Ahead and Zillion Looks Good in 2000 Guineas
The French 2000
Both are set to go a mile, however the race we are focused on, the 2000
1. Ahead and Zillion 5-2
Ahead and Zillion ran a horrible race this past February but got his act back together by winning the Kcusrocek Stakes with a speed of 105. His last start scored a speed of 108, a career best, and a G3 win in the Blue Fountain wiring the field for the first time, which was accomplished over this track. Jessie “The Body”
2. Jumping Down 6-1
Jumping Down also ran over this track on his last start, finishing 7th in the No Allies G2 going 10.5f and a speed of 86. He switches from top jock Bu Wu to the next best, Jack Ledwith (23% win). He’s taking a drop in distance in this race but his last performance over this track leaves a lot of question marks, enough to make me take a pass.
3. Infinite Bling 4-1
With a record of 6-1-0 in 8 starts, Infinite Bling is a solid horse. His only finish off the board was his last start, finishing 5th in the Japanese 2000 Guineas (G1) running 10f and a speed of 98. Jockey Bu Wu (25% win) likes this late closer enough to accept the saddle call. Bling faces a much smaller field than what he’s seen in recent races and he will be a contender with some value.
4. Sadler’s Duke 10-1
Sadler has been tagged as a longshot in this race by the oddmakers. With only 4 races, Sadler has two wins. The other two starts were his sole shots in graded races where he failed to hit the board. His last race was in the No Allies G2 at 10.5f finishing fifth with a speed of 89 over this track. He needs to show something at the graded level in order to gain some support and it doesn’t look like that will happen in this race.
5. Mean Dice 7-1
Mean Dice has a turf record of 5-2-2 in 10 starts with the only race off the board occurring on an off-track, a throw away race. Mean Dice likes to run near the front and has been known to set the face, however, he has yet to hit the triple digits in speed, which will be needed here. He probably won’t win, but he may have enough left to earn some cash.
6. Trizan 7-2
Trizan was ablaze when he won The Doctor Is In Memorial (G3) wiring the field at 8.5f in a speedy 108! That was the first time he wired in his career and this El Prado horse has something going for him. But, he also has something working against him and that would be the 112 pound jockey Bernie Mann who will be aboard bringing his lackluster 6% win record along with him.
7. Riverboat Prince 8-1
For the first time, Riverboat Prince made the bold move to set the pace in his last start, the G2 South African Classic. It almost paid off as he gave up the lead late in the 9f race and finished second and set a career best speed of 102. The speed was much improved and I think a similar racing strategy will be used in this race as there isn’t a lot of early speed and it could work if he can open up any sizeable lead. My gut tells me he may get the lead, but it won’t be enough to carry to the end.
8. Draw the Button 8-1
Draw the Button switched to the turf recently and his speed numbers took off. In February he hit the 90’s for the first time finishing 2nd in an allowance race with a 92. Last month, he made his debut in graded racing and scored another 2nd in the G3 Dracula Stakes at 12-1 and hitting a career mark of 107 for the 8f race. Gotta love that bump in the speed number. Bobby “Bella” Lugosi is a respectful rider with 11% win will be handling the reigns. Longshot players may find Draw the Button worth the risk and the only drawback I see is he ships across the big pond from
Yoss Picks: 1-6-3-7
Trackman Picks: 1-6-3-2
My Picks: 1-4-6-8