Wake Up For Wide-Open Sleepy Fan
A hard overnight rain doesn’t seem to have dampened anyone’s spirits–only the track. Fourteen three-year-olds will line up on Saturday to start in the Grade II Sleepy Fan Stakes, a $250,000 affair at a mile and one-sixteenth, to be contested over a “good”-rated track.
The track oddsmaker was reluctant to commit in this wide-open field. In the end, favored Song of Pegasus was given a lukewarm endorsement as favorite at 5/1. But that kind of value is just another reason to get excited about the Bayouranso trainee, a grey son of Songandaprayer and a Grade III-placed Fusaichi Pegasus mare. He’s been campaigning hard this year–five races under his belt already–and seems to be thriving under the pressure. His last two races have been his fastest yet. Both overnight stakes run at a flat mile, they found ‘Pegasus laying well back early and finishing with a sustained drive to run second and first with speed ratings of 99 and 97, respectively. The extra sixteenth should be no problem, and the capable M. Staples takes the mount.
From the inside rail to the far outside, our second choice is Vrad’s Ransom, a regally-bred son of Red Ransom, out of Vrad’s Storm, a durable daughter of Storm Bird who’s produced three stakes winners (one of them in Grade I company) in as many foals. ‘Ransom closed out his juvenile season by cracking the three-digit barrier while victorious in stakes company. He was taken back off the pace in the GIII Giant Slayer Classic for his first start at three and failed to fire, but showed admirable grit to stay on for third in a hotly-contested MN vs VT residency challenge race. A. Lewis will be in the irons and is hot hot hot right now.
They don’t come much more precocious than CK Ridgemont High. The Aptitude colt missed by just a head in his only race at two. He risked no chance of a repeat when Ckstable2 brought him out again in mid-January, contesting the early pace and romping home 3.5 lengths in front. Stepped up to stakes company next out, ‘High raced professionally midpack and then took control, flirting with that magic 100 speed rating mark as he finished under a hand ride. But the GII All Saints Derby, a lock race, proved a bit too much; he finished tenth there, never factoring in. California’s best jockeys declined the ride, but this colt has as much raw class as any in here.
Blue-blooded Ataun (Gone West x Aguirre – Sadler’s Wells) missed the board just once in eight starts thus far, and that over a “good”-rated track. But it’s hard to hold that too much against him; he tackled slop in the previous race as a maiden winner versus stakes horses, and acquitted himself very well. His three-year-old debut came on the turf, but Palmisland put him back on the dirt for his last two starts, and the brown colt has thrived. He won an NW2L allowance at a mile and three-sixteenths, cruising home three lengths in front, and rolled back three weeks later to take a listed stakes at the Sleepy Fan distance: another very comfortable win, with a 98 speed rating. This will be his first try in graded company.
Not so for Gogo Gizmo, the first graded winner we’ve encountered in this field. The relevant race is the Grade III Thousand Island Stakes, run in Nebraska last month at this distance and over a “good” track. Front-runner ‘Gizmo was the only horse on the track to come home clean, leading gate to wire with a 96 speed rating. He’s a twelve-race veteran and travelling fool, a stakes winer at two and Grade II-placed in his last start that year. A genuine threat if he can get the lead to himself, though he struggled last out in the All Saints Derby after a speed duel early on.
Sandwiched in between the last two horses in the gate will be Borzakovski, the fourth and best offspring of a Grade I-placed Danzig mare. A stalker by preference, Borzakovski was a stakes winner three times over at two, with his fastest race (a 93) coming over a “sloppy” Dubai (?!?) surface at seven and a half furlongs. Badly out of sourts in the Grade II Can’t Wait For Nextweek in his three-year-old bow, he was turned back to the sprint distances and finished fourth and then second in a pair of Grade IIIs. It is a point of some concern that he doesn’t appear to have improved significantly as a three-year-old, but he’ll benefit more than any horse we’ve looked at so far from the wet going.
Western Romp Ted may pose the greatest threat to ‘Gizmo’s uncontested lead. The Gone West colt had an unconventional start to his career, skipping the maiden ranks entirely. He was third at first asking, then second, Grade III-placed in his fourth start, a stakes winner in his sixth. And he’s a gritty sort who seems to thrive on a fight: his best races have come when challenged early on. He’s been twice stakes placed in three starts this year, with a high number just a notch below the best in here. R. Lombard is outdoing himself this year.
Sometimes patience is rewarded, and Royal Soul looks like such a case. The Perfect Soul colt, second foal and second winner of a stakes-placed Seattle Slew mare, made his first start in November of last year and won that race handily, then did the same in the two that followed. But he was another victim of the Can’t Wait For Nextweek in January, and flattened out in the stretch of an overnight stakes race after hotly contesting the lead through the first three calls. Jdiso2 cut him back to restricted stakes company but dialed up the distance, sending him nine and a half furlongs in his last outing, where he finished second, beaten two lengths. With any luck, the lesson sank in, and the conditioning should prove a boon to ‘Royal as he steps up to the line on Saturday. M. Billig will ride, picked for his good record this year and reliable sense of pace.
Breaking from smack-dab the middle of the gate will be Yang stable’s Meridian Court, a son of Street Cry. ‘Meridian was a two-time stakes winner at two, then laid off for the first two months of this year. Returning in the Thousand Islands, he rated kindly behind Gogo Gizmo and came within half a length of nosing that one out. The 95 he earned there was his fastest yet. Wheeled back into the GIII Smallville Cup at nine furlongs, though, he bounced like a rubber ball, finishing up in eleventh place. Dropping back in distance and getting the off-track he likes, this will be a key race for ‘Meridian and connections.
The same goes for his fellow Smallville Cup starter, Psychotic Gold. The brown colt is a son of Freud, out of a Forty Niner mare with two stakes winners and two graded stakes-placed offspring in four foals. ‘Gold falls into the second catagory, but not yet the first. He managed everything but at two, however, stringing together a series of dramatic late charges in graded stakes company, including a show in a little race called the GI Breeders Bowl Juvenile. He was running like a top-notch horse and Derby prospect. Then February 2007 rolled around and Super12 dusted off the colt and dropped him into a listed stakes, where he finished fourth, beaten eleven lengths at a mile and three-sixteenth. Rolled back into the Smallville, he was a dull fifth, never as far back as he was at two, but never kicking in. He’ll drop one more sixteenth on Saturday, and the presence of the ultracapable F. Gossett shows that his connections mean business.
The can’t all be Sisson’s Chant, but stablemate Sisson’s Forest has been quietly making a name for herself. The Forestry filly was a stakes winner twice over at two, and started off her sophomore season by tackling the boys in an overnight stakes. She acquitted herself well, ending the race fourth but with a 93 speed rating that was her best yet and coming on willingly through the stretch. Back in distaff company for her most recent start, she was much the best. Her numbers don’t match up with the best in this spot and California racefans aren’t convinced that M. Dorsey knows where to find the finish line, but tip of the hat to Taztiger for confidence in their charge.
King of the Screen (Kingmambo) started his career on the grass, where his Grade II-placed dam by A.P. Indy did her best running. He broke his maiden there at first asking, then languished until Serioli changed things up in his fourth start, switching him onto the main track where he eked out an allowance win, then a placing on a “good” track, and then a stakes win to close his two-year-old year. His first start at three resulted in a lackluster tenth-place finish, but he came back tighter next out in an open allowance (albeit a four-horse race) and cruied home a comfortable winner. His top speed rating–a 90–doesn’t match up here, and F. Allen isn’t having his best-ever year, but this colt did enjoy the only off-track he’s ever seen.
A.P. American rounds out the field and boasts the longest running history in the field: fourteen races, starting in April of last year. He was stakes-placed a two and did win at nine furlongs in restricted stakes company, but is unplaced thus far in five starts this year, including the All Sants Derby that was such a trial for others in this field. The wet surface shouldn’t faze him, but a top-three finish would be a surprise.