Nine Contest More Nay Stakes
One of the first truly big races of the 2yo turf season is the Grade 1 More Nay Stakes, the 13th race at famed Deauville Race Course’s Saturday card. Who will follow in the footsteps of last year’s champ, Authambo? An impressive field of nine hopefuls has assembled to make their bids at glory.
Railsitter NIGHT BREEZE is a son of the somehat obscure sire Shore Breeze, of the Danzig line. The avalanche3 trainee’s dam won only two races in a fairly short career, both on dirt, so it stands to reason that this guy was tried on the dirt first. He did reasonably well, but blossomed when moved to the sod where he just missed in a MSW, then broke his maiden with a solid speed rating against a small NW2L allowance field; it was a strong enough run to have his connections try the big time here. The CPU isn’t too impressed, making him 15/1, but he could contend in this group with a top effort.
ELUSIVE SOLDIER started his career with a bang, a fast win around 2 turns in an Arkansas MSW race over a “good” surface. The colt is by promising freshman sire Soldier Of Fortune out of a classy 5-time stakes-winning Elusive Quality mare. Trainer okdavid196 has reportedly said that his colt “has been training a hole in the wind” for this. The CPU handicapper is impressed with that debut and his training reports, slotting him at 5/1.
By English Channel out of a young Grand Slam mare, MR SCHU appears to be bred for dirt racing, but his two turf tries have been pretty good in losing efforts. Trainer pauliev takes another shot on the grass here, but the speeds his colt has run on the sod thus far have been short of what should be needed to win here. He goes off at 14/1.
TOPSTOP has just one start under his belt, but he crushed a small stakes field at a flat mile in that debut, picking up a very strong 85 speed rating. A brown son of lightly-used Argentine sire Husson out of a 15 year-old Storm Cat mare, he’ll be tough if he can duplicate that first effort for trainer arthurs. One of a trio of 4/1 co-favorites, he draws a strong 21% rider.
NORDIC STAR, by Kingmambo out of a Galileo mare, is a pure closer who could make things interesting in the last furlong. Trained by peeps8, he’s another of the 4/1’s here despite the fact that the twin 74 speed ratings he has in his holster just might not be fast enough to catch this crew. His pedigree is full of Northern Dancer’s and Mr. P’s, so improvement is certainly not out of the question.
The third 4/1 shot here is BLISTERING WIND, who has had his picture taken in the winner’s circle three times in three attempts, with a stakes win; hard to argue with that. By Dynaformer out of a young Distorted Humor mare, she is a 4-generation outcross, with Northern Dancer appearing twice 5 generations back on her dam’s side. The solid brown colt is looking to do big things for trainer drowsy, something his half-brother by Teofilo couldn’t do. His top speed rating so far is an 80, which is at the least a solid competitive number. Draws top jock J Stivers (30%), who will have to hurry his stretch runner into contention.
ANCIENNE BELGIQUE was switched to turf after his rather poor dirt debut, and the zeco5 trainee improved drastically, putting up a big fat 81 speed rating while dominating a full field of maiden foes. The choice to debut on dirt was quite understandable, based on the strong dirt bloodlines of this guy, and the fact that his dam’s 13 career wins were all dirt sprints. Ah, the vagaries of the breeding shed… Could pull the 9/1 upset.
PERSICUS has two wins in two career starts, with the most recent of these being a minimum-field stakes win. The brown Duke Of Marmalade colt is out of a young Giant’s Causeway mare who herself won $122k on the track. His mid-70’s speeds might need to improve some in order to get a win here for trainer zambaygo. The CPU puts him at 7/1.
I LOVE MONEY is a shining example of the influence of the great Northern Dancer, who appears four times in his pedigree, all four and five generations back. The bpsisking-trained chestnut colt is by Redoute’s Choice out of a solid Gone West mare who won over $250k in her career. He has just one start on his record, a solid-if-not-spectacular win in a MSW with a 70 speed rating. He’s 4th choice by the CPU at 5/1.
Time for a lil unscientific handicapping…
My top choice here is TOPSTOP, whose single race was an awesome effort. If he can duplicate that, it’s almost certainly good enough to take the big money.
ELUSIVE SOLDIER should be able to rate just off the pacesetters and pick ’em off in the lane for second.
ANCIENNE BELGIQUE was a beast in that maiden win and could even win this, but I’ll make him my third pick.
Good luck at the races! (unless you’re racing mine!)