Two Year Olds Battle For King of The Mountain

Once again, it’s the juveniles’ time to shine here at Delaware Park. This week’s feature is the Wasatch Mountain Stakes, carded at 7 ½ furlongs on the turf. Despite the heavy rains to the east, the track has come up firm, attracting a field of 8 promising youngsters.

Several in the field are maiden winners. Sano’s Withstand was a bit green in his debut, but the leggy son of Bahri put it together in his second start, coming from well off the pace to win by 1 ½ lengths in Arkansas (77 SF). The additional distance should only be to the colt’s liking, and another step forward makes him a legitimate threat for black type. Jackelfly has the unbeaten Woodfly’s World. The well-bred son of, naturally, Woodman, made every post a winning one in his debut, covering Saturday’s distance with a 75 SF. The first foal out of Spinfly’s Well, a 13 time stakes winner and grade one placed, he comes by his turf ability naturally, and his combination of speed and pace, particularly in a field where there is only one other front runner, make him very dangerous indeed. Marian1 has For Four, by Pilsudski, who, while a less hyped sire, has thrown a turf runner or two along the way. This colt started out on the main track, but got his victory when switched to the turf. The time was a bit slower than some of the others – 69 SF- but he wasn’t pushed. Will definitely need to improve off that effort, but like the majority of the others in this field, he’s so lightly raced, improvement at this stage of the game is no surprise. Marybarn, a familiar sight on the DelPenn circuit, has Barb’s Esteem. The illustrious Herbert Ross will ride. The Mark of Esteem colt looked solid last time out when finishing second in a 1 1/16 mile stakes race (77 SF); I’m not sure if the cutback in distance is really to his favor, but we’ll find out this weekend. Jarrod3’s Azroc A Fella has raced exclusively at Delaware, and won in his third lifetime start. The SF for the mile was a 71 SF. Like Esteem, I’m not sure the cutback helps, but he’s a nice colt, and capable of pulling off a mild upset at 10/1. Bbors Baby Tune has been knocking on the door, with a 4-1-2-0 record. The bbor3 trainee also has the highest speed figures in the race (79 SF – 2x). He was second in a nice allowance race at 6 ½ furlongs before running evenly in a one mile stakes last time out. The first foal of multiple Grade 1 winner Sky Tune, this Skip Away colt has the ability, and a repeat of these efforts may be enough, barring a major improvement by one of the others. Still, you’d like to see him continuing forward speed-figure wise, rather than levelling off, so early in his career. If he doesn’t do that here, a dirt try may be in order, as Skip Away was dominant on that surface. Nice, nice colt, and it is a bit of a surprise that he’s not the favorite, based on his record.

Of the horses with more than one win under their belt, Johnomally’s Gilded Touch cuts back in distance after finding 1 1/16 miles too far. Prior to that, he’d won a mile allowance in his turf debut, earning a 75 SF. Should see an improved performance by returning to sprints, but he’s going to have to progress if he doesn’t want to be overtaken by the newcomers. With seven starts under his belt Zababa is the veteran in the group. He’s won two of those starts, both on dirt, including a stakes race. It is sort of puzzling to see him on the turf course again. He is stakes placed on this surface, but his performances have been much better on the main track. The bmr001 trainee will be up front with Woodfly’s World, but unless he learns to rate, he’ll be tiring in the stretch, and the extra distance will not be to his favor. Good luck to all!