First Time Starter Favored in Red Fish Blue Fish
A pair of promising 2-year-old fillies by freshman sires and grade three winner Haptics highlight the Red Fish Blue Fish Stakes (G2) Saturday in Dubai. The $375,000, 6 1/2-furlong race is set to be run over a fast track. Unraced Acclimatings is the morning-line favorite in the 10-filly field.
Zenyatta10’s Haptics (the science or study of touch) has won three of four career races with the most recent coming in the Butterfly Futurity (G3) last time out. The daughter of Frosted earned an 82 speed figure after her stalking trip in that six-furlong race and will get an additional half-furlong Saturday. Haptics previously won a listed stakes race and has yet to finish out of the exacta spots. Her dam is the graded-placed stakes winning he-mare No Communication (by Majesticperfection), whose best races came at five and 5 1/2-furlongs. Frosted should help Haptics race beyond those distances. Haptics drew post position eight, has H. Harzeim to ride, and is the third-wagering choice at 5/1.
Graywolf21’s Bye Land Slam (the last foal from Hall of Famer Land Slam) earned her initial win in a n2l allowance with a four-horse field in her most recent start. Bye Land Slam led at every call in her one-length win while earning a speed figure of 72. On Saturday she will attempt to become the fourth graded stakes winner in a row for her dam (the previous three all won grade one races). Land Slam’s get, as well as Land Slam herself on the track, tend to be the precocious sort that do well as juveniles and in longer sprint races so it would be no surprise to see Bye Land Slam step up here. Bye Land Slam is by freshman sire Catholic Boy (the title of The Jim Carroll Band’s first album), a son of another beneficial influence on precocity, More Than Ready. Bye Land Slam (8/1) starts one gate in from Haptics with S. Wooley aboard.
Ryans Wild (the Ryans sans apostrophe being a naming convention for this stable, the Wild for stakes winning dam Wild Wild Wild (by Awesome Again and out of a Wild Again mare)) is also by a first crop sire. Maximus Mischief, in this case. Dan426’s Ryans Wild is the first stakes winner for her sire and has the chance to become the first graded stakes winner on Saturday. The bay filly began her career with three straight victories, including the Ribald Tails Dirt Juvenile Fillies, before closing from 13th-place to finish fourth in the 5 1/2-furlong Vermont BB Juvenile Filly (G2) last time out. Ryans Wild earned her top speed figure of 75 in that late May race. S. L. Ledwith is in the irons and the pair will start from gate four at odds of 8/1.
Strongtar (And with that the framing convention for this preview crashes and burns. Strongtar?) also has Wild Again as the dam’s dam sire. She enters here following a third-place finish in a listed stakes, earning a speed figure of 77. The daughter of Australian bargain sire Extreme Choice won her debut on a track rated good then finished 11th — beaten by only 3 1/2 lengths — in the Sloppy Prospector Dirt Juvenile Fillies. Strongtar is the third stakes-placed runner produced by the Strong Hope dam Fallen Up, who was a moderately talented miler. Strongtar (10/1) is set to leave from post six with jockey H. Artack.
The only other previously stakes placed entrant in the field is Satan’s Causeway, who like Strongtar is from the lightng99 conglomerate of stables. Unlike Strongtar, Satan’s Causeway has yet to win a race. The daughter of Will Take Charge debuted with a second-place finish in an open allowance race then was third in a five-furlong listed stakes race. Satan’s Causeway then earned her top speed figure of 72 when sixth — beaten by 3 3/4-lengths — in the Vermont BB Juvenile Filly (G2) won by Coomer3’s promising Always Dreaming filly Straightstreetcat. Satan’s Causeway’s dam, Satan’s Street (Street Cry x Giant’s Causeway) has produced two stakes winners and one other stakes-placed horse from five crops. Satan’s Causeway is 7/1 on the board and will be ridden by K. Ledwith from post two.
Spacie Gracie is owned by Theprofit8, one of the 61 stables under the Coomer3 umbrella. Spacie Gracie has yet to show the ability of her previously mentioned, undefeated, and two-time stakes winning stablemate. The daughter of Carpe Diem (out of a Curlin x Seattle Slew mare) finished fourth in her April debut after leading in the stretch, then sealed the deal next time out while earning a speed figure of 70. Spacie Gracie likes to race prominently and will likely be one of many sorting themselves out on the front end Saturday. Spacie Gracie departs from the three hole at odds of 6/1 with C. Roser aboard.
Englandatw’s Monthly Budget has led at every call of her two races except the final one of her debut race. Though having forsaken maiden racing in favor of allowance races, the daughter of Quality Road has faced very weak fields with very few competitors. She did earn a 75 speed figure in her victory last time out, so she likely fits with these. Monthly Budget is out of the Dubawi mare Mountain Gate, who was a dual surface stakes winner at her best between seven furlongs and 1 1/16 miles. Monthly Budget is the second wagering choice at 4/1. T. Brewer and the bay filly start from post five.
Rickbell’s Proaza (a municipality in Asturias, Spain) enters here with two straight wins after an initial third-place finish in a maiden allowance and a second-place finish in a $150,000 claimer. The daughter of the first-crop budget Bernardini sire Black Stash defeated males in a four-horse n1x allowance race for Florida breds last time out, earning a speed figure of 65. That’s the second race in a row the filly’s speed figure declined after earning a 67 on her second start. Alleviating that concern is that she raced with only two weeks between those races and enters here with over two months away. Proaza likes to press the pace or rate just behind and may need to utilize her rating skills here. The longest price on the board at odds of 19/1, Proaza is set to start from post nine with jockey B. Ball.
Dark Samuraite is another from the Lightng99 stables. The daughter of First Samurai (from a Smart Strike mare) earned a 59 speed figure in winning her debut race, but the 1 1/4-length margin of victory suggests she left something in reserve that day. In her one outing, she aggressively pressed the pacesetter before drawing off in the stretch. Outwardly drawn in post 10, jockey A. Witter retains the mount on the 15/1 longshot.
Cjt’s Acclimatings will make her debut in Saturday’s race. What can one say about her other than she looks nice in her picture? The daughter of Acclamation (the Ireland-based son of Royal Applause, Acclamation) is out of the Awesome Again mare In Awe Kirby. In Awe Kirby was a stakes winner who won her debut on turf, then won two more races as a juvenile when switched to dirt. She was at her best in the shortest of races on the sprint spectrum, winning four races in a row at 4 1/2 furlongs as a 3-year-old and 17 overall races in her 40-race career. The surprising favorite at odds of 7/2 drew the rail and has the services of jockey V. Byrd.
My fictional bankroll improved to $2,422.80 after last weekend’s two races (one good, one bad). This week I’m going to pass entirely on the 7/2 favorite and focus on the logical fillies with race experience and a few longshots with possibilities. Haptics (8) has the highest speed figure coming into this and can run on from behind horses and would be the favorite if I were making the morning line. Ryans Wild (4) and Strongtar (6) also have experience with dirt kicked in their faces and have the added advantage over Haptics of a little more time between starts. I’ll start with a $2 exacta box of those three and $20 across the board on Haptics. I’ll also use my top three over and under maiden Satan’s Causeway (2), Monthly Budget (5), Bye Land Slam (7), and Proaza (9) as well as themselves in $1 exactas. So $108 in fresh wagers bringing the bankroll down to $2,314.80.