Gold Champ Challenge spotlights juvenile sprinters
This week, Virginia hosts the Gold Champ Challenge, a six and a half furlong sprint for all juveniles. The turf is rated as firm, and the race carries a purse of $50000 for the top five in this one. This is the ninth juvenile stakes of the year, solidifying Virginia’s reputation as a showcase for young turf talent. The race has drawn a field of six quite diverse starters, ranging from a debuting youngster, to some well raced stakes veterans. Five of the starters go off at 8/1 odds or better, with the favorite sporting 3/2 odds. A surfeit of early speed here is going to give the closers a challenge, and this race promises an exciting stretch run.
PP 1) Tamariki Sired by Peintre Celebre(IRE), Trained by emtstables. Tamariki makes his eighth career start here, an his fifth straight stakes appearance. In his first seven starts he has posted a 3-1-1-0-0 mark, with two stakes wins to his credit. He made his first start on turf in his last outing, running a career best 88.9 speed to best an Alabama stakes field of this same size, at this same distance. He appears to have some surface versatility, but his last race was by far his best and he looks to prefer the grass. His one route try was not impressive, when he found himself way too far off the pace to be effective. That run was at graded level, and in a shorter graded try, while he finished quite far down the list, he was a lot closer, and he was closing. His sire, Peintre Celebre(IRE) displays a slight turf preference overall, but generally seem to prefer a somewhat longer race. Foolish Pleasure, on his dam side, is an overwhelming dirt influence, but he has put out some very nice sprinters. Tamariki is a deep closer, who is seemingly at his best at the shorter distance. He has show a strong close, and the sprint distance helps to keep him in striking range. His placement at the half should determine his result in this one, and if he is within four or five lengths, he could eat them up in the stretch here.
PP 2) Seattle Mining Co. Sired by Mining, Trained by olebaldy. Seattle Mining Co. makes his third career outing here. He has split one victory and one dead last place finish. His last run was his first in stakes, and he was soundly beaten in a short field at five and a half on turf in DC. He posted his best speed in his maiden outing, running a 75.2 in an MSW. He has never been off the turf in his two starts, and it might be worth giving him a shot on dirt in the future. He fared better in a seven furlong start than he did have five and a half, but that could very well have to do with his break from the gate. Mining, his sire, hasn’t shown any real definitive preferences in his progeny, with his blacktype winners in one crop with a slight turf sprint preference, and in another showing no turf talent at all, and about a 50/50 sprint/route division. Seattle Slew is one of those great dam sires that does about anything well, with his stakes quality runners showing little surface preference, and a decided preference for routing. Seattle Mining Co. has not settled into a running style yet, but judging by his last start, he prefers a faster break, with a piece of the early lead. If he breaks quickly here, he could have a shot at the trifecta, but if he is slow from the gate, this could be a long day for him.
PP 3) Brohm Sired by Mancini, Trained by rubiano00. Brohm makes his career debut here. If he was looking for a short field, he lost his bet, and may need to try again next time. He may have been better served in a maiden race or two until he displayed some tendencies in one direction or another. Mancini is an underused sire, whose progeny thus far seem to prefer dirt routes, though there is not a lot of data to work with so far. On his dam side, he sports Fred Astaire, who up until this current crop of runners, has displayed a solid dirt preference. His runners have a slight edge on the sprint side. Brohm goes off at 33/1 odds here, and with nothing to judge by, looks to deserve every bit of it. Best I can say good luck and here’s hoping.
PP 4) Old Nassau Sired by Stroll, Trained by princeton. Old Nassau makes his seventh career run here. This is also his fourth straight stakes outing. He has run to a 1-3-1-1-0 in his first six, posting a top speed of 75.0 in his last outing. Interestingly, this will be his longest run to date. He comes off a near miss in his last run, a five and a half furlong stakes in Minnesota, where he led for nearly the whole race, before losing a heartbreaker by a quarter length at the wire. He’s been in the hunt in every start, so it is hard to say what the extra distance is going to do for him. He has never been off the grass, and he seems to like the surface with a little give. His sire, Stroll, is a lightly used freshman, who’s progeny have shown a slight preference for turf. His first crop is already showing a talent for routing, though a first crop hardly makes it a trend. On the dam side, Aljabr, has shown an overwhelming preference for turf among his offspring, and his earners have an edge in routes. Old Nassau has made a midspeed break from the gate in all his starts. Both his victories have come from just off the pace. The extra distance could give him the opportunity for a slightly deeper close, and for a change he has some speed in front of him to set him up. If he can show a good close here, he could be a threat down the stretch. A hot early pace is something new for him though, and it will be interesting to see how he reacts.
PP 5) Metal Rush Sired by Wild Rush, Trained by sanatarium. Metal Rush is running in career start number five here, and his third stakes, stepping back down from Grade I level to compete here. He boasts a 2-0-0-1-1 record in his first five, with one stakes victory. He has a career best speed of 82.5, earned in his first stakes run two starts back. He comes off a Grade I run at seven furlongs at a tough Ireland track in his last start, where he came in fourth in a nearly full field. After making his first two starts on dirt, he switched to grass in his first stakes start, shows that he can run well on either surface. This distance falls dead center between his first two starts and his last two, and he seems to like sprints, though may have to ability to go longer. Wild Rush tends to throw sprinters, who have so far shown a pronounced preference for dirt. On his dam side, he sport Nureyev, a versatile sire, who is about even with respect to dirt and turf runners, and adds a good amount of stamina to the mix here, siring many good routers. Metal Rush is a front runner, who will just run away from a field if he is not challenged early. He’s not going to have that luxury in this one, though, and he will need to ratchet up his speed a notch to keep a piece of the lead past the first post here.
PP 6) Seven Lives Sired by Tale Of The Cat, Trained by putitback. Seven Lives comes in sporting a three race winning streak, including one stakes victory. He is 3-1-0 in four career runs, with a best speed of 87.9 which he earned in his last race. He comes off a stakes victory on a high class New York track at this same distance in his last start. He is all about speed, and he is tailor made for sprinting, as he has shown in his first four. His three victories have all come at this distance on turf, and though he has shown he can throw comparable speeds on dirt, he looks comfortable on the grass surface. His sire, Tale Of The Cat, broke into the ranks of the top stakes sires last year, with most of his success stories being sprinters, with a strong dirt preference. Danzig is his dam sire, and his progeny pretty much do it all being fairly successful at about any distance on either surface. Seven Lives is a front runner, leading all four of his previous starts well into the stretch, and winning his last three. He showed in his last start that he has the speed to run with the best of them. Look for him to set the pace here, and give the closers a run for their money down the stretch.