Small Field of Six in the Grade II Brake Hill Stakes
PP #1. Falador (8/1)
Fralador is one of the younger horses in this race at 3 years of age. She is not stranger to Grade I level competition though. Her last four races have all been Grade I races where she has placed 3rd in two of those four. Her third place races came at 10.5 and 12 furlongs, so she will make the step up in distance for this one. She does have two stakes wins both coming in her two year old season. Since that time, this daughter of Frankel hasn’t left the graded competition. She ran in one Grade III race finishing 7th before her four Grade I attempts. Her best speed figure came two back when she ran a 107 speed figure in that 12 furlong Grade I race. Her last race was one to forget as she ran 12th out of 14 horses and never posed a threat. She loves to hang out towards the back and move up late. She will have two of the better horses in the race with her in that position, so will she will have to kick up a lot more than she has been of late.
PP #2. Annika Kamehameha (2/1)
Annika Kamehameha is the only horse in the field who has that coveted Grade I win. That win came back in June of 2014. Since then, this 4 year old daughter of King Kamehameha has been up and down in stakes and allowance races both. After taking nearly a three month layoff from March to June of this year, this girl came back strong leading wire to wire in an allowance race and winning comfortably by 6 lengths. She was her really threatened in that race. Her next race was a Grade II attempt at 13 furlongs. She ran second, losing by 2 and 3/4 lengths but running a 108 speed figure to top off the day. She loves to sit near the back and make her move late. Look for her and The End Of time to be coming up late together. Who is going to have more juice to take the lead at the end? That is the biggest question with the two favorites in this race.
PP #3. Maximum Impact (9/2)
The oldest horse in the race is Maximum Impact. This Grade II winner out of Mineshaft is still running decent for her age, but that graded win last came back in 2011. After taking a two year break, she has come back to win a couple allowance races along with finishing second in an allowance race and a few stakes races. She attempted graded company in her last race, but finished 6th overall and never really challenged. She will be looking to sit near the front of the pack but a little off of the lead. This will be a tough spot to be in in this race. She has shown that her closing speed is a struggle at times. She will need to sit close enough to the leader to take that lead near the mid point in the race, but also save enough to hold off the late runners. This will be a tough position for this mare to be in. The good news is she has proven that she can do it, and isn’t a stranger to this competition level. If she can run the race she used to be able to, she should have no trouble coming out with a win.
PP #4. The End of Time (2/1)
The End Of Time will look to make it two in a row and four in her last five in this race. This 4 year old daughter of Teofilo failed to hit the board last year in November in her first ever graded attempt. Since that time? Five wins and two second place finishes in seven races. She will look to remain on a roll and keep those speed figures high in this race. Two races back, she found her first ever graded place finishing second narrowly in a Grade III attempt. Her last race, she won by 1/4th of a length to take her first ever Grade II try. She will stay on the same competition level for this one and look to make it her second in as many tries. This beauty will look to sit at or very near the back and make her move closer to the end. She has proven herself so far and will look to continue her winning ways.
PP #5. Earnedthehardway (7/1)
Earnedthehardway is one of the older horses age wise at 6 years old. Racing wise though, this girl is relatively new. After three races in 2012, this girl took two years off before coming back in late 2014. Se made the switch to turf and started to add distance and that made all the difference. Since coming back and making that switch to turf, this filly has won five of her seven races. The Street Cry filly made her first jump into graded company last time out and the race was one to forget as she finished 6th and never really challenged for the lead. Speed figures have been on the rise though, and this is something that shows promise as her career moves forward. She’s lightly raced, and has as many races as your typical three year old so it will be interesting to see how her career plays out. She will want to sit toward the back of the pack and make a late move. Will she have enough gas to do it? There will be other competition at the back and she will have to beat them out.
PP #6. K’s Tanta Calma (4/1)
K’s Tanta Calma is a nice 4 year old filly out of Teofilo. A relatively new racer to stakes competition, this filly had ripped off six wins in a row before finishing 4th last time out in her first ever graded attempt. She has shown she can take on the boys and the girls as half of her career wins are against open competition. When the competition level was raised last time out from listed stakes company, to Grade II company, she managed just a 4th place finish. We are looking at a filly that likes to lead wire to wire and that seemed to have caught up with her in her last race. She started off strong before fading late in the race to finish fourth. Will she have enough juice to lead this race from wire to wire? She will be gunning for the lead early. Can she hold off the late speed.