is Lonhro and she is a multiple stakes winner on the grass in both sprints and routes.  She’s run well in grades before, finishing second in two grade threes by ¼ length in each race which is just unlucky (she also was second in a third grade three but not in a photo).  What To Know is making her third start of the year.  She took a listed in January before trying males in the Grade One Ye Olde Shopping Exchange where she finished thirteenth.

 

#5 Outback Americium                                                  6/1

Outback Americium started her career on the dirt where she had some success, winning five times.  But since being switched to the grass last October she has won three races and finished third in the fourth.  Two of those wins came in listed stakes races but her biggest success may have been that third place finish.  The four year old Street Cry filly ran against the boys in the Grade Three King Don Buffet at six furlongs and raced evenly throughout just getting beat by a length and one quarter.  Her last three starts have all resulted in triple digit speeds so she’s got the quality to be competitive here and it may just be the switch back to female company gives her the confidence she needs to win.

 

#6 Bobbysgoneoutwest                                                9/1

Bobbysgoneoutwest has only started once this season.  She finished second in a listed at five and one half furlongs.  She had been given two months off after a disastrous dirt start in her 2014 finale.  It was her only try on dirt and she finished fourteenth in a field of eighteen.  It was a surprising move by trainer teamasr2 as his Frankel filly had won the Grade Two Prancing Ferry Stakes at six furlongs on the lawn in her prior start.  That race was her stakes debut and she closed from next to last early to win going away by one length with a 107 speed.  If this four year old filly returns to that form she will be a factor in this spot.

 

#7 Up On the Stage                                         5/1

Up On the Stage is a four time stakes winner including her only start of 2015.  That race came in March after a three month layoff in which she ran a six and one half furlong listed with a 105 speed.  In her ultimate start of 2014 the then four year old mare ran a strong second in the Grade Three Ackland Lovers Stakes at seven furlongs.  She lost that start by only one quarter of a length and ran a career best 111 speed.  If there is a weakness in her armor it is that all of her stakes wins have come at longer distances than this race.  She’ll have to show a new dimension to win here at six furlongs.

 

#8 Carraig Agonair                                           6/1

Carraig Agonair possesses the highest lifetime speed of any runner in the race.  The four year old daughter of Fastnet Rock ran a 113 speed while winning the Grade Three Laugh and Giggle stakes at six furlongs last September.  She ran one more time in 2014, finishing third in the Grade One Fujimoto Turf Sprint against older rivals.  She lost by only three parts of a length after leading from the gate.  Carraig Agonair was given some time off after that race and returned to the races in February when she won a listed at five and one half furlongs with a 105 speed.

 

#9 Heir to the Empire                                     7/1

Heir to the Empire enters off three straight wins which followed two unsuccessful dirt forays.  In November she won an allowance which she followed with a win in the Grade Three Range Rover Handicap, a six and one half furlong turf race which the then-three year old filly won by closing with a desperate rush to win by one quarter length with a 109 speed.  She was given some time off over the winter and she returned in a six furlong allowance which she won easily with a 95 speed.  The daughter of Hussonet may be the early trailer but she has shown she can close powerfully and is already successful in a graded race.

 

#10 Lady of War                                                11/1

This four year old daughter of War Front is making her graded debut but has already won three listed stakes.  The most recent one came in October of 2014 when she won a six furlong race with a 104 speed.  That’s her highest number to date but she was given ample time off after that race before making her 2015 debut in February when she won a six furlong allowance with a 100 speed.  The feeling here is that this filly is sitting on a huge four year old season and a win in this spot would not surprise at all.

 

#11 Absolutely Free                                        11/1

AbsolutelyFree is a five year old daughter of Smoke Glacken.  She didn’t make her stakes debut until last July when she was third in the Grade Three Boon Turf Stakes at six furlongs.  Following that race she was third again in the Grade Three Scuzzy South Stakes before dropping down to a listed to get her first stakes win.  She ran triple digit speeds in those three races but has failed to hit that mark in her two most recent starts.  She was eleventh in the Grade One Fujimoto Turf Sprint in November and was off until February of this year when she finished seventh in a listed.  She will likely improve in her second start off the layoff but she has to prove she’s got the speed she displayed last summer to be competitive here.

 

Good luck to all!