Sophomores look to launch into Derby picture
A field of eight 3-year-olds passed through the entry box for Saturday’s $75,000 City Watch Stakes, a local prep for the upcoming road to the Bluegrass Derby. This one looks to be a good race to use as a starting point for a few young horses who aren’t quite at the graded stakes level just yet. They will go 1 1/8 miles in this one, so we will definitely get a good gauge on how far some of these guys can stretch their legs.
PGA Eurogreens drew the rail, and we will be looking for him to drop back early to make a late run. Lately, we have seen this stretch-running son of Eurosilver come up just shy in a couple of decent efforts. He should definitely appreciate the added furlong, as this biggray trainee looks to get his first stakes win.
Perhaps a horse with a bit more tactical speed is confessor‘s Gold Cloak, a Kentucky bred son of Touch Gold. This one makes his stakes debut after never being out of the exacta in his six career starts. He owns a win over this track and distance in his most recent start, an allowance event, four weeks ago. As a proven winner here, this guy will be super dangerous on Saturday.
Riding a wave of recent success is Achaemenes from the barn of tbgifted. Achaemenes comes to Kentucky off of a pair of wins in Hong Kong and South Aftrica. This globe-trotting Birdstone colt has knocked heads with some tough rivals in Grade 1 company last year. In that event, the Sparkling Wine Stakes in New York, Achaemenes finished a hard trying sixth, beaten just four lengths. Prior to that, he was fourth in the Camel Juvenile (Gr 2) in Dubai. He has since showed signs of improvement, which signifies that he’ll be a contender for the top spot as well.
Passing Them By(ENG) is a lightly raced son of Cape Town, with just two lifetime starts coming into this race. Both of this colt’s races have been winning efforts, and also wire-to-wire efforts as he knocked out his maiden and first allowance condition. Look for more of the same today from this wfstables charge, as he should be close to the front with only one other rival seemingly able to run with him early. Today will certainly be a test of class and stamina.
twister‘s Legendary Thief comes into this event off of a pair of victories around two turns. He dispatched a field of maidens in his third career start, and subsequently has won a conditioned allowace race from well off the pace in Colorado. Shipping to Kentucky to make his stakes debut, this son of Cat Thief looks to benefit from an extra sixteenth of a mile to work his magic.
In post position 6 is a Stormin Fever colt who is making a surface switch. Count Every Star has run his last two races on the turf course, turning in an allowance win going a mile and a stakes runner up finish going today’s distance. dubaichamp‘s colt has run well on the main track, however, and returns to that surface today. The distance seemed a bit too far for him last time out, so we shall see if that experience will help him get that same distance today.
Freedom’s Fight, an Aussie-bred son of Arazi brings in a solid string of main track performances. The only off the board finish for this guy was on the grass, and that was three starts back. So, we know he can recover, and that he runs well with the added distance. honfrog2 enters him in this race off of a victory at today’s distance of 1 1/8 miles. In that one, he ran a career-high 95 SP#, which earned him a chance to make his stakes debut today. He will be another one trying to pick up the pieces late.
Stuck on the outside is the Japanese-bred son of Kentucky Derby winner Charistmatic, None Too Shabby. From the barn of beefcake2, this one like to free wheel it out on the lead. Lately, he had faded in the late stages of his races. He adds a bit more distance today in hopes of getting a little more space between he and the rest of the field. With the presence of Passing Them By, that may be a difficult task. He will need a top notch effort to get it done here.
Good luck to all in Saturday’s feature. A win here is sure to evoke some early Triple Jewel dreams.