A Feld of Eight New York Bred Two-Year Old Colts will Line Up in the $100,000 ESR Millionaires Row Stakes

Eight New York Bred Two-Year Old Colts will enter the Big Apple starting gate in the $100,000 The ESR Millionaires Row Stakes.  The race will be run at One Mile over the Dirt Course.

DANCIN THE STRAND – the casino trained 2-Year Old Bay Colt by War Dancer is entering this race off of a career best performance where he drew off to win by two lengths in a non-winners of two local encounter…the NY Bred impressed favorably in the ESR Big Apple Challenge Stakes to kick off his career, earning a ticket to the finals of that series, only 2 lengths back keeping him from coming away with top honors…the Local prospect continues to progress…dangerous

CALLUM – exiting the G3 Charcoal Breeder’s Cup is the cadet trained 2-Year Old Bay Gelding by Big Brown, another that showed promise in the  ESR Big Apple Challenge Series but closed from far back to finish behind DANCIN THE STRAND in a tightly contested ESR Big Apple Challenge Stakes…despite a disheartening loss, the NY Bred responded immediately when asked to race around two turns, so much so that it earned him an appearance in the G3 Charcoal Breeder’s Cup where he edged out the Graded Stakes winning SONGS OF LIBERTY to earn a minor share…looks like a walk in the park off that effort in this week’s ESR feature…one to beat

KNIGHT WAS A GIANT – the kingab entry, a 2-Year Old Chestnut Colt by Frost Giant, may not boast the lofty credentials of DANCIN THE STRAND and CALLUM, but back to back victories in an Open Company MSW and Allowance make him equally as dangerous…undefeated traveling around two turns, the NY local product will have dead aim on the leaders entering the stretch as he looks to make it three in a row…might be this good

EXIT TIME – when it’s mid-November and your scrambling for a runner in an ESR race and three of the top five trainers in ESR all have strong contenders and the best you can come up with is a non-winner of two lifetime, well it’s like having a snowballs chance in hell…my entry, a 2-Year Old Brown Colt by Solomini is my snowflake…not with these

AKR BHAERGARTEN – the ace trained 2-Year Old Brown Colt by Dr Large is another that was competitive in the ESR Big Apple Challenge Series, and although he didn’t make it to the finals, his victory exiting the Series, while going around two turns for the first time, does not go unnoticed…while this promising NY Bred appears a notch below the big three in here, he if eligible to improve and take it to the next level off his previous outing…chance to upset

DESTINATARIO – a mirror imageof AKR BHAERGARTEN, the same comments apply…however, the ivanyamil trained 2-Year Old Bay Colt by Destin exited the ESR Big Apple Challenge Series with a victory in an Open Company two turn MSW giving him a slight advantage over his reflection…might surprise

MORE THAN ROCK – the nycowboy trained 2-Year Old Roan Colt by Mission Impazible made an early exit ESR Big Apple Challenge Series, but that certainly was no indication of this local bred’s ability…exiting the local scene completely, the NY Bred raced competitively at the Open Company level  demonstrating his true ability when he drew past an Open Company MSW field at the California oval while racing around two turns for the first time…returning to New York to compete against Local rivals once again allows himto extract a measure of revenge for dipping out early in the residency challenge contest…don’t ignore

DESERT DONUTS – the lone Maiden in this field, the lbailey trained 2-Year Old Brown Colt by Desert Party is another that exited the ESR Big Apple Challenge Series before the main course, however, his second place finish in an Open Company MSW race in his last start is as good as, or if not better than a win in a Local Bred Maiden race…two horses have exited that race with victories making it a key race, and while he still faces a tough task, he certainly can’t be overlooked…punchers chance

Handicapping the Field

This week’s ESR feature is a competitive field of 2-Year Old New York Breds, all of whom appear to be improving with every start.  Most of the top contenders appeared in the ESR Big Apple Challenge Series, but that series was contested at a sprint, and all the participants of that series have exceeded their ability racing around two turns, in fact, if that series was run again around two turns, the outcome might be quite different.

With that said, this race does appear to be split in two levels.  DANCIN THE STRAND, CALLUM, and KNIGHT WAS A GIANT, all have demonstrated themselves to be a notch above the rest of this field, and while it is not impossible for any of the other contenders to run a new top, the prospect of beating all three to these to the wire looms a tough task.   Although finishing behind DANCIN THE STRAND in the Challenge Series, CALLUM merits top consideration off an impressive performance in the G3 Charcoal Breeder’s Cup.  The latter has been good from day one and has done nothing to disappoint in any of his starts, in fact is better now racing around two turns.  KNIGHT WAS A GIANT has demonstrated an affinity racing around two turns, and while his victory in his first start against winners was impressive, it was a short field and leaves me hedging my opinion.

Except EXIT TIME, you can make a case for any of the remaining runners to upset the top three runners in this field.  Gun to my head, DESTINATARIO may have the best chance.

The Picks

CALLUM – too much for these

DANCIN THE STRAND – what’s not to like

KNIGHT WAS A GIANT – best of the rest