Breeder’s Bowl Champ Favored In Grade 2 Wizzer

This year’s $150,000 Grade 2 Wizzer Stakes field has a lot in common.

You’ll see a lot of pedigrees flashing Awesome Again kids and grandkids in this field of 7 fillies and mares 3 years old and up going a mile on the dirt here in New York, and along with those you will also see a couple of A.P. Indy relatives. You’ll also see a couple of Seeking The Gold’s littered throughout this field when you’re pouring over the pedigrees.

But the one big goal that six of these seven have in common in New York on Saturday is that they’ll all be looking to knock off a reigning Breeder’s Bowl Distaff champion, and that would be your 6/5 morning line favorite, Skidmore Indy.

What Skidmore Indy will be trying to accomplish is becoming the sixth Wizzer Stakes winner to have earned a million dollars or more in her career. The daughter of A.P. Indy surpassed that mark a long time ago. You have to go back five years to find the last million dollar plus career earner to win this race, when Glass Heart won the Wizzer in 2006.

This field has a ton of early speed, including Skidmore Indy, and if those speedsters burn each other up on the front end on what should be a very fast New York dirt course, there are a couple of late closers who could come charging in deep stretch to make a huge score here in the $150,000 Wizzer Stakes on Saturday.

Here is the field for this year’s $150,000 Grade 2 Wizzer Stakes.

1 — MINE’S AWESOME (KY)     Owner: Theatrical Stables

Odds: 5/1     (Mineshaft x Awesome Again x Seeking The Gold)

Mine’s Awesome has had a pretty neat career so far. Although the 5 year old daughter of Mineshaft didn’t start racing until late in her three year old season, she made an immediate impact, throwing an 83 speed figure her first time out and a 90 when she broke her maiden at second asking in a $36,000 allowance race in Indiana. She popped the triple digit speed figure barrier her fifth time out, but she really hadn’t gotten involved in the stakes scene until Christmas Day of last year, when she placed fifth in the Grade 2 Delaware Distaff, which wasn’t bad considering it was a 12-horse field chock full of stakes-seasoned fillies and mares, and she was jumping into the deep end of the pool off there after an allowance win. She rallied from almost dead last in that race, which has been her style most of her career. She closes late, but she really likes to come from way back. She showed how game she can be in Delaware by coming from so far back in such a talented field. Mine’s Awesome is going to see a couple of old friends here in New York on Saturday. She ran up against a tough bunch that included Skidmore Indy and Awesome Again in the Grade 1 Santa Maria two starts back in February before dropping back into allowance company her last two starts. She comes in here off the highest speed figure run of her career (107), an allowance win in California. Her hopes here in New York on Saturday hinge on one thing. She’ll need a lot of hot, early pace up front, and that’s exactly what Mine’s Awesome is going to get here in New York. With this much front end speed early on, Mine’s Awesome is probably going to love the way this race sets up. The key for her will be to not get too far out of touch with the leaders, though, if she’s to turn that patented late kick she’s famous for into her first graded stakes win.

2 — AWESOME CHANCE (KY)     Owner: Right At Home Stables

Odds: 6/1     (Awesome Again x Distorted Humor x Dynaformer)

Awesome Chance is her name, and you guessed it. Here’s one of a few in here who have Awesome Again in their pedigrees. The difference between this AA progeny and Captain Awesome, besides their division ranking and the amount of earnings (advantage Captain Awesome in both categories) is that Awesome Chance’s dam was a turf specialist, with all seven of her wins coming on that surface. So when Awesome Chance started her career with five turf starts, she fell a little behind in this division. When she did hit the dirt, she came on like gangbusters in rapid fashion, literally. In her third dirt start, she popped a 92 speed figure in finishing second in the lool Oaks, just getting nosed out at the wire by Modernistic. She has a late-charging running style that scares the heck out of most fields she’s run in. All but one of her last 11 starts were in Eastern Kentucky, and her last win came in an 8 furlong allowance win there. Awesome Chance has turned to longer distances since that race, and her last outing was a smashing success. She charged from near dead last in the Grade 3 Jennie Wiley to just miss and finish a very close second to near million dollar earner Union Jack Flyer, who finished third in the Bluegrass Oaks last season. Pretty nice company to be running in. Awesome Chance turns back to the 8 furlong distance here in the Wizzer Stakes, matching the distance of her last win in Eastern Kentucky. If she runs true to form, expect Awesome Chance to hang back of the pack and use her usual late rush to scare this field too.

3 — DYNAREADY (KY)    Owner: Right At Home Stables

Odds: 9/2    (Dynaformer x Awesome Again x A.P. Indy)

Dynaready got her first taste of a stakes win back in November last season, when she scored the biggest win of her career in the seven furlong $250,000 GRSimster Championships (Filly And Mare Sprint) in Missouri. It was only her second triple digit speed figure of her career up to that point (105), and it kick-started her on a run of triple digit SF runs ranging from 104-106. That may not be quite as good as a few others in this field, but when Dynaready won that race, she showed that she was ready for stakes company racing. Granted, she hasn’t run at this mile distance since the race before her first stakes win, back in October, with most of her races since then being around the seven furlong variety. But with Dynaformer at the front end and A.P. Indy at the back end of her pedigree, there’s no reason in the world why Dynaready can’t step up into this distance comfortably. She’s extremely versatile in her running style. Dynaready can come from the back of the back, or she can run on the front end. She’ll probably want to lay off this hot early pace she’s likely to see here Saturday and not get too tangled up in what is sure to be a front end speed duel here. She’s got over $$370,000 in earnings in just 7 wins (20 career starts), so maybe this mare is getting ready to make a big splash on the graded stakes scene, and that splash could very well start right here when she dives in against this field in the Wizzer on Saturday.

4 — SKIDMORE INDY (KY)    Owner: Jrogue Stables

Odds: 6/5     (A. P. Indy x Sadler’s Wells x Kingmambo)

Here’s the grand old girl of this year’s Wizzer Stakes, Skidmore Indy. The 6 year old daughter of A.P. Indy has just about done it all in her career, including stashing over $2.3 million in her owner’s bank. She’s the fourth ranked female in this division in the world, so it’s no great surprise that she’s got six graded stakes win, including the biggest of all, the Breeder’s Bowl Distaff last season. She took a three month winter break after that win in the Distaff and is coming off her first start since then, a second place finish in the Grade 2 Santa Maria Handicap where she finished second to 13-1 long shot Wheldon. Skidmore Indy, who didn’t start her career until she was a three year old, probably needed that race after the long winter layoff. She’ll no doubt be primed for this field here in New York on Saturday, and most of these she’ll be racing against in the Wizzer are probably wishing this was her first start back after the layoff, so they could catch her off guard. She’s fast out of the gates, so expect Skidmore Indy to try to go wire to wire against this field in New York on Saturday. This race is half a furlong less than her warmup race in California last time out, so that speed could very well hold here. An experienced verteran and a very professional racehorse, Skidmore Indy will be extremely dangerous in this spot.

5 — SANCTA MARIA (AUS)    Owner: Galileo Stables

Odds: 6/1    (Elusive Quality x Saint Ballado x Round Table)

Galileo Stables has a very consistent entry here in Sancta Maria. The Aussie-bred four year old was cruising along in her career, finishing lower than third only once in her first 15 starts. That’s about as consistent as a horse can get. Prior to her last outing, her highest previous speed figure was a 104, and that came in an allowance race in Eastern Kentucky last year. Then last time out, she got her big break. Sancta Maria blew the roof off the joint in Idaho with a 112 speed figure while winning the Country Spring Dirt Mare Mile Stakes out west in Idaho. She beat the likes of Cancello De Cielo and Sweet Fancy Mo’ in that race, two very respectable racehorses in their own right. Let’s not forget one other thing here. That 112 speed figure that Sancta Maria ran in Idaho equaled the same speed figure that Skidmore Indy ran while winning the Breeder’s Bowl Distaff Championships back in November. Sancta Maria has tons of early speed, enough to run with the likes of Skidmore Indy and a couple other speedballers here on Saturday early. She should break close to the lead, or on the lead, and she might just stay there if her past performances have any say in the matter. This much front end speed is always dangerous on a fast dirt surface, which this field will probably see in New York in the Wizzer. If the speed bias holds up early on the Saturday card, then you better keep your eye on Sancta Maria in this spot. She could be the wild card that throws his whole race wide open.

6 — CAPTAIN AWESOME (KY)    Owner: Dixiedotco Racing

Odds: 4/1    (Awesome Again x Seeking The Gold x Alydar)

It should be no mystery to anyone that Captain Awesome is ranked twelfth in the route division. You have only to look at her dam, Gold At Last, a Louisiana Oaks winner, to see why. The prestigious Dixiedotco Racing factory keeps routinely churning out these monsters year after year, so don’t be surprised at all to see another one here in New York Saturday. When you first have a glance at her past PP’s, the first thought that occurs is maybe Captain Awesome is tailing off just a bit. Ok, fair enough. She hasn’t won a race since November of last year, but remember, that win came in the Grade 3 Airline Handicap, where she beat some pretty nice horses, including Insome Gold, a million dollar plus earner, at this very same distance, at this very same race course she’ll be running on Saturday. And she threw a 114 speed figure in that race. If you like the horses-for-courses angle, Captain Awesome just might be the one for you at the betting windows Saturday in New York. She hasn’t thrown anything like a 114 lately, but Captain Awesome likes New York, and New York definitely likes her.

7 — MISERY BUSINESS (KY)    Owner: Shamrock Stables

Odds: 9/2    (Pulpit x Dehere x Northern Dancer)

Like Skidmore Indy, Misery Business didn’t see a race track until she was three years old. The 5 year old daughter of Pulpit doesn’t have a graded stakes win yet, but what she has done is throw 100 plus speed figures in 11 of her last 14 races, and that’s pretty darned consistent. Her highest speed figure ever (109) came in her last outing, where she scored her first stakes win in the Technically T Dirt Mare Mile right here in New York. It’s probably no coincidence that Misery Business’ progressively better speed figures in her last six starts began when she turned back to the shorter mile distance, which she will see here on Saturday in the Wizzer. This Pulpit progeny is getting better and better each time she hit’s the track, and she’s got plenty of early speed to run with the likes of Skidmore Indy and Sancta Maria in this spot. Whether or not her lack of graded stakes experience makes any difference on Saturday remains to be seen, but we like the fact that her speed figures have been steadily improving. The confidence factor should serve Misery Business well here, coming off that last stakes win on April 9.