Juveniles stretch out in July Race Bonanza

Welcome to Nevada, where this week’s feature is the July Race Bonanza. Five two year olds will travel a mile and a sixteenth on the turf for a purse of $80,000. Here is the field, in post position order:

Son of Scab is out of the G1 winning sprinter Katie’s Scab, but he seemed to appreciate the added distance in his first start at a mile last time out. He is unbeaten in two starts on the turf and will be tough again today.

Bare Bones, claimed out of his first start for $10,000, made trainer Whaleboned look like a genius when he ran back second in a stake. He is the longest price on the board at 7/1, but if he runs back to his last race he will have an excellent shot to get the win.

Spare Tire, the 6/5 favorite for the Super Stables operation, broke his maiden first time out and then finished sixth in an owner-restricted stake. He is beautifully bred and should improve with the extra distance, but he is not the mortal lock that his price suggests.

Mont Secreto makes his career debut in stakes company here today. He has a very nice pedigree, but his sire, Montjeu, is not known as a sire of two-year-olds. We will reserve judgment on this one until we see him run.

Cough Drop T, the only multiple winner in the field other than Son of Scab, scored an allowance victory at a mile last time out. However, he was unchallenged on the lead and earned a fairly slow 69 speed figure. Most of the others have been running faster than that, and he will need to step up his game to be competitive.