Field of Ten for Thirty Seven Maker S.
Welcome to Upper New York, where this week’s feature is the Thirty Seven Maker Stakes for 3-year-olds and up. A field of ten will sprint 6 furlongs on the firm turf course, for a purse of $65,000. As the second half of the season is upon us, we have a number of sopohomores taking on their elders in this event. Here is the field, in post position order:
The Massive has one stakes win on his resume, but that was on yielding turf, which he will not get today. He has not hit the board in six starts since that victory, and facing older horses for the first time probably will not help.
Barb’s Favorite made his turf debut last time out in his 17th start and finished a well beaten ninth. He has a few nice allowance efforts this season, but he is a three-year-old and from his last two starts it looks like older horses are a bit much for him to handle at this point.
Calderazzo, a multiple stakes winner at this surface and distance, returns to stakes company after a few confidence building allowance wins. The six-year-old son of Hennessy has lost a step or two since his outstanding four-year-old season, but he is still a solid racehorse and is a top contender for the win.
What A Bargain, a former claimer by New York stallion Judge TC, earned the step up to a stake with a good win in a 3-other-than last time out. A repeat of that effort would make him competitive here, but he did not fare well in several stakes tries last season.
Naw Naw Naw scored a nice allowance win last time out, but it was against fellow 3-year-olds at a mile and an eighth. He has never started on turf and has shown more of a liking for longer distances, so this is an odd choice of races by his trainer.
Kilbeggan Races had a very nice stakes win at this distance to start off the season (ironically, in a race named for his dam), but has not run back to that effort since then. He finished third in his last two starts, but failed to crack a 90 in either, which does not bode well for his chances here.
Favored Like The Rain is back to sprinting after a few long distance tries participating in the Versatility Challenge. He won both of his sprint starts in that four-race series. In his last start, the G3 Middle of Nowhere, he finished 10th but was only beaten four lengths. While the majority of his career wins have been on the main track, he has hit the board in six of nine turf starts and should bounce back with a good outing today.
Blues Event had several nice races at this distance earlier in the season, but his last two stakes tries have been dull efforts. He could be a factor if he can regain his form from earlier in the year.
Izaaq Hollandia, another sophomore, fared better against his elders with a third place finish. He may need to step up his game a bit to compete with these veterans, but he has been very competitive in all four of his stakes tries.
Biscuit Crumbs is another 3-year-old. He is lightly raced but has been improving with each start. He gave a good showing against older allowance foes last time out, earning a 98 speed figure. If he continues to improve, he could get a piece of this at a price.
Good luck to all the entries!