Faber College Rematch
There’s a pleasing symmetry to the Grade 3 Pea Patch Juvenile. It’s a $150,000 race for two-year-olds, and for many of them it’s their first chance to go a flat mile. That can be a pivotal moment, and maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise that the race has played host to sim luminaries from early-years superstar Pleasant Nijinsky, a millionaire nearly five times over, to dual-surface speed demon Hayden and Lager, all the way through classic winner and current sophomore division leader Awesome Force. Eleven will line up on Saturday to start the race, and if we’re lucky we’ll see the coming-out of a future star.
Slim favoritism goes to the entry of sim heavyweight Super Stables. That’s Psycho Killers, a regally-bred son of Storm Cat out of a Fappiano mare. He ran his maiden race in Indiana, over a sticky off-track, but none of that mud ended up in his face; he ran out to a several-length lead and refused to be reeled. Now, the second-place horse looks to be starting a career as a professional maiden, and Psycho Killers lost ground through the stretch. Favorite, but vulnerable.
The first of two nipping at his heels on the morning line is Songbird Minister (Unbridled’s Song x Deputy Minister mare). He’s fast-becoming a bit of a local hero; his first two races both came over this track, and his antics in the paddock do entertain. His maiden breaker was free-wheeling and he’s one of five in here running back from the Faber College Juvenile, where he finished third, highest of those colts that got caught up in a speed duel. This race is a bit heavier on the closers, and usual rider J. Yount remains aboard.
CK Nutritionist is one of five who’ll be making his sixth career start in the Pea Patch. A bright chestnut but Bellamy Road, out of a Wild Again mare, he wired the field in his debut and was a good, more relaxed third in the Early Morning Special two races after that. That patient style paid off in his last race, where he stalked and drew off in listed stakes company, earning the 87 speed rating that puts him on top of this company.
The morning line moves in mysterious ways, and Adonai (Afleet Alex x Racey Cap – Capote) is just a co-third choice despite having beaten nearly half the field. He’s riding high off a win in the Faber College Juvenile, and was a good third in the High Roller’s Juvenile before that. D. Givins rides him back and is having a breakout year; it helps when you get the mount on colts that pop 86 speed ratings. His dam was a sprinter, but did win a stakes race at a mile, and his sire puts this well within his reach. 7/1 seems a little like a gift.
The Faber College runner up may be even more interesting. I Don’t Get It is a chocolate brown son of Yes It’s True, whose offspring are a bit all over the map, and sprinter/miler Running Gag, by Distorted Humor. He won his first two races in stylish fashion and came from second-last to finish runner-up to Adonai, with a closing kick that indicates he’ll be happy to have a little more ground over which to close. The wiley P. Cadigan remains in the irons and wouldn’t mind reversing the Faber College order of finish.
Broke Back, on the other hand, would like to write a whole new one, not least because Cadigan has declined to stay aboard him for this race. The Cat Thief colt is out of a Flying Spur mare and can be expected to drop way back early on and make a long, sustained drive. He has a maiden and an allowance win to his name thus far, along with another over 7.5 furlongs at this track’s Early Derby Hopefuls stakes. His 82 there was steady improvement from his previous efforts and he came home like he’ll just be warming up at a flat mile.
Good young sire Rock Hard Ten is represented by The Rock Quarry, liver chestnut son of a winning Coronado’s Quest mare. The Rock Quarry got off to a good start with a snappy win in Indiana, then shipped out west to California to run a close-up third in stakes company. His connections careful handling–he began racing in late April and the Pea Patch will be just start number three–gives us a chance to find out what he raced against. The winner of that listed stakes has rested, but the place horse came back to win his next race, and the horse The Rock Quarry beat in his maiden win is also a stakes winner now. First-year rider S.S. Ledwith is doing all right.
Not Too Shabby is a model of mathematical consistency, with a pair of 77s in his last two races. That was good enough to win the first, an allowance where he broke his maiden (he was second in MSW company in his debut race), but left him fifth in stakes company last out. Maybe that’s the reason for the stretch. He’s a brown son of Flower Alley and a Stormin Fever mare, and has a right to appreciate a mile.
The only non-Kentucky-bred in the race, Frenching is by the Japanese-based French Deputy. He’s out of a durable stakes-winning Langfuhr mare, and has run three of his five races on the Kentucky track. Interestingly, he’s been on the board in all three of those, and off it in both his starts elsewhere (one was in Grade 2 company; the other came on the turf). He was second to Broke Back last time out and loses D. Givins to Adonai, but at least we know he likes the surface just fine.
Beam and Coke finishes up the field. A stocky brown son of Victory Gallop out of a Cat Thief mare, he began his career on the turf but won two straight when moved to the main track. He was eighth last time out in the Faber College, a casualty of the brutal pace, and may be in a bit over his head.