Who Will Be Queen of the King Classic?
A week before the BB, you don’t see the superstar horses running, and
Chopping Hill Meguire5th 16/1 Won a stakes at 9 furlongs handily LTO, but that was a career-best effort. But she does seem to be improving generally, so I think a repeat of that effort is fairly likely. Could come from behind to do well at an excellent price, which would have Meguire LOLing all the way to the bank.
My Love Phyl Fiat 11/1 Never off the board in 10 dirt attempts, Kingmambo filly is taking on stakes company for the first time. Has been winning every other race – bad news since she won last time out. Tremendously consistent, though, so she absolutely has a shot.
Traveller Topicount 6/1 Veteran filly is all over the map, sometimes finishing way back and sometimes doing quite well in very similar races. Has been well back more often than she’s ahead at the wire, though, so at these odds I don’t love her. Best hope is that her superior jock will cajole one of her better runs out of her.
Eek a Cat Singhis 6/1 Hard to argue with a 27%-winning jockey, but then again you have to notice that this girl flopped badly in her last graded outing. Does better with smaller fields in general. A really useful horse, but I don’t see this as being her finest hour.
Mad Defence Jdiso2 9/1 Reliable plugger hits the board regularly in minor stakes, but would need to step it up to be a factor here. Looks like she’s slowing down a few steps, with 44 starts under her belt, but is still capable of firing well from time to time.
Silence of the Sky Steelewolf 6/1 Stretched out too far last time out, but won two allowances prior to that. Won a stakes at this distance quite a while back, so she should be happy enough running this far. Looked pretty winning at 9 furlongs in an allowance two back. If she can get herself to the front right away, she has an excellent shot at running away with the whole thing.
Tete High Moon Sabbath3 15/1 3yo daughter of Moon Ballad has won 6 of 11, but this is her first try on the dirt. Looks likely to be more of a turf horse, but you never know until you try. Talented filly with a lot of questions to answer about this surface.
Pronunciation Juey72 5/1 Bettors’ lukewarm 2nd favorite is a consistent runner who has yet to win a stakes race after 31 starts. She came close last time out, though, finishing only ¾ length behind the winner. Expect her to run well, but given her record I like her better for second than first.
Northerly Nicole Skirom 11/1 Dynaform filly has been on the board 11 of 14 and is one of only 2 horses here to have hit the board in a graded stakes. She ran steadily in the 9-furlong G2 Fast Feline two back and finished a solid third. I think that earns her more respect than the bettors are giving her, even though it was an unusually good race for her. Look for her to sit a few lengths bck and come roaring up in the stretch.
Tete for Storm Sabbath 7/2 Prerace favorite has succeeded at just about everything – turf, dirt, sprints, routes – and is the only filly here with a graded win under her belt. With no really obvious up-and-comers here, I think she deserves to be favored. Likes to win from the front and has a talented jockey who can help her do that. She’ll have some competition for the lead and is a long way from being a shoo-in, but she can be expected to run a good race.
Blastfilly Blaster4 11/1 Coming off an easy stakes win at this distance, but that was against a 5-horse field. She’ll need to speed up just a bit to take on this crowd. She’s run her last three on dirt and if you toss the one that was just too long, she’s looking pretty good right now. If she can make the jump to a tougher field she could definitely do some damage.
Should be an interesting race with a bunch of fillies very capable of doing well. Good luck to everyone and may your horses come back safe and sound.