Unbridled Zip Hopes For Birthday Karma
Never let it be said that Super Stables has no sense of humor. They’ll send out the favorite in Saturday’s feature race at Finland, a 6-furlong main track event for sophomore fillies. The race is a Grade 3, called the KYJelly Birthday Tribute. Their horse is named Fetish.
She’s a daughter of Cryptoclearance, out of the Grade 3-winning Danzig mare Midnite Kat. Carefully handled all along, she worked through several allowance conditions and won a listed stakes before testing the graded waters in the Pebbles Flintstone and the Fence Fryer. Shuffled a little farther back than usual, she came on well both times but had to settle for minor checks. The slick brown filly has been on the muscle in her workouts and last few races, running well in listed stakes with 100+ speed ratings, and looks poised to find a place on the graded podium this time out. M. Kiprusoff rides and has been having a superlative year.
It takes a big name to stand out in a race crowded with trainers who win at good clips. Super Stables can manage it with their two entries and so can Rafa Stables–riding high this year on the strength of their Bluegrass Derby winner, among others–who also bring a pair. Their first representative is Tubia, a Pulpit filly out of a winning Machiavellian mare, herself daughter of a Grade 2-placed mare and half to a Grade 3-placed one. Tubia began her caeer on the turf, but came afire with a surface switch and rattled off a serious of strong runs in stakes company. The highlight of her career thus far was a good second in the A Fool And His Money Soon Part. That catapaulted her into Bluegrass Oaks contention; she finished eleventh, and then fifth in the Chestnut. She notched her first 100+ number in listed company last out and is sure to be out in front early on, but her history of being run down last is a touch worrisome.
She runs uncoupled in the betting with stablemate Solita, by Speightstown out of a winning Hennessy mare. She was a stakes winner on the dirt at two, but spend her 3yo season gunning for the 1000 Guineas on the turf. She settled for twelfth on the big day, but did run a fast-closing second in the Guineas Trial Part II leading up to that race. Her connections moved her back to the dirt for two good stakes seconds, including on with a 100, and a fourth at a flat mile. That seems slightly longer than she really wants to go, but this race isn’t, and her late kick makes her a major threat.
The birthday barn sends out Unbridled Zip as their representative, and hopes for a little birthday gift in the form of a win. The best daughter of City Zip, she’s out of a winning daughter of Unbridled. Like Tubia, she’s a front-runner, and came out of the box running hard, with four stakes wins to her credit before her official third birthday. She won the Finland Sprint at three and was third in the Honeymoon Special. She’s never cracked the three-digit barrier, but she’s been flirting with it recently, and is unlikely to be bothered if she has some company up front.
The bright colors of capable Taboo Stables will be carried by Taboo Chant, a High Yield filly out of winning War Chant daughter Jungle Chant whose first foal was also a stakes winner. She’s demonstrated her durability by running seventeen races already in her young life. The first name came on the turf, where she was a stakes winner. Switched to the dirt in the last race of her juvenile campaign, Taboo Chant ran out of her skin and never looked back. She’s shown steady improvement since then and very rarely runs a bad race, and boasts both tactical speed and a good finish: a dangerous combo.
Hot young stallion Fusaichi Pegasus is represented by An Open Heaven, daughter of an undistinguished Seattle Slew mare. ‘Heaven, though, distinguished herself early, winning her first two races in good style. She went on a long losing streak, though, but has been rounding back into form and boasts two seconds and a win from her last three races, with a 102 speed rating last out. The bad news is that those races came against conditioned allowance horses, and so it’s hard to know how to match them up against what she’ll face in the KYJelly. T. Ahonen, alas, does not inspire much confidence.
None Too Shabby has shown flashes of living up to that name, and when she’s good, she’s good. The Charismatic filly, from an Alydar mare, was a stakes winner at two and picked up a Grade 3 placing last out with an even race at this distance. She’s posted that same 97 number at 9 furlongs, and her record has been a bit uneven this year, as she’s tried top horses in the Chestnut and Fantasia. It’s worth noting that the Dynamite, last time out, was her first sprint race since last September, and she’s never failed to pick up a check at these distances.
Durable sire Pleasantly Perfect is off to a swell start at stuf, and his daughter in the KYJelly is Pleasant Lass, out of a stakes-placed Night Shift mare. She started racing late in her two-year-old season but has come on strong in her last few races, running first, twice second, and third in allowance and stakes company. She does some of her best work on the mud, which won’t help her here, but the tactical speed will, and likely jockey A. Su.
Talk about dialing back in distance. May Luck Bless You (Mining x Blushing John mare) hasn’t seen a sprint race since her two-year-old season (she was twice stakes-placed then). Her last two races came at 10 and 11 furlongs (she finished third and then commandingly first). The turnback is a little baffling; she’s been very successful in the longer events, and the competition there is generally not as strong. She was a good sprinter at two, though, and if you like her on sheer class 14/1 seems fair.
Pedigrees don’t come a whole lot classier than Growling‘s; the second Super Stables filly in the race is a daughter of Kingmambo, from Grade 1-placed Forestry daughter Growl. The mare did her best work at three, but Growling’s been having a checkered year. She found the winner’s circle for the first time in 2007 last out, versus non-winner of one in three months allowance company. She was a stakes winner at two and has a nice kick when she feels like it.
The last horse in the field is Hanselburgh, of Deelynette Stables, by Johannesburg out of a stakes-placed Hansel mare. The morning line has her at 34/1 and that seems not unfair given that she’s just a first-condition allowance winner with speed numbers that have yet to break 90. I wouldn’t, mind you, kick her out of my barn. But this seems a tall order.