Her Destiny Starts in Arkansas
Thirteen fine fillies run in a special stakes in Arkansas this weekend, the Her Destiny Starts Here. The race, run at a mile over the main track, features a $75k purse and is expected to draw quite a bit of interest from racegoers. The fillies are all 2yos and by and large are ones we may see contesting big stakes later in the year.
Post 1 features 5-1 co-favorite Blues In The Nite. Super22’s Dynaformer baby is a maiden winner at 6f, but a decent second at 7f against DelPenn company in their Saratoga 2yo series strongly suggests Blues might enjoy a mile. Has yet to break the 80SP barrier in three shots, but hey, she’s a Super filly, she’ll probably be running 90+ before long.
Post 13 will hold the second cofave, Hurricane Amy. Like Ike, Amy compares favorably to an unstoppable force. She is undefeated in three starts for the Redrum stable, including a maiden, an allowance, and a nice G3 win in the Sabrina. The Langfuhr filly prefers to be out near the front – can she hold her speed over a mile? Top SP of 85 earned in that G3 shows Amy has some serious class.
The last cofave is Muninn240’s Encostacat. As her name suggests, she is by Encosta De Lago out of a Storm Cat mare. The filly has five starts on her record already as she has run once per month since her April debut. It took er four tries to get her win, but she finally did in July at a mile, and she promptly followed that up with a second mile win last month. The 77 and 82 SPs are more than respectable. Keep an eye on Encostacat, she appears to be a starlet in the making.
No Crystal Stair is another Dynaformer filly though she runs for Billspaid5. Stair won her debut at 6f handily then went straight into stakes company for a second at 7f. The improved SP was enough to have the trainer jump up in distance. It’s surprising he didn’t also go for a graded stake as Stair’s next start, but this way we race fans can say we knew her when. The filly will likely hang back 3-4 lengths before going into the stretch. At 6-1 she could be a real nice bet.
A lovely Vindication daughter named Erato goes from post 2 at 8-1 odds. Catullus’ filly broke her maiden at 6f in May then met the mud in Dubai’s G3 Desert Filly Juvenile. She didn’t handle it too well, falling to sixth, but came back in the rain last out for a second in a 7.5 listed stake. The 80SP Erato earned long-sprinting shows she can handle some ground, but how will she take to being back on a dry track?
Also at 8-1 is Willie Jo of Isthatgood fame. She is the most experienced of the field with 6 starts on her resume, though just one win. The Speightstown filly has steadily improved SPs as she gets more ground to run, but she’s yet to break 80 or run 8 panels. A consistent filly, Willie Jo is stakes-placed and has a real shot here.
The third 8-1 entrant is Makes A Positive, breaking from post 12. Owned by stable Thereason, the Broken Vow filly was third in the G2 Vermont BB Juvenile filly in May and third again in Smackdown in July. A decent effort saw her run fourth last out in a 7.5f G3 on a wet track. She should enjoy the return to dry dirt, and appears to want more ground. At this rate wear and tear will catch up with her in a year or so, so good things he’s fast enough to find success now.
It’s a bird, it’s a train, it’s Afleet Bullet! Gowand9’s Afleet Alex filly looked reminiscent of a freight train the way she barrel led down the lane in a mile listed stake last out, moving from 10 back at the half-mile marker to finish second by 2. The big question to me is whether this mile will be long enough or if we won’t see the Bullet’s true colors until she gets to go even longer next year. 12-1.
Also 12-1 is Gowand5’s Tons of Honor. She just broke her maiden 2 back at 6.5, but a decent second in a mile allowance made this race an attractive test of her stakes class. Like her stablegroup-mate Afleet Bullet, Honor appears to want more ground to shine, but the Eddington filly still might pull off a surprise.
Stryke03’s King Kamehameha filly Kamehamearc is several points slower than her foes, but she’s still stakes-placed and comes in better-rested than the rest of the field after over 3 months off. That break time could probe her secret weapon or her downfall. We’ll find out soon enough. In Kam’s favor is her 100% board-finish rate, signaling a willingness to run hard when asked. 17-1.
Lol Fang Tan is 20-1, but the odds are seriously depressed due to a dismal 7SP earned in the Equinics last out. If the Aptitude filly is fully recovered, watch out. A stakes winner at 6 and G2-placed at 6.5, this is a classy filly. Trainer Semolina may be pushing Lol Fang Tan a bit by running back so soon after what may have been an injury and adding distance all at once, but she may respond very well to the pressure.
Bunsay’s Thirty Six Sea has five starts in grass resulting in a win in DelPenn-restricted company, but the Excellent Art filly is making her maintrack debut. The sire has produced more turf earners than dirt earners thus far, but the filly’s ancestry certainly supports a dirt attempt. Her top SP (71) was earned at a mile, so she probably can handle this race assuming dirt is to her liking. 23-1.
The final entrant is No Mas Diablos, the lone unraced filly of the bunch. She will start at 24-1 odds. Flatulent’s Devil His Due baby found a rather difficult place to debut. No doubt she (and her owner) would have preferred one of the myriad 4-horse stakes for juvenile that dot the sim this time of year. Nevertheless, Devil His Due offspring often enjoy a flat mile on dirt, and the stable is winning at a healthy 12.6% clip lifetime. Both bode well for Diablos.
This really is a nicely competitive group of fillies, all with legitimate chances. I like Hurricane Amy and Afleet Bullet especially, but would not be surprised to see any of these 13 horses make her way to the winner’s circle.