Gary Trent Stakes
Welcome to New Zealand and the inaugural running of the G3 Gary Trent Stakes. Today we have a field of 13 vying for their share of the $75,000 prize money. 12 colts and horses and 1 mare will race the mile and a half on the firm turf to see who will be in the winner’s circle. The Gary Trent Stakes is the first grade on the card today, unless you count the G3 Knuckleball Stakes that was carded by mistake and will have 4 VERY young 2 year old CPU horses running. After this long turf challenge there are two more grades, a G3 turf mile covered by Iant and the feature race, a G1 turf sprint with Pazzjazz. Should be a great day of racing here in New Zealand!
PP 1 TRY AND JUSTIFY (MEDICEAN (GB) x DANEHILL DANCER (IRE) x LEAR FAN) bred and trained by kpacker (Billy2shoes Stables, 12%) Odds: 5 to 1
First up we have Try And Justify, a lightly raced 5 year old son of Medicean. He is the morning line favorite and looks tough to beat. Last out he won the G3-Lipstick Gold Cup with a career high speed of 112. That race was 10.5 furlongs, his longest to date, and this will be Try And Justify’s first attempt at a mile and a half. I seem to recall a conversation with trainer OT (otistaylor) where he asked if we thought Try And Justify could get 12 furlongs. I said yes then, and I stand by that. I think this one will be able to handle the extra distance, but that definitely is a valid question. For those of you who have been studying the Eclipse ballot you might have noticed that OT’s Preposteragous is Medicean x Danehill Dancer. Definitely seems to be working for him!
PP 2 GRAND BALL (KY) (DYNAFORMER x NORTHERN DANCER x SECRETARIAT) bred and trained by pointblank (Right At Home Stables, 13%) Odds: 17 to 1
Next we have Grand Ball in post position 2. The oddsmakers are calling this lightly raced 4 year old a longshot, but I think he has a legitimate chance here. Last out he took a step up in class and competed in his first graded and finished in second place. It was also his career high speed and at today’s distance; definitely a confidence booster. When trainer Pointblank made the switch to turf Grand Ball broke his maiden and has only finished out of the money once. Grand Ball seems to love the grass and this distance so the payout could be great on this one.
PP 3 CHRISTCHURCH (KY) (DYNAFORMER x FORTY NINER x CAERLEON) bred and trained by kevoman3 (Kevoman, Stables, 20%) Odds: 7 to 1
Today’s race has 3 co-second favorites and Christchurch is one of them. He is also a son of Dynaformer like Grand Ball in post position 2. Christchurch brings a lot of experience to the card, with 2 Breeders Bowl starts and he has raced in graded company exclusively since February. Unfortunately he hasn’t been in the best form of late, finishing well out of the money and a combined 41 lengths behind in his last 4 races. The competition in his last two races was definitely harder, so perhaps he will be able to improve on his recent finishes here. Another positive for this race is he has top jockey F Inzamam in the irons. He is the top ranked horse in the field today and his trainer wins a remarkable 20% of his races.
PP 4 GRAB(IRE) (DANEHILL DANCER (IRE) x KINGMAMBO x SEEKING THE GOLD) bred and trained by super20 (More Evil Than The Evil Empire!, 15%) Odds: 8 to 1
Grab is a 4 year old son of Danehill Dancer out of game dam Hard Knox. Not too many hard knocks for this one though, out of 20 starts he has 6 wins and has finished in the money about two thirds of the time. He is a three time graded winner and a 2 time stakes winner. Two of his graded wins were at this distance including his last out. He is an early speed horse and could get into a speed duel with Grand Ball or A Skunk Vice (post position 11). Almost all of his wins have come wire to wire, so he is going to need a great start out of the gates to be in the mix here.
PP 5 YEPES (KY) (FORESTRY x RAINBOW QUEST x NO ROBBERY) bred and trained by sonsierra (Rafa Stables, 15%) Odds: 8 to 1
Next is Yepes, a 5 year old son of Forestry. His record has been pretty inconsistent lately and although he has won at the graded level, it seems as though he is struggling more when he steps up in class. All of his wins this year have been in allowance races. He did come close last out in a listed finishing second and his last graded try at this distance he also placed. Yepes is a late runner and will have a lot of competition in the stretch today. Last out he finished well ahead of Rissoto, also in the field today.
PP 6 HIGH SPEED QUEST (IRE) (HIGH CHAPARRAL (IRE) x RAINBOW QUEST x IRISH RIVER (FR)) bred and trained by pegasus (Citation Stables, 12%) Odds: 7 to 1
High Speed Quest is one of the 7 year olds in the race and is also one of the three co-second favorites. This son of High Chaparral comes into the race in good form, winning or placing in his last 4 races, three of them at this distance. Last out was only 10 furlongs and an off track and I think he could have won with an extra furlong or two. Almost half of his lifetime wins have been at the stakes or graded level. His last two graded tries were fairly light fields, but the speed figures he has been putting up definitely make him competitive here. He has a versatile running style, although he wired the field in his last win.
PP 7 WESTERN INSIGHT (SAF) (WESTERN WINTER x SWAIN (IRE) x DYNAFORMER) bred by safrace4 and trained by ceclaim11 (Royal Belgian Kempen Farm, 17%) Odds: 7 to 1
It is refreshing to see a quality horse at the graded level with a South African breeding tag. Out of post position 7 we have Western Insight, a five year old son of Western Winter. Ceclaim picked him up in a $10,000 claimer and gave him a few more furlongs to run and he has really taken off. He has run 16 races for the Royal Belgian Kempen Farm and only finished out of the money in three of those races. He won his first stakes last December and is looking for his first graded win today. He has been racing exclusively in graded company since April and has been competitive in most of those races, coming close a few times. Last out his was beat by Grand Ball, also in the field today. I am a sucker for a Cinderella story (aka claimer turned graded winner story), so I have a soft spot for this one
PP 8 LATE NIGHT MAGIC (IRE) (SADLER’S WELLS x FORTY NINER x A.P. INDY) bred and trained by desperado2 (Desperado Stables, 19%) Odds: 9 to 1
Out of post position 8 is Late Night Magic from the Desperado Stables. There seems to be some late night magic (or some kind of magic) happening there since his horses are winning 19% of the time, pretty impressive. Late Night Magic won his first stakes race last out in an owner’s restricted residency race at this distance. This son of Sadler’s Wells destroyed my horse in that race, but I did pick Late Night Magic to win, so I guess I can’t complain. He is a closer and isn’t bothered by getting many, many lengths behind, so those in the lead should be worried in the stretch because he can make up a lot of ground fast. This will be his third attempt in graded company and he is looking for his first graded win here.
PP 9 VAANDA (KY) (HENNESSY x ALLEGED x NASHUA) bred and trained by zoshka (Rafa Stables, 14%) Odds: 9 to 1
Vaanda is the lone mare taking on the boys today. I saw her last race at DPCD VIII where she struggled. Prior to that race she had two wins and a place in a listed and 2 graded races. Hopefully she can forget her last race and get back to her winning form. She is the 23rd ranked mare in the long route division, but racing the boys could be a challenge for her. She likes this distance and can definitely handle herself in this class, but she has only raced in an open race one other time and she wasn’t competitive there. As an early speedster she will need a great start out of the gates to grab the lead if she wants to be in the mix here.
PP 10 SPIRIT CHASER (KY) (GHOSTZAPPER x A.P. INDY x MR. PROSPECTOR) bred and trained by Harvey (More Evil Than The Evil Empire, 15%) Odds: 16 to 1
Next we have another of the oddsmakers’ longshots. Spirit Chaser is a 4 year old son of Ghostzapper and he has competed and won at the graded level before, even winning the G1-Adelaide Derby. He has hit a rough batch lately and hasn’t won or hit the board since September. In September he won 2 in three weeks and hasn’t been able to get back into form. He is coming into this race off 6 weeks rest, so maybe that will give him the needed spark.
PP 11 A SKUNK VICE (KY) (ALKAASED x VICE REGENT x CRÈME DEAL CREME) bred and trained by skunkbred3 (Skunkbarn Stables, 17%) Odds: 10 to 1
A Skunk Vice has won almost four hundred thousand for his connections Skunkbarn Stables (home of the hot trainer for New South Wales). He had an impressive 2 year old campaign with a win and two places in graded stakes. At the end of the year he tried two tough Grade 1s and struggled. Since then he has only been out of the money once in a G3 try last February. The majority of his races this year were allowance, but he is coming off a G3 win with a speed figure very close to his career high. Looks like he is really starting to mature and should be competitive again at the graded level. He has only tried this distance once and he finished third, but had his career high speed. He finished ahead of Cybershot in that race, but was beat last out by Late Night Magic.
PP 12 RISSOTTO (PALACE MUSIC x WARNING (GB) x HABITAT) bred and trained by hwhisper (Whisper Stables, 12%) Odds: 12 to 1
Rissotto, yum! My cousin made an awesome sweet potato risotto to go with his special pork loin for Christmas Eve. It is 8:30 in the morning, but I am ready for dinner! Ok, back to the other Rissotto. This 7 year old son of Palace Music is another Cinderella story. He was claimed early in 2008 for $150,000 and although he has only won once since then he has finished in the money in 50% of his races. And his one win was a stakes race making him a claimer turned stakes winner. He really struggled last out finishing 17 lengths behind and is going to find tough competition here with the step up in class. Although I would love to see him do well, I agree with the morning line that it will be an uphill battle.
PP 13 CYBERSHOT (ARG) (FLAG DOWN x BUSTINO (GB) x TO MARKET) bred by and trained by babboyjim (Bailey Racing, 4%) Odds: 22 to 1
Last we have Cybershot, a 4 year old son of Flag Down standing in Argentina. He took a huge step up in class last out at the G3-Manatee Cup here in New Zealand and held his own. He finished in third place with a decent speed on the yielding turf. Today he will have firm turf and extra furlong, which he seems to like. A win here would mean his first stakes victory. Since his trainer at Bailey Racing gave him 10 or more furlongs he has really blossomed. In his 8 races at that distance or longer he has won twice and finished in the money 5 other times, only missing the board once. He did finish behind A Skunk Vice in his graded debut and I think he is going to find more competition here. Also contributing to his long odds are two slower speeds in allowance races, one was on an off track and the other after an 8 week layoff.
Morning Line:
1. Try And Justify
2. Christchurch, High Speed Quest and Western Insight
3. Grab and Yepes
I always say that I have a hard time picking the winner, but this time I am really struggling. I can’t decide if the early speed horses are going to wear themselves out looking for the lead early or if they are going to get far enough ahead that they can’t be beat. So, after looking back and forth between my article and the past performances for 10 minutes here are my picks: Western Insight to win, Grand Ball to place and Try And Justify to show. Good luck to all the runners and happy racing. 🙂