Tears of Seattle Looks To Turn Tables In Empire Rose

The Empire Rose Stakes will be run on Sunday in Victoria.  The grade one race has attracted a field of eleven to go a mile on a firm turf.  The purse is $750,000.  Headlining the field is Champion Tears in Seattle who happened to finish second in this race last year during her championship season but her path to victory this year is in no way guaranteed.  There are three fillies listed as second choice in the field and two others that are listed in single digits plus a major threat from a three year old filly whose speeds are improving now.  Let’s take a look at the runners.

 

#1 Gimlets Gone North                                 14/1

One of the two six year old mares in this field, Gimlets Gone North has only made sixteen starts in her careers.  She’s got six wins and overall has been in the money eleven times.  She made her graded stakes debut in May of 2017 and then was off for eleven months before returning this spring with an allowance win going a mile and one sixteenths.  Astonishingly she only needed about six weeks before running and winner her next start, the Grade Three Morning Julep over the same distance as her allowance win.  She ran a 114 speed that day, a career best.  The daughter of Tanino Gimlet based on the North Light x Kingmambo hemare Newer Slew has not done as well more recently.  In three races since that big win she has failed to hit the board although in fairness two of those races were on off tracks and she may not have cared for them.

 

#2 One of These Nights                                 19/1

This is a real hit or miss filly – she’s won six of her fourteen runs but has never finished second or third.  She’s one of two three year olds in the race and is one of only three searching for her first graded victory.  The daughter of Gleneagles out of the Fastnet Rock x Broad Brush mare Rocks Hard is a half sister to grade one winner Hardiac.  Hardiac won most of his races in turf sprints but he scored his grade one triumph going one mile as a two year old.  One of These Nights does have four listed stakes wins to her credit, including two on turf at a mile and one sixteenths.  She also won an allowance prep for this start handily.

 

#3 Calle D’oro                                                    5/1

Calle D’oro is the only runner here who has never won a stakes race but her recent form is enough for the oddsmaker to make her co-second choice.  The four year old daughter of Medaglia D’oro is out of the grade one winning Kingmambo x Pleasant Colony mare Mambo De Calle.  The multiple grade one winning turf miler actually finished third in this race back in 2012 but so far she has not reproduced herself in the shed.  Perhaps her daughter can snag the trophy mom missed out on.  Calle D’oro has been knocking at the door in stakes runs.  She’s hit the board in four listeds and two grade ones, all at a mile on the grass.  Her most recent start saw her run third in the Grade One Queen Ascot, losing by less than two lengths after leading most of the way.

 

#4 Midwest Funk                                             12/1

After bouncing around between sprints and routes this filly has really found herself going a mile on the turf.  She’s run those conditions in her last four starts and has a 1-2-0 record with her off the board performance coming over a yielding surface.  Her most recent race saw her win the Grade Two Mother Stakes closing desperately to win by a head.  Her speeds have been very high recently.  Tossing that yielding effort her three most recent races have seen her average a 110.3 speed.  She’s a scratchbred daughter of Speightstown x Danehill x Pulpit and she’s got a lot of upside.

 

#5 Finke Beryllium                                           5/1

The first grade one winner in the field is this four year old filly who has won half of her fourteen starts.  She’s a South African-bred filly by Variety Club out of the Cape Cross x Dynaformer mare Outback Beryllium.  She is easily the best foal produced by this young mare so far but her two year old is by Frankel suggesting that Finke Beryllium’s success has given her dam an upgrade in sire choices.  She’s only run five times this year and has hit the board in four of those races including wins in the Grade One Foulmouth and the Grade Two Blood Bond.  All of her runs have come at a mile on turf and it seems to work well for her.  Her only off the board effort was her most recent start, the Grade One Maudlin Cup where she finished sixth after leading most of the way.  That race was against males and likely was a chance to see if she could compete in the Breeders’ Bowl Mile.  Although she missed the board it was still a strong run considering the circumstances and she should be tough here.

 

#6 Primetime Lami                                          17/1

Royal Runner is an eighteen year old mare by Daylami x Kingmambo.  She was a seven time stakes winner, topped off by a grade one victory and several other graded wins.  For many years it seemed as if she was destined not to reproduce herself on the racetrack until her 2015 filly foal by Dansili came along.  Named Primetime Dansil the filly won two grade ones going a mile on turf as a two year old, including the Breeders’ Bowl and she was named a champion that year.  Her full sister Primtime Lami was born a year later and showed similar precociousness, winning a grade two as a two year old and running third, beaten one half length in a grade one.  Unfortunately for Primetime Lami her form has not continued on as a three or four year old.  In six starts this year she has only hit the board once, running third in an allowance race.

 

#7 Tears in Seattle                                           7/2

Last season’s champion route turf female has only gotten better at age six.  This scratchbred Street Cry x Seattle Slew x Damascus mare enters off two straight grade one triumphs.  In her six starts this season she also boasts a grade two victory as well as a third place finish in the Equinics.  She had a go versus males after that run and was beaten under four lengths by some of the best turf milers in the game in the Sand Castle Duty Fee.  Her average speed for all six races this year is a 111, which is much higher than many in the field.  Tears in Seattle finished second in this race last season and she is looking for revenge!

 

#8 Never Admit Defeat                                 7/1

Never Admit Defeat is a solid five year old mare who seems to love the 7.5 furlong distance.  She has a win and two on the board finishes in three stakes runs at the distance and has won all of her allowance efforts at that distance.  She is a stakes winner going a mile but her form is less consistent at that distance.  The daughter of Dubawi out of the stakes winning Galileo x Danehill mare Special To Me enters this race off her first in the money finish in a graded stakes race.  That came in the one mile Prix Marcel Boss where she ran a 109 speed after closing mildly in the stretch.  She ran a 109 speed in that spot which came only 27 days ago.  The two biggest speeds of her career – 115 and 112 did come in races at one mile but overall she has only won two of her fourteen starts routing.

 

#9 Kanaloa Mama                                            12/1

The more fancied of the three year old entrants is already a grade one winner and a winner of eight of eleven starts.  She won four straight graded stakes versus fellow three year olds this year before finishing fourth in her most recent start.  That came in a grade three in her first race against older runners.  She ran a career best 111 speed and oftentimes three year olds stumble in that first race against older and then rebound to show their true potential in their next starts.  All five of her most recent races were in turf miles and included two grade one wins.  This daughter of Lord Kanaloa is easily the best of five foals out of the stakes winning mare Musclebound Mama (by Lope de Vega x Symboli Kris S.).  I don’t often tip horses in my columns but I really like this filly’s chances.

 

#10 Dynimal                                                       8/1

Dynamil is a filly who has never hit the board in a graded stakes going eight furlongs on turf.  She’s done it several times going nine including a win earlier this season in the Black Betty Handicap but it seems like she is a bit compromised at this distance.  Her only attempt at a grade one going a mile came in this year’s Equinics race and she does have an allowance win at the distance but her speeds are higher when she gets that extra furlong.  She’s a deep closer and that may have something to do with it.  She’s a five year old daughter of Animal Kingdom out of a Dynaformer x Nijisnky II mare.  She’s the only stakes winner from seven foals for her dam.

 

#11 Fanny Crosby                                            5/1

What can be said about a mare who is 18-5-5-5?  She’s super consistent that’s what!  Fanny Crosby is a four year old by Redoute’s Choice out of an A.P. Indy x Nureyev mare who has also produced two grade one winners and a multitude of stakes winners.  Both of those grade one winning siblings preferred a bit more distance (one turf distance mare and the other classic distance on dirt) but Fanny Crosby has found her place at a mile on the turf.  Her last four starts have come at that distance and she’s won her two most recent and was second in another.  She earned her grade two badge in her most recent run the Flight Mile where she ran a 118 speed – easily the tops in this field.  She lead wire to wire that day but has shown the ability to rate which will help her in this spot.

 

Good luck to all!

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