Two Unbeaten 2-Year Olds Hopeful to Win Hopeless
Upstate NY will hold it’s third running of the Hopeless Stakes. This is a Grade 1 event for 2 year olds and generally attracts those that are hopeful of taking the triple crown as a 3-year old. Last year, the winner Eric’s Fast ran in the Bluegrass and finished second. He skipped over the Middle Jewel and walked away with a win in the New Yorker. He also holds the track record for the fastest SP of 93.
The race continues to carry a luke warm purse of $300,000 and will be run on the dirt track at a distance of 7 furlongs.
The race includes two undefeated horses. Stevieboy, who has a graded win in his last in the Faber College Juvy and Letter Bomb who has his sight set on getting a graded win in this race. Will either prevail???? We’ll find out this weekend, but here’s some insight into who they will need to outrun:
1. Stevieboy 7-1
Picked up his first graded win, making him the first offspring out of game-dam Robe Bell to do so. He won the G3 Faber College Juvenile going 6 furlongs with his best speed to date of 85. This guy has won all three of his starts and has bragging rights to being unbeaten. He should be somewhere in the middle of the field and has a solid shot of extending his streak and maintaining a perfect record.
2. Lookin Again 7-1
Lookin Again is the first bred horse out of game-dam Dual Threat. His only win thus far was in his first start breaking his maiden and making it look easy back in April. He also has a pair of seconds, the first coming in June with a speed of 81 in an allowance race. He then made the long journey from Texas to Spain to compete in the Midsoil Stakes (G2, 6f), holding off K’s Minimum Salary for second and a career best of 84. Looks to be improving with the speeds and should be near the lead. Will have to make a timely move to best out the late closers.
3. Too Many Questions 8-1
He generally settles in towards the back of the field and this son of Discretely Mine, has become the first grade winner for his sire. That came about a month ago over this track in the G2 The Stanford, upsetting the field at 11-1 and crossing the line first with a career speed of 82, coming at 6 furlongs. He adds a pole going a little extra distance, but his late run certainly shows it won’t be a deterrent for him.
4. K’s Minimum Salary 5-1
The first offspring out of game-dam K’s Minimum Wage, this guy has picked up a pair of wins and a third. His first career start was a walk-in-the-park type win, easily breaking his maiden as the 1-9 favorite with a 61 SP. This number would be greatly enhanced to 81 where he picked up his second win in an allowance NW2 affair. In mid-July, K’s finished third going 6f in the G2 Midsoil stakes where he made up some ground late in the race with a charted speed of 83. He’ll go an extra furlong and the added distance may give him enough room to get the job done.
5. Clinton’s Ditch 5-1
Ran second behind Too Many Questions over this track in last start in the G2 The Sanford, rallying from six back at the half to miss by a stride. Clinton is the seventh horse out of game-dam Danzig Daze and has the chance to be the first grade winner of all her siblings. Hit her best speed of 80 in that race and has win in non-grade Talkin Issac Dirt Juvenile where she beat the guys. Can’t rule her out of doing it again.
6. Resonates 8-1
Sired by Roses in May, this colt made his debut race in the non-graded Almost Whirl Dirt Juvenile (non-graded). In this 6.5 furlong race, hi finished third with a very nice speed of 79. While he ran 7th in the 12 horse field early on, he wasn’t able to make up any ground as he ran roughly 3 strides off the lead most of the race, basically outlasting tiring horses. I think we need to see a few more races out of him to see what he’s made of.
7. Any Given Birdie 9-1
Ash Point, the game-dam for this 2-year old, has one of seven offspring that has placed in a graded race. Any Given Birdie aims to be the first to be a grade winner. But he may have a tough time accomplishing this as his speeds are just a bit lower than the competition. He does have two wins and a place, coming in maiden and allowance races with speeds in the low to mid 70’s. He appeared in the 6f, G2 The Stanford last month, but finished seventh and was never a serious challenger and scored his best speed of 77. Looks to be a long race for him.
8. Coco Flow 19-1
Sired by Cool Coal Man, Coco Flow shocked betters with a huge upset win in his maiden race in North Florida, rallying from ninth to win by over a stride in May at 41-1. He ran in the G3 The Manor of Bashford and finished well off the board. In mid-August he tried his luck in an allowance conditional, finishing fifth with a speed of 74. Coco is a longshot in this race and his challenge will be to boost his speed quite a bit as I believe the winning speed will be in the upper 80’s, quite possibly even in the low 90’s.
9. Phot Bostord 8-1
Phot Bostord is the sole horse bred out of game-dam One Man Gang. He’s been on the board in each of his 5 career starts with a record of 2-1-2. His speed numbers have been bouncing upwards, which were running in the mid to upper 60’s through his first three starts. The number sprouted to 75 in the non-grade Talking Isaac Dirt Juvenile (5.5 f). From there, in the 6.5f Almost Whirl Dirt Juvenile, he upset the field (which included Resonates) at 10-1 and leaped to a speed of 86. Cannot discount this one.
10. Letter Bomb 10-1
Game Sire Johnny’s Storm has five children, one of which has become a grade winner. Letter Bomb may be on the course of becoming one himself. His first career start was a win, but with an uninspiring speed of 57 back in April. As the 2-5 fave in the short field, he really didn’t need to show off and that speed number probably did not reflect his true ability. His next start in June was an allowance conditional win at 5.5f where his talent started to show with a SP of 80. Last month, he was in the Comedy Central sponsored Relay event, stalked the leaders and won the 7 furlong event with a SP of 84. He has a perfect record going and has the ability to extend that.
11. Tizhaack 8-1
This son of game-dam Slew Haack started his career on the turf. While he had a win and a third on the turf, his speeds were running in the 60’s. In July, he switched to the dirt and won an allowance race in New Zealand running on the lead and charting a speed of 75. He’ll probably be vying for the lead in this race, and I think he’ll get it. But he’ll feel the pressure from others running close behind and will need to keep enough in the tank to fend off the closers. Could be too much to ask here.
Unlike the name of this race, the Hopeless, I am Hopeful that one of the undefeated horses will win. So top pick is going to Stevieboy and second spot to Letter Bomb. Too Many Questions for third to round out the triple.