The Stonerstop…And Not A Single Tiger Woods Mistress To Be Found
It’s nice to have $250,000 thrown your way and only seven horses are willing to fight for their share. A short field means better opportunities for this seven-pack of three-year-old fillies to compete for a fine purse in the Grade II Stonerstop over a fast track at seven furlongs. And two heavyweights lead the parade.
It’s really down to a battle between the third and fourth-ranked sprinting fillies in the game, Forest Fires T and Leftism. Forest Fires T has banked close to a half-million dollars in earnings courtesy of three graded wins, including one this year, and a second-place finish in a DelPenn Champions Day stakes at 2. Leftism has earned just over $400,000 thanks to a pair of graded stakes wins while sprinting at 2. By far these two have achieved the most in the field, but just because two titans do battle in the spotlight doesn’t necessarily mean there isn’t the unexpected contender ready to leap into the divisional fray. Bustin Phones (evidently the Naomi Campbell-owned filly) won the Grade II Girl Up Front last out, and appears to be rounding into form enough to have moved into the Top 15 in the division. It’s a compact field with considerable long-term potential.
Dad All Heart (Chelokee-Kiruki, by Crafty Prospector, trained by graywolf) is a heartily-raced filly who had won four of her first eight sprint outings through last September. She had won the Grade II Iron Deck last August as her main achievement, but found the going rougher when stretching out in distance, though she was third in last fall’s Breeders Bowl Juvenile Filly. The BB race was the best showing while routing, and when she cut back to seven furlongs in a stakes last out, though she closed for fourth then, her speed figure of 95 was a clearly best career number. She likely needed the return to the sprint distance, and the step up in class isn’t that difficult here in spite of the heavyweights present, so an improvement on that fourth-place finish is quite possible. But the pace scenario doesn’t quite set up that strongly for a strong closer; consider with caution.
Precious Passion (Fusaichi Pegasus x Secretariat, trained by wv) isn’t not directly named for the (*coughcoughoverratedcoughcough*) turf star who enjoying going out winging in marathon routes. But she has some speed herself, and can sit off the lead and use her position tactically to some effect. She won an allowance last out, earning a speed figure of 93 for seven and a half furlongs, and that number has been her best one thus far. She’s never been beyond seven and a half before, and she has struggled a bit when stepping up in class to graded stakes action; her best graded result was a fourth in January’s Grade II Yanta Snez. There may be better days ahead for this well-bred filly, but there’s also some hope here, as the slight cut in distance might be to her liking also. She’s a stakes-winning sprinter as it is, and will likely add some pressure to whomever’s on the lead here, but the speed figure for this level is a bit soft.
Forest Fires T (Walk In The Park-Saint Higaboo, by Forestry, trained by tek218) caught a wet track last time out in a New Jersey stakes, and likely will get a bit of a lift here from a return to fast conditions. She’s a three-time graded winner, most recently taking February’s Grade III Old Cap, and she did that on the lead the whole way. This should add to the expectations that she’ll go to the front here, and there’s not a lot of reason to believe, looking at these, that she’ll face a heavy challenge on the pace. The 94 she earned in the Old Cap sits her well among these, although for a three-year-old in April at this level it doesn’t seem to be that intimidating a speed figure. But she is battle-ready, having won a pair of graded races at 2, and seems to be taking the adjustment to being a three-year-old veteran very well. Is she ready to take on a filly like Leftism here?
Leftism (Distorted Humor-I Just Called, by Unbridled’s Song, trained by pogs4) had proved to be something to reckon with at 2, winning her first four career starts sprinting, before fading when stretching out in the BB Juvenile Filly. At 3, she’s shown to not have lost any momentum following the BB swoon. She won an allowance to kick off 2010, and was a furiously rallying second last time out in the Grade II Girl Up Front, and both times speed figures hit the upper-90s. The 99 last out equals the best figure in the field, matching Bustin Phones (who had won the Girl Up Front by an ever-diminishing head). She’ll need some kind of pace to chase up front if she hopes to outdo herself, and if she gets it, her recent form hints she just might be able to crack the triple-digit speed figure barrier.
Bustin Phones (Bustin Stones-Amad’s Prospect, by Phone Trick, trained by win4fun) was somewhat unheralded before winning the Grade II Girl Up Front, with the best result of her career to that point being a third in the Grade III Adam’s Apple in New York last fall. With a sprint pedigree, it seems surprising that she stuck with the middle-distance stakes for so long, but her 2010 sprint schedule has paid off handsomely thanks to that training. She won a listed stakes against a short field in January, and improved upon her best speed figure by 12 points with the Grade II win last time out. The question is, can she sustain that kind of momentum here? She’s a closer, and the Girl Up Front benefited from a duel on the front end much of the way, but this race doesn’t have that scenario evident from a distance. She still has a little something to prove here, and a repeat win at this level should go a long way towards validation, but the shorter field and possible lack of out-and-out speed are added hurdles for a nice, up-and-coming star.
Storm Ransom (Red Ransom-Cyrrius Storm, by Falbrav, trained by pisanof) has a grass pedigree, but in nine races, she’s shown more raw ability without having stepped foot on the turf. Her sire, though, if you recall, did very well for himself while sprinting on dirt, setting a five-furlong track record at Saratoga. So her pedigree is not without some potential in this genre of racing. She was third in the Grade III Sorgento last summer in California in the mud, and she was twice stakes-placed before winning her first stakes event this January. She’s really the only other filly here who would be likely to try and keep up with Forest Fires T on the lead, having set the pace or used tactical turn of foot in most of her recent action. She hasn’t been able to seal the deal on the lead, though, usually winding up tiring herself out by the stretch. Her speed figures have been improving in the early stages this year, topping out with a career-high 95 last out, and her last win did come at this distance. But the two-year-olds of last summer have been developing into serious forces of late, and this one is going to have to keep the pressure high at the front end in order to tough it out. I look forward to her at least trying the grass once before long, as there’s no downside, whether or not she runs to her pedigree.
Runaway Model (Street Hero-Pinkie Dance, by Capote, trained by highhoofn) has three half-siblings who have been stakes-placed in their careers, all without a breakthrough. Breaking through in this slot, making her graded debut, would be most impressive, indeed. In fact, she makes her open-company stakes debut, having been placed against DelPenn-restricted competition previously. There’s arguments both for and against a lofty placement based on good results in restricted stakes, but DelPenn’s stakes usually come up about as tough as many stakes races can get, so being ready to play with the big girls is quite likely through those types of residency races. What might be a little more bothersome is her speed figures, which topped out in her last race (an allowance win) at 92, a full 7 points lower than the career highs of others here. They’ll need to get better in this slot, and her tactics may be helpful; she tends to sit mid-pack but can close as warranted, and she can also play into the race tactics. Nevertheless, even in a compact field, the contenders are pretty stalwart, and she may need a race at this level before settling into the rank of main contenders.
The selections:
1. Leftism
2. Bustin Phones
3. Forest Fires T
Good luck to all, and happy racing.