Girls dash for the million-dollar Cup
A very closely matched group of older fillies and mares has turned out for the second edition of the Girls Cup. It’s a million-dollar G3 at 7f on the Japan turf course. The inaugural running of the race was won with a brilliant 115sp by Back In The Day, since retired. It will take a strong effort for any current entrant to match that stellar record.
The 4-1 field favorite is Lenny4‘s Crime Beat. The Danehill Dancer mare has an enviable 50% win rate in 32 starts. Last out she trounced the G2 Coolmore field, winning by daylight and nearly setting a new stakes record. Crime Beat loves this distance, has top jockey K Ledwith up, and looks to be in excellent form. She’ll be difficult to beat.
But if any horse manages that feat, it could well be World Colliding. The 5-1 Giant’s Causeway mare rocked the Equinics with a brilliant win back in January, but found the distance of the Coolmore last out to be slightly too much for her liking. Back up to 7f means Seinfeld1‘s mare will be able to give her best effort. That is a consistent 105+ performance. Watch for her loose on the lead early if she is there may be no stopping her in the stretch.
Trotter5 enters the 6-1 Danehill Seeker. As her name suggests, she’s a daughter of Danehill Dancer. A fast one. Her stakes-record victory in the G3 Everclear in October proved that. The 6yo mare took a winter vacation and returned with a disappointing eighth in the Equinics, but should be back in fine shape for this race. Despite her relative advanced age, she’s still got a good chance here.
Pazjazz’s Annointed Prayer starts at 7-1. From Storm Cat’s last crop, the filly has found her niche on the grass. Prayer makes only her second graded start, but the first one was a heck of an fourth place at Equinics. She shortened up to 6.5 in a listed stake 2 weeks after that big day for a decent third, but dropped even more to a 6f allowance and won handily on the lead last month. Seven panels may be a bit too far for this filly, but she’s classy enough to overcome the distance and hit the board.
Also 7-1 is Neutron Bomb. Given2‘s Galileo mare is comes in with two straight wins including a stake. She’s well-accomplished with 11 wins from 27 starts, but this is only her second graded start. Previously she was third in another Japan sprint last November. The Bomb has a solid record at 7f and looks to be peaking right about now, so this race could end up a make/break event for Bomb’s 2010 campaign.
Whatyagot drew the far outside post in this field, perhaps showing why she’s 8-1 despite four wins in the last 5 starts. Even better, Whatyagot hasn’t finished off the board in a full year. The Powerscourt mare found her way to Turnover1‘s barn after a maiden claiming event in 2008; since then she’s improved steadily and it’s somewhat surprising she makes her graded debut only now. This will not be the easiest of class-ups, but if she shows well this race may be the turning point in Whatyagot’s career.
At age 7, Antietam Creek is the grand old lady of the field. She hasn’t done much winning in the last year, but after 37 starts she’s still sprinting pretty fast. Dlynche’s daughter of Giant’s Causeway won a G3 almost a year ago, and has earned a paycheck in every race but one since. I like her getting back to 7f, but Creek doesn’t seem to have that something special that gets her from a paycheck to a photo in the winner’s circle. Also 8-1.
The third 8-1 entrant, Seek Maliba, is winless in two starts this year. She’s also only ever run in one graded stakes, the Equinics where she finished sixth. Open stakes company hasn’t even been on her radar. The 5yo Holy Roman Emperor mare has shown her best speeds ever the last few months, but they aren’t nearly up to par with the best of this group. Still, this will prove an excellent test of Smubs‘ mare’s capabilities.
Moving into double-digit odds we have the 11-1 Reward Dance. A masterful training job by Bhm took the former $3,500 claimer all the way to second in her graded stakes debut – the Equinics. She followed that with a strong listed stake win, then tried graded company again in the Coolmore but found the distance too far to suit and settled for fifth. Love seeing her backed up to 7, and she’s already proven capable of running with the best here. A very cool Cinderella story if the Grand Reward mare pulls off the win.
Somertag, entered at 14-1, also tries a grade for the first time ever. She’s a stakes winner at 7, and has been known to run 105+, but it isn’t a habit for the Alamshar mare. Trainer Jayjay chose a very difficult race to try Somertag out in bigger and better things. Good news is she likes 7f very much. Unlikely winner but still a reasonable chance at cashing a check.
The final entrant is the 15-1 Jobb Pete. The Point Given mare just won a listed stake to nearly equal her lifetime high speed figure of 105. Pete has seen a couple of graded events before. Way back in 2007 she gave a mile G3 a shot in the rain for fifth, and later that year she decided dirt marathoning just wasn’t her thing when she was distanced in a G1 at 12f. In mostly allowances since, Doodlesgbs‘ mare been pretty consistently hitting the board. She likes 7f, and is capable if winning higher class races, but she’s just too slow compared to the top of this field to have a chance at a win.
Crime Beat is truly the class of the field here and by all rights should win. World Colliding has solid credentials as well and will pose the most serious threat to Crime Beat.