Grade 2 Iron Deck Draws Talented Bunch Of 2yo Fillies

The Grade 2 Iron Deck, a Grade 2 stakes race for 2yo fillies, is billed as the 2nd feature at New York this Saturday… But what a race this 6.5-furlong dirt contest looks to be! Of the fourteen young femmes entered, three of them come into the race undefeated, and there are two stakes-winners and another pair of grade-placed types. One of those stakes winners is also one of the undefeated trio.

As often happens in these 2yo graded stakes races, the handicapping gurus are in a quandary. They’ve decided to assign three of these 6/1 co-favorite odds, and nobody is 20/1 or worse.

Let’s take a peek at the field, shall we?

THE FOX LEFTTOWN has the most experience of those in this field, and also the highest earnings totals. The Foxwedge filly has five wins and a pair of 2nd’s in her seven starts and two stakes wins. This bigtrouble trainee likes to settle well back in the field early and finish with a huge rush, as evidenced in her gain of over four lengths from the eighth-pole last time out. Earned a nifty 89 speed, too. Another run like this could very well get the job done here at 8/1.

MORE THAN NINER has entered the gate three times, and returned to the winner’s circle three times. Hard to beat that, huh? The oddsmakers think so, making her co-fave at 6/1. This bigcoleman3 trainee improved her top speed rating by a good bit when she entered the stakes arena for the first time, but will be tested on the front end with this bunch. It is hard to dislike the fancy More Than Ready x Forty Niner x Danzig bloodlines; can she live up to that pedigree?

CONTINUAL UPGRADE won her first two, then was put right on the fast-track by trainer aguadeep7. She ran a solid 3rd in a minor stakes, but things haven’t gone quite so well in her two graded-stakes tries since and she gets 15/1 odds. So, can this daughter of Astrology find victory in the stars? (Sorry, couldn’t resist)

AWESOME SMARTY brings some fancy Awesome Again x Smart Strike x El Prado bloodlines to the dance. The amir1620 trainee fired an equally fancy 86 speed when stretched to 7 furlongs in her last, but now drops back half a furlong in her stakes debut Will she continue to improve, or does she need that extra distance? Goes off at 11/1.

HOLY ZAP has only two wins in six starts, but the Zap (PHI) filly has only missed the tote board once. However, that was the cyclone trainee’s most-recent start and her 2nd consecutive 80 speed. Maybe she’s leveling off… In any case, she figures to be in a heavily-populated battle for the early lead, which may explain the 14/1 odds.

OH I won her first pair, but she has fallen short in both her minor-stakes tries; still, she gets 7/1 respect on the tote. The Oasis Dream filly returns to the dirt after a fairly solid turf effort last time out, as trainer tees7 tries the ol’ surface-switch gambit.

CAJUN CUSTOM is 3-for-5 with a 2nd, getting nipped at the wire as a 15/1 longshot in her only graded-stakes try last time out. This Louisiana-bred Custom For Carlos filly out of a Curlin sim-mare will be a big part of what appears to be a lively early-pace scenario. Trainer zzombie claimed this talented filly out a $25k claimer just before that and may have hit the jackpot bigtime; this filly looks to have a bright future. She goes off at 12/1 here.

LOL WIRE charged down the lane in the Grade 2 Lean Machine Stakes last time out, but was a bit late and could only manage 5th, her first loss. The chorwon-conditioned Distorted Humor filly’s pedigree indicated she’ll appreciate the longer distances in her future, but can she get her run together in time here? The odds guys seem to think so, making her a co-fave at 6/1; she may get aided by the expected hot-pace scenario, too.

FOR GOD N COUNTRY started her career with a bang, racking up two runaway victories. The War Front filly ran into a bit more than she bargained for in her 3rd start, a small stakes at Louisiana where her solid 83 speed brought her only a 6th place. Trained by blankpoin5, she goes off as the third 6/1 co-favorite.

BABE LINCOLN had a humble beginning, grabbing a maiden-claim win and a starter allowance right after that. Maybe it was the not-so-fashionable bloodlines that prompted trainer debadar to start this filly at that level, but in any case, the Big Surf filly kept right on winning when brought up to allowance company, the last time running a strong 87 on the speed gun, a huge 14-point improvement. Bounce candidate maybe (and the odds guys think so, dropping 17/1 on her), but this filly has a lot of run in her.

DARK FRIESAN made her first starts with local-breds, winning two of four, the last with a snappy 86 speed rating while facing colts. Then the deeprock21 trainee was thrown to the dogs in the Grade 2 Lean Machine Stakes. The Friesan Fire filly had a bit of a rough go of it, finishing 10th. This gets her the honor of being the longest price on the board at 19/1.

GET MOVING has been doing exactly what her name says she should do, but she now leaves West Virginia for the first time and makes her stakes debut, too. Trainer ebloussante is asking for quite a bit out of his filly, who was sired by promising yet little-known stallion Justin Phillip. Despite the obscurity of the sire, this filly’s bloodlines are loaded with famous names and she could outrun those pesky 14/1 odds.

SLAM THE BOOZE brings an undefeated 3-race record into her stakes-racing debut and goes at 11/1. The Eskendereya filly is out of a grade-place Grand Slam sim-mare, certainly solid bloodlines to go by. Trained by jbcri28, her just-off-the-pace racing style might be just the trick, but it’s always a bit scary when a runner gets a new top speed rating three times in a row with about the same level of improvement; will she bounce, or can she find still more?

HALF A LORD won two of five in the sheltered company of Louisiana-breds, and got no respect from the oddsmakers when trainer graywolf13 jumped her up the class ladder to the Grade 3 Shut-Yer-Lips Juvenile. She answered her critics with a strong 5th at 20/1 with a career-high 88 speed figure. Now she shortens up by a furlong and looks dangerous; and she gets a little bit of respect at 13/1. However, she’ll have quite a battle on the front end.

Now, off to the Tarot cards and the Magic 8-Ball…

I see six runners in this field that figure to vie for the early lead, quite a crowd. Therefore, I’m going to go with THE FOX LEFTTOWN to pick up the pieces late.

I’ll go with CAJUN CUSTOM to survive the pace battle and hold on for 2nd.

I’ll pick LOL WIRE to get 3rd.

Good luck everyone!