Ultimate Diamond Takes On the Boys
The featured race this week at Dubai is the 9th running of the Grade 2 Camel Juvenile, and 13 solid 2yo colts and one impressive filly will go after the lion’s share of the $200k purse. Will one of these precocious runners will go on to be counted amongst the ranks of such greats as 2001 winner (and 2002 Bluegrass Derby champ) Tower Storm and 2005 2nd-place runner Virtuoso, who went on to win the 2006 Bluegrass Derby and New Yorker?
Clearly the headliner is the filly, Ultimate Diamond. The 7/2 favorite, she has been nothing but dazzling so far in her short, California-headline-grabbing career. In her debut, she demolished a residency-restricted group of maiden fillies, then she strode right into the Grade 2 Dazzling Daisies Stakes. In that contest, she settled in 3rd, then cruised past a strong field of fillies in the last furlong to notch a 1-length win. For this effort, she received a very solid 90 speed rating, the highest number by any contestant in today’s field. This is also the only graded-stakes win in today’s past-performances. With this list of accomplishments, it’s pretty easy to forget that korn‘s filly has only run twice, and never around two turns or against colts. S L Ledwith (18%) will take this fine-looking filly into the eight-hole.
The 5/1 second choice on the morning line is #6, galileo‘s Boomer Sooner. 10% rider V Byrd will try to harness this colt’s brilliant speed, and see if he can get the colt to do something his dam couldn’t; hold his speed around two turns vs. stakes company. After two wins to start his career, Boomer Sooner faded slightly in the lane to finish 2nd in a minor stakes sprint.
Racing Form, at 6/1, is the CPU’s third choice today, and is ridden by 14% jock D Lakencher for the paddy stable. He’s tried three stakes races since breaking his maiden at first asking. Here’s another whose dam was just short of being able to stay a route, and his record so far reflects that this tendancy has, unfortunately, carried on. The close-coupled chestnut couldn’t gain anything down the lane in the Catapult Stakes, hanging on for 3rd, then faded pretty badly in the Grade 3 Abstract Stakes. Dauntless, his trainer tried to stretch him out in a small stakes at Finland, but he came up short on stamina, holding on for 3rd. He’ll start from the far outside post today.
At 8/1, #5 Distorted Dragon is the fourth choice on the morning line. The strapping colt, trained by reacher, will be ridden by 11% jock G Harmon. So far he hasn’t tried the stakes level, but he has faced a few solid-looking runners and beaten most of them. His last race was at today’s distance, and was by far the most impressive of his career, an easy 4 1/2-length romp, finishing strongly. Class is a question, but otherwise this one has a good shot here.
Ivory Quest, starting from post #3, is among the most-experienced runners in this one, having six starts, under his belt, two in graded stakes. He’s by promising first-year Ivory Touch, and out of an obscure mare that only won $11k in her career. Thus far, the mating has fared well, with this brown colt finishing 2nd and 3rd in his graded-stakes tries, both against very solid fields. After those two near-misses, phillyfarm dropped the colt into a minimum-field 7.5-furlong stakes. “Quest” handled this assignment easily, winning by almost four lengths. This one will be tough here if he can handle two turns.
Got No Socks has earned some nice numbers thus far, but failed pretty miserably in both his graded-stakes tries. He draws the rail and gets 12% jock N Hansen, and popsntips thinks the added distance will help despite the graded-stakes fades. The price is nice, 10/1.
Also at 10/1, #12 Boy Sense is by Street Sense and out of a rather successful mare. Bluelights has trained him to 3 wins from 5 starts, but he faded late is his lone graded-stakes try. Q Cassell (13%) takes the reins.
At 11/1, the undefeated Champions Prize will break from the #9 slot, with 7% jock P Kinchen aboard. Freddykin2‘s colt certainly hasn’t faced the likes of this field’s quality, but his strong finishes and good speed ratings in both of his career tries indicate he just might be a “live one” today.
Bullmastiff will start from the 7-hole today at 12/1, with S Hale (5%) manning the reins. He finished strongly in sprints, but mcjonny‘s colt stopped in the stretch last time in an 8F Grade 3.
Urban Crush will break from the 4th stall, and triscay‘s colt has been set at 15/1 by the CPU. G Ayso (8%) will ride the son of Giant’s Causeway. He’s won 2 in a row at Maryland, but takes a rather large jump up the class ladder today.
Propel Forward breaks from the 13-hole at 18/1 for the lender3 barn, and will be ridden by T Jay (10%). It’s interesting to note that his 3rd-place debut was better-than-looked, because the two that finished in front of him have combined for near $1 million in earnings. After that, he broke his maiden and added an allowance win, then he took on stakes company, but was a late-closing 3rd. Maybe the 2-turn distance will be to his liking.
T Filo Dough is listed at 26/1 and will leave from the 11 post position. Six-percent jock A Cross takes the reins of what must be the “mystery horse” in today’s field. His best performance was at today’s distance on a good turf course. His tries on dirt have been unremarkable, but they were sprints on a fast track. Adding to this, lglong2 has run him in sprints on firm turf without much success. Which T Filo will show up today? The CPU is apparently siding with the unremarkable sprints.
Finally, the 48/1 longshot in the field is Unnamed Horse, from the barnbrook stable. Breaking from #2, he hopes to improve on his last effort in the Grade 3 Pea Patch Juvenile. Taking the mount is F McNabb (6%).
This writer’s fearless choices are:
Ultimate Diamond
Ivory Quest
Propel Forward
Good luck to all, and may they all win for you (unless they’re facing mine)!