Barb’s Return Under Her Head in Del-Penn Filly and Mare Turf

(Graciously removed forced metaphor could be wasting your time and patience in this location. It would still be going on now in fact, through to about —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————- here.)

Grade I winner Barb’s Return tops the field of eleven set to run in Saturday’s Del-Penn Champion’s Day Filly and Mare Turf at Pennsylvania. The 4-year-old daughter of In the Wings (out of a Sharpen Up mare) will be guided through the 11 furlongs by J. Piotrowski.

The inclusion of Barb’s Return in the field begs the question: Why is a grade I winner entered in an owner-restricted race? And the answer is obvious and one I’ve been stating loudly for quite some time. That is, the Del-Penn Champion’s Day owner-restricted stakes races are far more prestigious affairs than the grade I races allowed to run on the same card. Why do you think they are restricted? Why to keep the dregs and riff-raff out, no doubt.

So with that, we hold our noses as we take a closer look at the field for this year’s renewal of the event, back in the glorious 1 3/8-mile incarnation of the inaugural running after slumming at nine furlongs last year.

Brisbane Distaff (gr. I-T) winner Barb’s Return comes into this race following a victory in the two mile Polish Doll Bonanza, when she beat a small field by an easy 3-1/2 lengths. 5heffsbarn’s 8-time stakes winner has earned those black type wins at distances ranging from 10 ½- to 16 furlongs, so stamina will not be a problem, nor should her recent dwindling speed figures give the bettor pause at the window.

Barb’s Return is the morning-line favorite at 7-2, but is clearly superior — in this race – to the 4-1 second choice, making her the value choice. That 4-1 shot is none other than sdmf6’s Stricken, a nimble-footed sophomore filly by Dynaformer. While Dynaformer suggests 1 3/8-mile should be within her range, the Rubiano x Storm Cat dam side says everything after nine furlongs is cool down time. Stricken did notch her first stakes win two starts back, earning a 101 speed figure in the 1 1/8 mile Red Whitney Challenge. Stretched out to 12 furlongs back in June, Stricken ran her only real clunker of the season (though she may have found the grade I Oaks de English a bit too classy for her liking as much as the distance hurdle. Of course if she couldn’t handle the class of the Oaks de English, how can she expect to fare better here?), earning an 80 speed figure for her eleventh place finish.

Dynaformer is represented in the dam sire spot by the third choice on the morning line, poppoptwo’s Dyna Shore, named after a beach on the Pennsylvania coast of the Atlantic Ocean, no doubt. T Bernard will guide Dyna Shore from post position 8. (Was Mike Douglas unavailable? To answer with a question, who dies on their birthday?) Dyna Shore began the year with three straight wins, including the 1 3/16-mile Becky Lever Stakes and has also annexed an unfortunately named sprint stakes at Tennessee and an unfortunately harmonized stakes race right here in Pennsylvania run over ten furlongs. With a decent amount of early speed lined up for the big event, the Green Desert daughter has a big chance at 5-1.

Following the Laurence Sterne inspired opening paragraph it may be appropriate to appropriate a paragraph by John Barth. Here goes:

Next on the morning line Next on the morning line
(7-1)is sdmfclaims’ Black(7-1)is Genesis’ Miya, a
Listed, a 4-year-old 4-year-old daughter of
daughter of Lear Fan. Rahy. Miya enters the race
She enters the race following two of her three
following three straight most recent races at the 11
races at the 11 furlong furlong distance. Most rec-
distance. Most recently, ently, she finished fourth in
she finished fifth in the the Dessert Storm Challenge
Dessert Storm Challenge inin New York, following a
New York, following a paira distant fourth in a stakes
of second-place finishes. The race two starts prior. Miya
Persistent bridesmaid alsois the lone daughter of 8
Has six second-place fin- time winner Seven Out
ishes. She finished eighthin(DanzigxBuckpasser), who
last year’s renewal of was best at intermediate
this race, earning an 86 distances.
speed figure.

We head around the next corner and find Knightmare’s Comfortable Liar, by Red Ransom. Red Ransom has an interesting pedigree. He was pretty solid on the track and that interesting pedigree brings to mind some interesting dam sire combinations. That Knightmare chose Northern Dancer and Aureole demonstrates his lack of imagination and pedigree knowledge (though we do like his bringing two doses of Nearco back to a Tesio stamina influence in Donatello II). Sim Life: Comfortable Liar has twenty-seven sim runs. Only one stakes win but he does have two stakes placings. Of the twenty seven races only two allowance wins. We have our work cut out for us with guy. Sometimes with runners like this you can say they did not see a good dam sire. Comfortable Liar has the mighty Northern Dancer in that slot. You might say “if cannot produce with that dam sire, there is no hope for him.” What To Expect: Up with the pace early, then fades away like when you would turn off an old t.v. set and sometimes that little light would stay illuminated while meandering in the middle of the screen, dissolving slowly away.

(Deep breath, seven more to go. The hits get bigger as the odds get longer.)

A starter allowance eligible runner with a slow wire-to-wire score at the distance, do we have the next Milos Fame (inaugural winner of the event) in bainbridge’s Royally Gone? This 3-year-old daughter of bargain sire Royal Cat can only hope for a soft pace and the other jockey’s disregard of her chances here. However, that 97 speed figure two starts back while finishing second in an allowance will likely garner their attention — poor planning there. Better to have come in off of paired up 78s (or so, it is not a precise number). Seeking the Gold and Kris S. provide some class to this steadily improving filly, but the 11 furlongs will test the Royal Cat half of her pedigree.

Doral sends out two, sandwiched between a Genesis and a poppoptwo runner. Both Helen’s Mambo King (17-1) and Doral Royale (18-1) probably need a career best race to compete here. Both don’t hate the distance and can run on grass, which isn’t always the case in this race (a function of the high class of this race — everyone wants to run something in it). Helen’s Mambo King is a Kingmambo-sired 4-year-old whose last win came in an owner restricted race. Doral Royale has lots of stamina in the pedigree (Loup Sauvage x Kayf Tara x Royal Academy) but not much speed on the past performances. A career best 92 came in a claiming win back in April, but since has hit the high eighties but once.

Resistentialism is next on the morning line and she’ll make her first career turf start here (see what I was saying before). Another bargain bred (Soto x Gregorian x Policeman) and another 3-year-old. Footfoot’s Resistentialism won two straight races earlier this year then leveled off after finishing fifth in the Bargain Bred Oaks (a classy owner-restricted stakes). Second start off a layoff, sprint to route, dirt to turf – lots of angles to blame while tearing up tickets.

Die My Darling and Apprehended are both 29-1 but this time we’ll take them one by one, letting post position be our guide.

Die My Darling (the name brings to mind a Raymond Chandler novel and also the name of the movie based on the novel) is a 3-year-old daughter of Awesome Again eligible for an n1x allowance and a $30k starter allowance. Owner Jibaro seems to have claimed this one five starts back and did manage her to a starter allowance victory at 1 ¼ miles. Her mother, Woody’s Smurf, was a boy who earned 10 stakes wins, all on dirt.

Malekfarms’ Apprehended finished fourth in the prestigious DPCD Juvenile Turf Fillies two years ago, but the 4-year-old daughter of Sadler’s Wells has flat lined since then, with her best speed figure since being a two point improvement from that start, that coming in her lone career dirt start. She earned her maiden win in her first 3-year-old start and has not visited the winner’s circle since that occasion. Expect more of the same here. Her mother was a boy (Pink Bong) who twice competed in the DPCD Turf, finishing seventh in 2003 and third in 2002 after setting the early pace. Pink Bong also won a stakes race, but that is inconsequential compared to his placing in the DPCD Turf.

Finally, crystallic’s Moonlight Bandit won at first asking but not once in 12 starts since. The 3-year-old daughter of Fuji Kiseki seems faster on dirt than turf and too slow to compete here.

Since it seems the thing to do is make picks here, that is what we’ll do. Learning nothing from last year when the class of the field – Nag of Notley – won at just under 4-1, we pick Dyna Shore to win over Barb’s Return and Comfortable Liar.