Grade III Grey Fox: December treat for distance horses
Grey Fox
Grade III
A mile and five eighths
Fast Dirt
$150,000
All horses, 3 years old and up
The Grey Fox gathers those long-winded types for some late-season fun. At 13 furlongs, it is not for the mere miler. Let’s get to this week’s post parade in
DELA GROOM T, a 4-year-old Gone West colt, has plenty of stakes experience, but is still N1X eligible. He has managed to cash some checks with creditable races in all five of his recent stakes efforts, including two runner-up finishes. Trainer highc may be planning to pass tired horses once again for a piece of this graded stakes purse. For the win, though, he looks up against it with others here running triple digit speed figures. P. Adams rides.
AS WELLS MAMBO is a sparklingly bred 4-year-old (Sadler’s Wells/Kingmambo) who has smashed his opposition by a combined 18+ lengths his last two races at exactly this distance. Those garnered speed figures of 105 and 106, leaving no question that this is the now horse. He likes to lay well back early and make a move on the turn, and there is no reason to believe trainer ruby6 will be changing tactics after such success. With prominent jock A. Reed up, he will be hard to beat.
WINDORA, a 7-year-old by the little known combo of Frisky Dan/Doulab, has had some speedy sprint races in his career, including one this year, but has not been successful at a distance in his last five, all stakes. He beat one horse in those five races combined, so the prognosis cannot be great in this one. Jockey B. Barnes has had a solid year, which may help, but trainer rebel65 certainly lives up to the name by entering Windora here. Actual off odds are likely once again to be above the listed 99-1.
HEAVY ON THE CREAM is as good a motto to live by as any. He is a Kingmambo colt out of the Deputy Minister winning mare I DON’T KNOW. He squandered an 8-length lead in the stretch last out in a 16-furlong allowance, losing to LITE’S OUT, who was runner-up in a 14-furlong Delpenn Championship stakes last week. Trainer trij’s horse has some nifty speed figures, but does seem to hang in the stretch. Jockey M. Russell will have to try to save something for the stretch, and the cutback in distance may help.
For GREEN GREEN GRASS(IRE) to come home first, he will have to cash in on his two fine recent allowance wins going long on dirt. The 7-year-old Generous(Ire)/ Ela-Mana-Mou(Ire) horse is a tough customer, with $786,604 in earnings and 15 wins and places each. Trainer fats and jockey D. White will have to try to give them the slip fairly early and try to duplicate the form of the allowance wins.
5-year-old MAMBO DAWN is our other Kingmambo horse, and trainer choke has a fine late runner here. His last two were seconds in allowance races at 10 furlongs. Previous tries around this distance were not as speedy as those triple-digit runs, so this stakes distance may stretch his talent. The light grey has E Newcomb up, who has been an improved jockey this year.
DESTINY DANCE is the lone 3-year-old, a Dubai Destination colt (himself a son of Kingmambo) with a liking for the marathons. He comes in off a third in the two-mile CAPTAIN’S POTS Challenge with a moderate speed figure of 94. His two nice allowance wins of late are sandwiched between stakes runs where he faded in the stretch, so like others here he will have to try to stop the pattern. W. Moxley is up for topicountb.
IDENTITY THEFT(IRE) is a 4-year-old and our second son of Generous(Ire). He comes in off a 5-furlong win in the GLEN OVERTURE Stakes and is undefeated at 12+ furlongs on dirt. His failure in the Carlton Fisk Handicap three back was his only turf try, so that should not hurt him today. Trainer beefcake5 is experimenting with low-percentage jock A. Jewell, but this one still rates as an upset contender against AS WELLS MAMBO.
KILLERZANDGLITTERZ was a Grade 1 winner going long on dirt as a 4-year-old, but recent years have not been as kind to the Glitterman colt, now 6. He’s been on the board in recent allowance races with a stalking style, which could get him a piece here. N. Hollohan will do all he can to bring this horse home with some money for trainer killerz.
Simsters4 brings DEPUTY SEC OF WAR to the race with three recent allowance wins at 12 and 13 furlongs. He has a touch of speed, which could serve him well here, although it hurt him when he faded in the PROSPECT KRIS Bonanza in a loss to CONBARRO. Z. Kentucky is at the top of the jockey table, helping to make 7-1 odds rather juicy for this Deputy Minister 4-year-old.