Top 2yo Filly Visits Ireland
With the extra days before this week’s races, there’s enough time to take a Chance on the Short Line on the way to the Grade 3 Park Place Stakes for 2yo fillies, to be contested at 7 furlongs on the turf course at Ireland. There was plenty of Free Parking in the starting gate, but only five fillies showed up to make a run at the Community Chest of $150k in purse money, possibly because of the presence of top-ranked SPECIAL ME.
Okay… Are we Board (walk) with all the Monopoly puns yet? Shall we toss the dice and see who might avoid going to Jail, pass Go and collect the (more than) 200 dollars? Okay, shut off the Water Works and stop crying about it… Here’s the field:
LIGHT ARROW is trained by slamminsam and goes off at 5/1. Ridden by 20% rider A. Reed, she comes in off a solid allowance win at today’s distance. The A. P. Arrow filly’s speeds appear a bit low to compete successfully here, but she was closing somewhat in both of her stakes tries and could make a showing on the podium if she fires her best shot.
TRAIN OF LOVE got caught near the wire in her last effort, but is was just her 2nd career try. The 79 speed rating was pretty solid, and this azbear trainee should set the pace here. Should the daughter of Silver Train get loose on an easy lead, she might be dangerous despite the CPU’s lack of respect at 8/1. Gets a respectable 12% rider in E C Doyle.
JULIE LYNN G goes off as 2nd choice at 3/2, and the Giant’s Causeway filly has already shown in her short career thus far that she is tough and consistent. Trainer ngng brings her into this one off just 3 weeks’ rest, a tough assignment for a 2yo filly. 9% rider M Russell takes the mount.
SPECIAL ME is top-ranked for good reason. The rrlogans trainee would still be undefeated if she’d gotten moving just a stride or two earlier last time in the Grade 1 More Glare Stakes, and she knocked off two graded-stakes wins just before that. The 90 speed rating from her last is tops in today’s field, and she gets the top (24%) rider in Z Kentucky. This all adds up to 7/5 favoritism for the daughter of Japanese sire Special Week.
GOP MARI II goes from the outside gate, and the CPU puts her at 5/1. The Mineshaft filly is trained by mambo5, and figures to be the one asked to force the pace here, or maybe even battle for the early lead. Her 84 speed rating in her last seems to make her a solid fit in this group, but the 6% rider doesn’t help the cause.
Conclusions:
SPECIAL ME looks too, well… special not to find her way to the winners’ circle here, probably even if one of the pace-setters gets a “lone-F” trip.
GOP MARI II will need to push the pace set by TRAIN OF LOVE, but she appears to have the ability to hang on for 2nd.
JULIE LYNN G should be able to pick up the pieces late for the show dough.
Good luck at the races!