Breeders’ Bowl F & M Sprint

The Breeders’ Bowl F and M Sprint is one of the races that has a scheduled post time of 2:00 p. m. on Friday and the top fillies and mares in the game have flown into Kentucky.   This sprint is being contested at a distance of 7 furlongs.  A purse of $750,000 is up for grabs in this G1 race with more than half the field already having at least one G1 win trophy in their stable.   We have last years F and M Sprint champion returning to defend her honor, Elusive Hanna.  We also have Desertdog having two tals qualifying for this field, Seniorita Caballo and Pain and Suffering.  But with the most entries in this field is Lenny271 with three horses going:  Dragon’s Rage, Watoga Station and The Soulburst.  Of Lenny’s horses, Watoga Station and The Soulburst are half-sisters and share the same game-mare.  Here is a look at this years Bowl runners:

1  SENIORITA CABALLO  8/1 (owned by Desertdog) is a scratch bred four-year-old out of Uncle Mo who has bankrolled $750,000 thanks largely to six wins in 15 lifetime starts.  She ended 2019 and started 2020 in a good way with a 4-race win streak that commenced last September with a win in an allowance race followed by a November win in a listed stakes.  The streak continued as Seniorita kicked the 2020 season off with her first career start in a graded race, the G2 Distaff Breeders Bowl Cap.  The race was a bit unusual for her as she generally is lazy in leaving the gate and falling to the backside of a race field.  In this race, she broke away in fourth and pretty much held that spot until the stretch run where she won by over a length upsetting the field at 17/1.  Staying with the G2 company, Seniorita Caballo raced in the Virginia Madison and non-believers sent her off at 18/1.   This time she got lazy and left the gate running 10^th.  She did make her way  to the top and won a photo for the win with a speed of 115 (and beating out Arkzana on the wire).   Ironically, the win streak would end with another photo finish in the G2 Best Flight where she went off at high odds of 13/1 and ran out of time and was beat by Nadera who is also running in this Bowl race.  It should be noted that her career best speed of 116 was scored in this event.  Seniorita would battle in her only G1 race, the Equinics, and with more respectful odds of 9/1.   She would be 10 strides off at the half but could only dimmish that down to a bit more than three as she finished fifth and losing out to The Third Bride.   Her last start was in a listed stake, which she won fairly easily with a 115 speed.   Seniorita Caballo has been discarded at the wagering windows for many of her stake races but to the benefit of those who supported her at high odds.   Bettors better pay attention as this gal is dangerous!

2  LIAM’S LITTLE LADY  9/1  (owned by Liam) is a scratch bred four-year-old filly out of Redoute’s Choice who has amassed over $850,000 through 13 lifetime starts with 8 wins notched on the stable wall.   Four of her career wins came this year which started with a win at the allowance level back in mid-January.   She advanced into a listed stake race at the start of March and showed she fit right in, wiring the field by over two lengths.  From this point on, it would be grade level racing for this lady who likes to run up on the front end.  She moved into the April running of the Unthinkable (G2) and surprised the non-believers who sent her to the gate at 10/1 as she posted her career best speed of 110 and settled off the lead in the early going and galloped to the front to win by a stride and a half.   Moving up the ranks another notch, she moved into the G1 Princess Looney.  Here, Liam’s Little Lady was forced into a mid-field position and struggled to find a lane but was able to gain some small ground and finish fourth.  This Little Lady enters into the Breeders’ Bowl race off an appearance in the G1 Nutcracker.  In this race, she again got pushed to a midfield position (6^th) but quickly moved up by the half to the third spot.  From here, she found some daylight and deep into the stretch would make it to the top spot and winning by a quarter stride and a 113 speed, beating out the front running American Ingenuity and two others that were further back:  Nadera and Arkzana who are also entered into this Bowl race.   Liam’s Little Lady enters off a nice win and was able to take down some of the foes that she will face again in the Bowl, all seeking revenge.  She has the capability to deny them.

3  DRAGON’S RAGE  13/1 (owned by Lenny271) is out of stake winning game mare Katzenjammer who has produced 13 children with four of them winning a stake race.  Three-year-old Dragon’s Rage is sired by Tapit and has won half of her 12 career starts and is closing in on a half a million in purses.   Dragon has been a busy girl this year, racing 9 times in a mix of allowance, listed stakes and grade level events.  Early in the year, she breezed to two back-to-back wins in allowance races, both at a mile.  She then moved on to the listed stake races and finished second in her first try at a mile route.   Dragon would then be pulled back slightly in distance and won another back-to-back pair of races, this time listed stake wins.  Dragon’s Rage generally runs in the back quarter of the field and makes a smooth and steady move to gain on the leaders.  In August, she would face older horses for the first time as she made her debut in the graded class in the G2 Honored Miss.  Here she would show her ability as she had the third hightest odds in the race at 16/1 and rallied to finish second just a length and a quarter off the winner.  Dragon then appeared in the Nutcracker (G1), again with older horses.  She made up some ground late but not enough as she ended up in sixth and charted a 108 speed, which was the third consecutive race with that speed.  She went up against several horses in the Nutcracker that are entered in this field but she was outdone by Liam’s Little Lady (1^st),  American Ingenuity (2^nd) and Nadera (4^th).    In Dragon’s last start, the Evil Prep II  (G1) she returned to the three-year-old class and as the 7/2 favorite, she finished second behind Pain and Suffering (also entered into this bowl race) by just under a length but did hit her career best speed of 113.   She may have a disadvantage as she was beat by several runners in this field in the Nutcracker, but the career best speed in her last is a nice way to go into this big race.

4 SURFSIDE SUE  30/1 (owned by Massatoga) is one of just a few three-year-olds in this event.   She is a scratchbred fathered by Zensational.    2020 has had it’s ups and downs for Surfside Sue.   On the upside, she won back-to-back grade races in March and April.  The first came on an off-track in the G3 Cadoka.  She sat in the second seat and kept the pace honest and took command of the lead past the half and walked to the winner’s circle by nearly 3 lengths with a 104 speed.   In the G2 Stonerstop, she would sit a relaxed fourth in the early going and pounced to the lead in the stretch to win by a length and a half as the top choice at 9/5.   In May, Surfside Sue faced older horses for the first time in the G2 Vagabond.  At 30/1 she looked unlikely but she ran an honest raced, held her own and finished third, just ¾-length behind the winner and posting a career best speed of 109.  Those would be the “up’s”.   On the down side, Surfside’s  last three races, all graded, were disappointing as she finished 7^th in the G2 Best Flight, again facing older horses and watched from far back to see Nadera win the race.   Racing back with 3-year olds, she went to the Equinics as the 7/2 choice and finished 8^th and was never a factor.   Surfside Sue’s most recent start was in the G1 Iceburg and competing with the older ladies and finished next to last.   Her form of late has been off and competing with older horses has been a challenge.  She may be in need of some rest and it looks like this could be a tough field for her to upset.

5  NADERA  7/1 (owned by 3dddz) is a four-year-old filly and is a scratch bred out of Nyquist and is the topped ranked grade winner out of this sire.  She has netted more than $1.4 million in career earnings with six wins in 18 appearances.   This will be her second start in the Breeders’ Bowl as she last ran in the Juvenile Filly back in 2018 and finished 6^th on an off-track.   Prior to 2020, success was rare in racing in graded competition as Nadera competed 10 times with a record of 2-0-1 and the two wins were as a two year old.   Things have changed in 2020 where she kicked the season off with a second in a listed stake and replicated the second place finish in the G2 Davey Jones Handicap.  Nadera found improvement flying into New York where she won a pair of G2 races, the first in the Bed of Flowers where she quickly controlled things on the front end and wired the field with a 117 speed.  In the Best Flight, she was pressed early on to stay on the lead but was able to break loose past the half only to have late closing Senorita Caballo meet her on the wire, but Nadera won by the nod of the head.  In this race, she also beat out Arkzana (3^rd) and Surfside Sue (7^th) who will also be starting in this Bowl race.  Nadera matched her career speed of 117, in the Best Flight and moved onward to the G1 Nutcracker, her most recent start.   She would again meet Arkzana in this field but it was a mute point as Nadera finished fourth after running in a mid-field position and was a stride off Liam’s Little Lady the winner and another entered into the Bowl.   Nadera has certainly shifted gears after some prior poor outcomes in graded races and this year she is 2-2-0 in five starts in stake competition.  She’s on top of her game and could get the Breeders’ Bowl championship that eluded her as a Juvy.

6  PAIN AND SUFFERING  29/1 (owned by Deserdog) is a three-year-old filly and a scratchbred out of Street Sense.  She has the lowest lifetime earnings in the field with a notch just below $400,00 and has won three times in nine starts.   Pain and Suffering kicked the 2020 year off racing in a set of three allowance races where she finished, 3^rd, 2^nd and 1^st, improving with each race.  Her speeds have gone upwards in a fast fashion from 83 to 101 in this span.  In July, she took on her first grade level race, the G3 Love Muffins.  This mid-pack runner gained late to finish third, a length and three-quarters behind the winner but did elevate her speed to 106.  Pain and Suffering’s last start was in the G1 Evil Prep II.  She put on a nice performance as she took over the lead at the third call and was able to fend of Dragon’s Rage (also in this Bowl race) to win with a career best speed of 114.   This will be her first start going against older horses and she’ll have to show she can compete with the more experienced horses, but the way her speeds have been advancing each week, if that continues into this race, the other horses may feel some “pain and suffering.”

7  WATOGA STATION 25/1 (owned by Lenny271) is one of four grade winning children to come out of game mare Yevgin and is sired by Honor Code.   She has won half of her 14 race starts and amassed just over $1.5  million.    Three-year-old Watoga Station made her first stake appearance in mid-2020 in a listed stake race and got the win via a photo finish.  She moved upward into the G2 Bob Barker after this fine performance where she ran second and took the lead at the head of the stretch only to be over taken in mid-stretch and finish second by a length.  From here, Watoga moved into the G1 company and ran in the Priceless stakes and went straight to the front as the gate opened and closed the door as she crossed the line for her first grade 1 win.   Watoga represented her residency in the summer Equinics and ran a very similar race to the Priceless as she again went gate to wire and notched her best speed to date of 107.    Her most recent start was in the G3 TOCA Sprint and this would be the first time she competed with older horses.   She was not able to get to the front in this one, but ran fourth early on and as the 17/1 outcast, she held steady and finished third, a little more than a stride off the winner.   Watoga has talent and likes to be up on the front end and the challenge will be to get the speed a bit higher as others in the field are capable of speeds of 110 and up.  This would be a great spot for her to join that club. It should be noted that she will be racing against her half-sister The Soulburst.

8  THE SOULBURST  12/1  (owned by Lenny271)  was bred by game-mare Yevgin who only raced 13 times with a pair of wins in her career.  Breeding turned out to be her specialty as she has 11 kids with 7 with a stake win and four of these have won at the grade level with one of these previously racing in a Breeder’s Bowl race.  But an interesting development here as Soulburst’s half-sister, Watoga Station, will race against her.  The Soulburst is a four-year old who has won 8 of 19 starts with $869,000 in winnings and is sired by Candy Ride.  After a long end-of-year layoff, Soulburst started 2020 with a win in an allowance race.  From here, she ran in the G3 Filly Sprint and closed to get fourth.  Soulburst is usually the caboose in her races and the rear of the field she would be in when racing in the G2 Long Island Spririt.  At 13/1 she would roar home to win by one stride and notch  a 107 speed, beating out More Moon who faded to fourth.  Things would flip in the Bed of Flowers (G2) where Soulburst would finish last, well behind Nadera who one the race and will run in this Bowl event.  She stepped back to run in a listed stake to rebuild confidence and finishing 2^nd was enough to put her into the G1 Princess Looney.   Sunburst made a mistimed her late move and could only move from last to 6^th, but was within 2 strides of the winner.   The Nutcracker (G1) was her next stop and many horses running in this field also ran in the Nutcracker.  Soulburst ran last in the early stages and only moved up one position by the third call.  She cut her deficit from 8 strides to just shy of 2 when the race was over, finishing fifth behind winning Liam’s Little Lady, however, hit her first triple digit speed of 110.   Her most recent race was the G1 Evil Prep where she again was well back at the third call but this time rolled in with a second place finish and her career best speed of 115.  The Soulburst does have a strong, very late run which many times she has run out of track.  There are a lot of speedsters in this field and Soulburst might want to launch that attack earlier to nail them.

9  THE THIRD BRIDE  9/1 (owned by Waremblem5) is the child of Hall of Famer Mother of Dragons who has four children that have won at the G1 level with six other stake winners.  All four G1 winners have appeared in Breeder Bowl races and The Third Bride ran in the F & M Sprint last year finished fourth.    She has won 6 out of 18 starts and picked up just under $1.8 million in purses and will try again this year in this event.  In six starts this year, she has three wins and a place.  One of the victories was in a confidence building allowance race that led her into the G1 Humane Distaff where she ran second and took the lead at the head of the stretch, only to be over taken by Arkzana and finishing second with her lifetime best speed of 116.  With her confidence apparently re-established she then ran in the G2 Gleaming Invitational and this time sitting in the second seat paid off as she took over the lead to take home the win with a 115 speed and by a 1 and quarter length margin.  The Third Bride would quickly collect another G1 win in the Equinics 6.5f sprint by going directly to the lead and got the win by a quarter length, and topped the fourth place Senorita Caballo who is also in this event.  Luck would not follow into Bride’s last stop, the G2 Boom Boom Handicap as she led early on, but was pressured and finished seventh in the field.  This four-year-old likes to race on the front and has the experience and ability to get the win.  She does come off a poor outcome in her last start and if she can shrug that off, the winner’s circle is reachable.

10  MORE MOON  9/1 (owned by Knightmare) is a four-year-old who was sired by More Than Ready and is one of three grade winners out of five children of game mare Storm the Moon.   More Moon is closing in on $800,000 in earnings and has been victorious seven times in 16 races.   She has raced eight times this year with four wins, two at the beginning of the season and the other pair in her last two starts.  The first two wins came in an allowance and a listed stakes race.   She has early speed and in her first grade level race, the G2 Long Island Sprint, she linked up in an early front end battle and eventually was swept up by late runners and finished fourth by a length.   She would again be in another front end battle in the G2 Unthinkable and fade off to fifth, some four lengths behind the eventual winner, Liam’s Little Lady.   Things would improve as More Moon would finish second in the Vagabond Handicap (G2) and post a 110 speed, beating out Surfside Sue who will also be taking on this Bowl race.   In the Vagabond, she was able to get an uncontested lead, but was run down late.  This occurred again in the G2 Delta Tau Chi Sprint where she finished second, caught once again in late stretch and a nice 113 speed.   In August, she ran in the G2 Dancer Cap and this time was able to wire the field with a solid 114 speed, which was one of her last two starts referenced earlier.  Her last start was in a listed stake race and she easily wired the field in that race.   This will be More Moon’s debut at the G1 level.  She has lots of early speed but she could be in trouble if she gets pressured to retain the top spot.  There is a handful of front runners in this field and it may be hard for her to get to her desired position.

11  AMERICAN INGENUITY  9/1 (owned by KF) is the child of game mare Slew of Smart, who was an 11 time winner in 25 starts and won stakes at the G3 level.   She has produce three children, all of which have won stake races and American Ingenuity the only at the grade level at this writing.     American Ingenuity has earned $940,000 over her 22 race career and, like her mother, has won plenty of races with nine to her credit.  As for 2020,  she has raced nine times this year with all being in listed and grade level stakes and won twice.   Both were in listed stakes with a win back in April where she wired the field and notched a 113 speed, which is her best for 2020.  She later won the other listed stakes, going on the turf, in July, and wiring the field once again.   As for some of the grade level races, she was an off-the-board 6^th in the G1 Everclear Handicap, a bit more than 3 strides  behind race winner Arkzana, who is also running in the Bowl.   She again lost to Akzana in the Human Distaff, finishing further back in 11^th and 9 lengths off the winner.   Amerian Ingenuity’s last two dirt grade level races, she was second in the Lil’ Leprechaun Dash after leading for nearly the entire race.  She ran in the Nutcracker and got beat late in the race by Liam’s Little Lady after again being in charge on the front end and knocked down to the second spot, spoiled by a quarter stride.   She comes in off a fifth place finish in the G3 Everclear which was a turf race.  American Ingenuity seems to have her best outcomes this year in races where she is the leader at the half.  This occurred four times this year and she won twice and second twice.  Otherwise, in her 9 races this year, her record is 2-3-0, the best coming from being on the lead at the half.  There are several front runners in this race and it will be her mission to be the leader at the half, but competition will be tough on her to be there.

12  ELUSIVE HANNAH  9/1  (owned by James34) is a scratch bred five-year-old who is sired by Eluisve Quality with a nice $1.5 million in earnings, winning 11 of 23 starts.   She is the returning Breeders’ Bowl F and M Sprint winner from 2019, which she won at 8/1 and a 115 speed.   She had a great 2019 campaign and in one spurt she won 4 of 5 grade races with a second sandwiched between the wins.   2020 has had it’s rough spots for the champ as she raced in three grade races to start the year and was off the board in each one.  The Davey Jones Handicap (G2) she was 8^th after running 5^th the majority of the race.   In the G2 Virginal Madison, Elusive Hannah was ninth and a good distance behind winning Senorita Caballa.  Elusive Hannah’s best finish this year in grade racing was in the Blackhawk Cup where she was fifth.   After these races, she was dropped down to the allowance class where she has a pair of third place finishes and most recently, re-found her way to the winner’s circle and hit her best speed of the year of 109.  Unfortunately, our returning champ looks to be off her game.  Last year she won seven of ten starts and this season she’s got one win in six tries.   Her career best speed is 115 which she snagged in last years Bowl race.   Right now her form is a concern and maybe the allowance class races will elevate her confidence so she can defend her championship.

13  OTTO PONTCHARTRAIN  8/1  (owned by Kaner) is a five-year-old mare who has a trophy case filled with trophies from 12 of her 25 career starts as well as a bank account with over $970,000 from purses.   She is out of game mare Easy Broad, who has a dozen children with Otto Pontchartrain being the only one to win within grade level competition.  Compared to others in the field, she has been lightly raced this 2020 season, appearing in four races and winning three of these starts.  The first came in a listed stake where she ran in the rear quarter of the field and stormed to the wire to win by two strides and a speed of 111 (her best for 2020, and just shy of her lifetime best of 113.)  From here, Otto Pontcartrain moved up to graded competition for the first time and took on the G3 Flying Pig.  She was in the 10^th spot at the third call and fired things up and cruised to win the race by a length and a quarter.  She moved up to the top tier of racing after that win and the Princess Looney (G1) was her next stop and found herself in a similar dilemma at the third call, in the 9^th spot but was able to overcome this and soared to the lead to win by a quarter stride.  She outran Liam’s Little Lady (who was 4^th in this race) and will be facing again in the Breeders’ Bowl.   Otto last start was in the Equinics (Hubble Telescope) and was running 8^th at the third call but was unable this time to make her last quarter late run.  She finished sixth and four lengths behind The Third Bride and one spot behind Senorita Caballo.   Otto Pontchartrain has had a good season so far this year with her last race being the exception.  She’s got that damaging very late run that must be respected and if she shakes off the Equinics race, she could be trouble to her competition.

14  ARKZANA 9/2  (owned by Johnkarczewski) is a four year old filly out of More Than Ready and is a scratchbred.  She brings in a tidy sum of over $1.8 million in career earnings and has one nearly half her starts with 8 victories in 17 starts.   She became a G1 winner in her first start this year by taking the Everclear Handicap with an enticing speed figure of 116.  Not bad for those who wagered on her at 9/1 odds.  She would quickly gain her second G1 win in May, but before she got there she put in a fine second in the G2 Virgina Madison just losing by a head on the wire to Senoriata Caballo.  The May G1 came in the Humane Distaff and Arkzana drifted some 7 strides off the leader before pulling the trigger and overtaking The Third Bride (finished 2^nd and also entered in this race) to win by 1 ½ lengths.   Arkzana would then compete and finish in third in the G2 Best Flight, being beat out by Nadera and following Senorita Cabello to the line once again.   Arkzana took to NY to compete in the August running of the Nutcracker, and as the 4/1 fave, had her worst finish of 2020, finishing 8^th with Liam’s Little Lady taking the victory and trailing once again behind Nadera.  The Evil Prep (G1) is her most recent start and she gained her 3^rd G1 win of the year and equalled her career best speed of 118 which she notched in the Humane Distaff.  The 9/2 favorite won by 2 strides and beat out The Soulburst who was closing late.   Arkzana sure looks good in this field but will be running against other mares in this field who have got the best of her before.  Could be her turn to be the best.

PICKS:

I’m going with Arkzana who comes off a good win in the Evil Prep and has done well against many of these with the exception of the Nutcracker event, his only throw away race this year.

I also like Nadera who is a versatile lady who is able to run on the front end or relax a bit in the middle of the field.  She’s got a good record going this year and can’t be ruled out.

Liam’s Little Lady comes off a very nice win in the Nutcracker and defeated many of the runners in this race and could do it again.

Good luck to everyone in this race…anyone can get this one!