Contentious Field for the Grade 2 Posh Purse Stakes
Florida – A full field of 14 is set for this edition of the $200,000 Grade 2 Posh Purse Stakes. Some things really stood out to this reporter in the writing of this article. The most striking things were the pairs of related names. We have 2 “quick young males” in El Nino Rapido and Jet Boy, a couple of alcohol inspired names in Tequila With Lime and Sip Of Saki, and a couple named for real life people in Sir Ustinov and Merry Mex.
What was really noticeable, though, was that fully half this field can claim legitimate shots at getting the win in this race over 8 ½ furlongs on the firm turf course.
OKEMO PROSPECTOR PP1 24/1 J Nason 9%
This son of Crafty Prospector is the only 3-year-old in the field and he comes in as basically a wild card in this more experienced field for trainer runwild8. This is only his second start against older horses, but he had a decent 4th in his earlier try against older stakes company. The distance is not really a question as he has won at a half furlong farther. The big questions come as to surface and level. He hasn’t placed in 3 tries at listed stakes. More importantly, this is his first try on the lawn. Having Green Dancer for his damsire is probably the reason he is getting this much respect at the betting window, but we’ll watch this one and place our money elsewhere.
REDEEMER(AUS) PP2 18/1 P McJulien 7%
Trainer jdawg05 claimed this 4-year-old Lohnro colt last time out for $75k. He must have really seen something in him in the past 3 weeks to place him in here. Colt is making his stakes debut here on a surface on which he has raced 8 times with only one 3rd place finish. And that is with a pedigree that would strongly suggest he should like the green stuff, having Night Shift for a damsire and Rahy for his DDS. Money will be better placed on others.
MERRY MEX PP3 10/1 V Gardner 20%
Deputy Minister colt returns to Florida where he started off his 4-year-old campaign with a stakes win earlier this year. He’s a scratch-bred for gradeone and really took off after being switched to the lawn for his 8th start. He responded by winning 4 of his next 6 races, garnering 3rd place finishes in the other 2. He’s leveled off a bit since then, winning just once in the last 8 tries. His 2 other best results in that stretch were a pair of 3rd place finishes in 2 Gr 1 tries, though he wasn’t really close up in either. Good jock gives a decent chance at finally hitting the board at graded level.
EL NINO RAPIDO PP4 8/1 A Darling 17%
4-year-old scratchbred Mineshaft colt did not make it to the track until he was 3 and has been making up for lost time ever since having run 27 times, 18 of them this year. He spent his first 4 races on the main track but really hit his stride once trainer oaklawn66 moved him to the turf. He’s won 4 of his 14 starts this year, all stakes races, including his first graded win 6 races back. Comes in here off a pair of show finishes. Front-runner has had the lead at the first call in 25 of his 27 races and has kept that lead the entire trip 9 times. He’ll have to break recent form to have the lead at the end against these, though.
PEINTRE INDYMAN PP5 6/1 R Maire 24%
5-year-old son of Peintre Celebre is by far the most successful offspring of Jumbo A.P., a lightly raced but fairly successful mare. Dam raced only 9 times, winning 5, and was retired after a last place finish, 25 lengths back, in a stakes race in week 537. Milnerton’s charge has earned the 27th ranking in the division on the strength of his consistent runs of late. His last 5 races have all been Gr 1’s, in which he has 4 3rd place finishes and a runner-up. He has just one stakes victory to his name but he made it count as it came in the Gr1 Mospe Cup back in week 2258. He has just 3 allowance wins in his 18 races since then. He also has 3 14th place finishes sprinkled in among those 18 races. Can’t overlook the recent consistency so we’ll definitely include him in the exotics.
DELIGHT DELTA PP6 5/1 D Ferguson 9%
5-year-old son of Green Desert started his career as a 3yo with a bang, winning his debut and follow-up allowance with SPs of 92 and 105. He has run exclusively for goldtiger, who hit a homerun using Fuzzy for his damsire. He has won $342K, which is about $300k more than any other runner with Fuzzy in their pedigree. 7 of his 12 wins have come in stakes races. He has won 6 of his last 9 trips to the post – all 6 wins coming in listed stakes. The other 3 races in that stretch were all tries against graded company, with him only bringing home one check and missing the board in all 3. Would like to see better results against rivals of this label, but he’s to be included in the exotics, though probably not on top.
SHY SOLDIER(GB) PP7 99/1 M Jaeger 9%
7 year old son of Axe(GB) has raced 65 times, winning 1/4th of them. Only 4 of those win were at the allowance level, including a stretch of 3 straight where he cleared his nw2,3,and 4x conditions. jdawg11 became his 11th trainer when he claimed this old war horse for $15k. He’s run 3 times since then, two of which were stakes races where he failed to beat a single horse. Only one of his 65 starts has been on the turf and that was a rather dismal 9th place finish 23 lengths back. “Move along, nothing to see here.”
SIP OF SAKI PP8 9/2 L Buchta 18%
Wow, is this Sakhee colt versatile. Just 4-years-old, he’s won $322k on dirt and $455k on turf, $623k routing and $155k sprinting. He’s also fast having broken the 100 SP barrier 4 times, and the 110 SP mark twice, in 6 races this year. He’s the first foal of Forty Niner Dela’thedealer, who was just 2 for 28. Trainer bjbandit2 retired her after 5 races into her 4-year-old year, sending her straight to the breeding shed. The young result began a 4 streak career-beginning winning streak 2 weeks later. He hasn’t run often enough to make a big dent in the rankings but he comes in here off a very nice 2nd against a very high-class field in the Gr 2 Fried Rice Mile. Stalker should be in the picture at the end even if he doesn’t wind up getting his picture made in the winner’s circle.
K’S OKKASION PP9 9/1 C Faucher 14%
After a very promising start on the dirt where he won 2 of his first 4 this Strike the Gold colt exploded when he hit the turf. He’s won 6 of his 15 tried on the lawn, including 3 stakes, the last 2 being over some pretty accomplished company. Breeder/trainer pompeya has his charge set up well for his first try against graded company. Colt won his last rather handily with a closing trip against a salty group of allowance runners. He’s shown he can win from pretty far back or stalking the leaders fairly closely. He has to be considered to pick up at least a piece, especially with decent jock aboard.
JET BOY PP10 7/1 O Barrett 13%
Breeder/trainer toppa1 really found a “diamond in the rough” with this son of Gold Carat. 5-year-old broke his maiden in finale of his freshman campaign, spent his 3-year-old season learning the ropes while picking up a couple of allowance wins. He showed the fruits of that year by winning his first 4 races as a 4-year-old, the last coming in his stakes debut. He’s only raced 9 times since turning 4, but has 7 100+ SPs in that time. The other 2 races were a 99 in finishing 4th in a Gr 3 and a 93 last time out when he was never tested in winning a short-field listed stakes. This stalker’s only missed the board twice in the last 2 years – in his only 2 tried against graded company. His more regally-bred rivals will probably get the better of him again but it won’t be due to a lack of effort on his part.
WINDORA PP11 53/1 W Case 12%
Another moderately accomplished dirt runner, this 7-year-old Frisky Dan son has not won in 7 tries on the turf. In fact, since his 2nd place finish in his debut on the turf, he has tried the lawn 6 times in which he beat a total of 9 horses. He also has only 1 3rd place finish in 4 tries at routing. Ran well enough in a dirt sprint allowance in his debut for the rebel65 barn, but appears to be placed well above his head here. Pass.
LUCKY DAY PP12 9/1 C Romine 14%
It’s easy to see lots of patterns looking at the past performances of saddlesore’s 5-year-old Danzig son. Started off with 10 straight dirt races, winning 3 of them including a stakes race. Follow that up with 16 consecutive turf races, where he has won 8 times including 4 stakes races. Those 4 wins came during a streak of 11 straight tries at the stakes level, a string which includes every one of his 4-year-old races. After the last one of those, he took 40 weeks off. Since turning 5 and returning to the track, he has raced 4 times, all in conditioned allowances. He won the last 3 of those very handily. Picks a tough spot to make a return to stakes level, but he appears in top form and has a 2nd place in the Ger. 1 Japan Sprint to end his 3 yo season so he must be considered.
SIR USTINOV(IRE) PP13 99/1 E Rickert 13%
Making his first start for the resting barn, this 5-year-old son of Montjeu(IRE) has won 6 of his 19 turf starts and lit the board in 12 of them. While that sounds impressive, he has only topped the 80 SP figure 3 times on the inner track. 2 of those 3 came in claimers and the other was in a starter allowance. Daunting spot here for his stakes debut. His lone allowance win came against a weak 4 horse field. Might, repeat might, have a very outside chance were this race at least a half-mile farther, but not a chance here.