The NC Mile

North Carolina will be featuring a full field for this weekend’s Grade II NC Mile, a (you guessed it) eight-furlong affair on the turf. There will be a lot of talented horses, some of them at good prices. The stakes record of 1:33 3/5 was set by This Cat Can Run in 2004.

1 DUMBER THAN A ROCK Gum 14/1

The field certainly starts out with a bang. This lightly-raced three-year-old has been improving steadily through his 16 races. Last time out he made his stakes debut with a 113 fig, following up an equally impressive allowance win. A royally-bred son of Rock of Gibraltar, he was picked up from a maiden claimer for the pittance of $13,500. This will be his first graded race and his first time against his elders, but he has absolutely earned a shot. He will try to take the race from the front, and don’t be too surprised if he manages it.

2 SHARKS INDIGO Dcsharks 11/1

A fast son of AP Indy, Sharks Indigo has had a rough time of it in graded company lately. He hasn’t hit the board in a graded race since January and has never won a graded race. The good news is this is a softer field than the Grade I’s he’s been in lately, so maybe he will find this race more to his liking. He’ll need an absolutely top effort to be a factor here, but it’s not totally out of reach for him.

3 JUMPIN JAVA Waradmiral1 9/1

It’s been almost two years since this guy has run a distance this short. In fact, go back exactly two years and he ran fourth in this race. Since then, he’s found his niche in longer races. A midpack runner, he looks likeliy to remain midpack in a tough edition of this race. He’s terrific going a couple more furlongs, but despite his solid performance two years ago, I just don’t think this race is the best spot for him.

4 BAGORED Zwhisper 25/1

While he has hit the board in a graded race, it’s not the level where this son of Bago tends to run his best races. In recent starts, he’s been behind winners by 12-14 lengths and last time out was second in a restricted allowance. He hits the board a lot in the right races, but he’s way out of his depth here.

5 BANNABY Zaldueno 11/1

Bannaby is another intriguing three-year-old at double-digit odds. His most impressive win was a very close second and a 112 fig in the Grade II Coalmile Mile two back. While that race had a smallish field, it was a terrific way to break into a tougher level of competition. He’s finished second in his last three starts, leading to questions about his will to win, but if he can reproduce his race in the Coalmile, he could find his number on the board Saturday.

6 AWESOME SONG Goldcity 6/1

Then we come to a truly remarkable young colt, who is ranked seventh among his peers. He’s coming off an easy win in an overnight stakes, preceded by a second and third in graded company. He’s been off the board only twice since switching to turf and has run well in some tough races, two of which were against his elders. He has a terrific jockey aboard and the distance suits him well. Watch for him to stalk the pace and strike hard in the stretch.

7 LEAR PARK Kino 9/2

Kino is the favorite in this race and has landed an awesome jockey, but he has some questions to answer. He’s been a bit off form lately – running a tired second in an overnight stakes, followed by fifth in the very tough Breeders Bowl, followed by a fourth in an overnight stakes. Now, there are possible excuses for all of these – the first overnight could have been a light prep, the Breeders Bowl was a totally respectable finish in a tough race, and he could have been tired for the race after that. Before those three, he was the dominant winner of the Canada Mile and an easy winner in a series of ungraded stakes. No excuses this time – he has a terrific jockey and no reason to be tired. Let’s see if he is still as good as he was earlier in the year.

8 WE HARDLY KNEW YA Doctahg1 20/1

Three-year-old by Dynaformer is off to a nice start, finding himself on the board in 10 of 16 starts. He’s coming off a win at long odds in the Del Penn Breeders’ Cup Mile and has found himself outperforming the odds regularly of late. Still, this is a very tough race for him and he may find himself in too deep. This is a tougher race than the ones he’s done well in and is likely to be too much. He’ll try to come from well back and will do his best to surprise the oddsmakers yet again.

9 WARS OF EMPIRE Waremblem1 9/1

Waremblem’s Empire Maker colt has ventured into graded competition only once, but that was an impressive second to race favorite Lear Park in the Canada Mile. There’s no reason to think he couldn’t manage that again. He’s coming off a nice win in a nongraded stakes and looks fit and ready. He has a solid jockey aboard and looks ready to go. Consider him a serious contender for this race.

10 SADLER SEEKER Tenpin6 8/1

This four-year-old son of Seeking the Gold has been badly off his game in his last two starts, but prior to that was hitting the board regularly in top competition. Of the last two races, one was too long for him and the other was the Breeders’ Bowl. He’s back in more appropriate company here and will look to reestablish himself as a major player. He’s capable of hitting the board but will need to regain his will to win after a couple of difficult races.

11 DANCING TENPIN Tenpin8 10/1

Another nice colt from the Tenpin Empire, this three-year-old is coming off a nice win in the Grade III Panhandle Derby. He’s bounced around a bit in graded races, coming off that nice win but struggling in other starts. This will be his first time against his elders. He’s capable of getting up onto the board here with a top effort, but will struggle against a tough and full field of older horses. Yet another nice colt with a shot at doing some damage here.

12 ARTIFICIAL CRISIS Nowitsdark 11/1

I was going to call Artificial Crisis inconsistent, but then I really looked at his record. The truth is he is consistently on the board at 8-9 furlongs on dry ground. Which, by no coincidence, is exactly what he’ll encounter this weekend. He’ll need his best to hit t he board, as there are a number of equally talented horses around, but he really is consistently good when the conditions are favorable to him. Yet another fellow with a very legitimate chance of hitting the board.

13 C YOU AT THE WIRE Lawyerron 16/1

Lawyerron’s colt has tried a variety of distances on the lawn, and he’s done quite well at some of them. His efforts at a mile, however, have not been up to the standard this race will require. He’s a talented youngster, but is happier stretching out longer than this race allows.

14 PALINYEWAH Willyam40 11/1

Last but not least is Willyam’s Redoute’s Choice colt. He had a string of a few very impressive races, but fell very flat in an overnight stakes at this distance last time out. It’s not clear what happened there, but in general it looks like he’s not quite speedy enough at a mile to keep up with this crowd. A good colt who with more terrific races ahead of him, but I wouldn’t count on one coming this weekend.

Good luck, everyone!