13 Trying To “See The Way” To Kentucky In November

I’d like to do something a little different in my introduction to the Grade 3 See The Way Stakes here in Ontario this weekend.

I’d like to acknowledge not only the owners I have had the good fortune to write about in stakes race previews in the past, but I’d like to acknowledge a few owners whose horses I’ve never been lucky enough to write about in these previews until now.

Some of the owners I’ve been lucky enough to write about are sending some great mares to Ontario this weekend, like Silverny99 Stables, TABOO Stables, Balata Golf Resort, Otto Haack (Venezuela), Empire State Racing, Gowans Stables, MTK and GALLOPLAZ SIM Joint Venture, Next Bonus Racing, Cmd Stables, and Flagdown Racing.

Then there are a couple of owners I’d also really like to thank who I’ve never been lucky enough to write about like Kings Park, Seamhead Stables, and Jlor3851 Stables, all of whom are sending some extremely nice horses into this graded event in Ontario, and, more importantly, all three of whom have some pretty serious horses here who you might be seeing in Kentucky come Breeders’ Bowl time in November.

I don’t know.  I just feel really lucky to be able to write about all these great horses and owners every week.  And it just hit me when I was writing this that I’ve never been lucky enough to see a few of these names before.

These distaff races are always important, because these owners are racing for something more important than just a graded stakes win. They’re racing to produce mares with stellar race records who will hopefully go to the breeding shed and produce even more stars for us to be honored to write about in the future.

I’ve also had the good fortune to write about some very nice horses who came from mares who didn’t have stellar track careers. So winning stakes races in the distaff division isn’t always the end all and be all of breeding future superstars in the game.

Now, I’ll just let the horse previews do the talking below. And we do have an extremely nice field running here in Ontario this weekend.

Here is the field for the running of the $150,000 Grade 3 See The Way Stakes for fillies and mares three years old and up, at seven furlongs on the fast dirt course, in Ontario this weekend.

1 — SILVER NOEL (KY) Owner: Silverny99 Stables (wildfit)

Odds: 8/1 (Tiznow x Send Her On Over (Seeking The Gold x Wild Again))

Silver Noel jumped from number 16 to number 9 in the older females dirt sprint division with her second place finish last time out in the Grade 2 Lil’ Leprechaun Dash. The four year old Kentucky-bred daughter of Tiznow can practically clinch a Breeders’ Bowl Dirt Sprint appearance with any sort of top three finish here. She’s won seven of her 16 career starts, including a couple of very impressive graded stakes wins in the 8-furlong Grade 3 Leopard Stakes and the seven-furlong $300,000 Grade 2 The Quote The Raven Stakes, both of which came last season. You could see this one heating up at the beginning of the season, when she threw a couple of eye-popping speed figures in her first two races of the year. She finished third in the Grade 1 Endeavor Handicap, where she blasted a 109 speed figure. And she followed that up with a career-high 111 speed figure effort in finishing second in the Grade 2 Davey Jones Handicap down in Florida. She finished fifth in the Grade 1 Humane Distaff Stakes after that. That‘s when Silverny99 Stables dropped her back into listed stakes company, where she finished a very nice second in the seven-furlong Uninhabitable Dirt Mare Dash. Two starts back she raced in a listed turf stakes in Minnesota, where she threw the first sub-100 speed figure start of her career. She regained some of the form she showed in the Grade 2 Davey Jones, when she finished second last time out in the Grade 2 Lil’ Leprechaun Dash. She’s 8/1 in this spot, and she’ll be seeing an old friend here in Alien Galaxy, whom she defeated last time out.

2 — KIRBY NOSE MALIBU (KY) Owner: TABOO Stables (madmoney)

Odds: 14/1 (Malibu Moon x Medaglia D’oro x Dynaformer)

The four year old daughter of Malibu Moon is very much like Silver Noel in that she’s four years old, but unlike Silver Noel, Kirby Nose Malibu is making her tenth career start already this year. She comes in here to the See The Way Stakes with only 13 total career starts, but she’s won six of those and placed second or third in four others. This one has a nose for the money. Amazingly, her turf sprint ranking is higher than her dirt sprint ranking, but that’s really not all that odd since she’s won three of her four starts on the turf, including her only stakes win of her career last time out in the six-furlong Angelica Turf Mare Sprint in New Jersey. It was only the third triple digit speed figure of her career, but her connections probably thought that 100 she threw last time out was a little below this one’s potential. So off she went to the dirt again, and boy, did she open some eyes last time out when she popped a career-high 110 speed figure in winning a seven furlong $56,000 allowance event in West Virginia. If Kirby Nose Malibu can duplicate that feat here in Ontario on Saturday, you better watch out for her. That should be good enough to win this grade 3 stakes. You might think ten career starts in nine months might be a bit much for a mare, but she’s got Medaglia D’oro and Dynaformer back there in her pedigree, so she can take the heavy schedule she’s had this year. She’s been pretty versatile so far in her starts, so far as her running style goes. She can lay back or stay close to the early pace, but in this spot, she’ll probably want to go right to the front to avoid any early traffic. This is a newcomer in this dirt sprint division who could make some serious noise with a win here in Ontario on Saturday.

3 — AWESOME EDEN (KY) Owner: Balata Golf Resort (ashworth)

Odds: 5/1 (Awesome Again x Eden Park (Danzig x Gone West))

Awesome Eden is seven years old, which you might think is kind of long in the tooth for a dirt sprinter, especially in the female division. But this one has popped a couple of 106 speed figures in two graded events recently that shows she belongs in this field. She’s a daughter of Awesome Again, out of the Danzig mare Eden Park, who earned nearly half a million dollars herself and was a grade 3 winner. Awesome Eden really didn’t start running until she was almost four years old, and up until she was five, she was running in mostly middle distance events and turning in some fairly nice speed figures while doing so. When she dropped into the sprints after she turned five two seasons ago, she really started to find herself. She started popping speed figures in the 103-108 range, and it wasn’t long before she was competing in stakes company. Her first stakes win didn’t come until she was six years old last season, and that was when she won the No Apagues La Luz Memorial Stakes with a 108 speed figure. She then hit the graded stakes trail without much big success there, so she dropped back into listed stakes company and got her second win in that department when she won 6.5 furlong Aly Cat Again Special Stakes with a 110 speed figure. She got her third listed stakes win back in March, before she tried graded stakes company again, and she managed a couple of fourth and fifth place finishes there her last two times out, in the Grade 2 Bed Of Flowers and the Grade 2 Delta Tau Chi, throwing 106 speed figures in both of those. Awesome Eden has shown that when she can get off to a quick start and hang close to the early leaders, she can do extremely well. And breaking from the number 3 post here should allow her to do exactly that. The key for this one is the break. If she gets out fast, watch out. She could be a serious contender here in Ontario on Saturday. At 5/1 she’s the co-favorite with Proformer here, so let’s not take Awesome Eden too lightly in this spot. She could very well jump up and surprise this bunch with her first graded win ever.

4 — FLOWER HAACK (JPN) Owner: Otto Haack (Venezuela) (xhaack)

Odds: 7/1(Fasliyev (Ire) x Exclusive Slew (Seattle Slew x Blushing Groom (FR)))

Flower Haack is a five year old daughter of Fasilyev, and she’ll be looking to do a couple of things here on Saturday in Ontario. First of all, she’s still in Breeders’ Bowl contention, with her number 65 ranking in this division. A win here in the Grade 3 See The Way on Saturday would considerably boost her chances to make her first-ever appearance in the fall classic, although she would probably need one more graded win to ensure a spot in Kentucky in November. The other thing she’ll be keying on here is her second graded win of her career. She got her first one last season, when she won the 6.5-furlong Grade 3 Dolly Prummond Stakes in Malaysia in October. She’s only got four starts this year, and it looked like her year was going to start off very well when she threw a couple of high speed figures in the Grade 1 Everclear Handicap (103) and the 6.5 furlong Ms. Waqwhat Challenge Stakes in Kansas (107). But then she was tossed into the Grade 2 Virginia Madison in April, and she threw in her first sub-100 speed figure in eight starts, finishing well beaten there. She’s taken some time off from the races, before she came back a little over a month ago in a 6.5 furlong allowance event in Missouri. She finished third there, but it looks like she got her mojo back, throwing a 102 speed figure there. She’ll need to improve on that figure here, but Flower Haack has shown she’s capable of bouncing back.

5 – ELLIOT BAY (NY) Owner: Empire State Racing (trotter11)

Odds: 10/1 (Chief Seattle x Gone West x Hero’s Honor)

Elliot Bay has only 17 career starts, but she’s really starting to turn some heads in this division, especially in her last two outings. The four year old New York-bred daughter of Chief Seattle is coming off four races where she’s thrown speed figures ranging from 102 through 107. She only had two triple digit speed figure races her entire career before those last four starts, so she’s heating up at the right time here for the See The Way Stakes. She’s been a career allowance horse for the most part until three starts back, when she ran in–and won–the only listed stakes try of her career. That came in the 7-furlong Cuffaro Cat G Dirt Mare Dash Stakes out west in Washington state. She followed that up with a very impressive second place finish in an open allowance event in Northern California, where she popped a 106 speed figure. And then, last time out, she showed us she was ready for stakes company when she busted out with a career-high 107 speed figure in another allowance event in Upper New York back in early August. This four year old scratch bred mare has Gone West back there in her pedigree, and you know what that means. Serious speed. And this one has plenty of it. She always gets a quick break out of the gates, and when she’s not winning gate to wire, she’s coming pretty darned close. Look for Elliot Bay to jump out quickly here in the first graded start of her career, and if she can do that, it might turn into a game of catch-me-if-you-can. She’s 10/1 in this spot Saturday, and she’ll be trying hard to make her mark in this division with a win or at least a very good finish here against some of these more seasoned stakes veterans.

6 — SMART OLD HENNY (KY) Owner: Gowans Stables (gmen)

Odds: 28/1 (Henny Hughes x Just Old Ben (Smarty Jones x Dynaformer))

Smart Old Henny is the longest shot in the Grade 3 See The Way Stakes Saturday at 28/1. And that’s a bit of a surprise really. Yes, we know she’s only three years old, and she’s only got eight career starts. But she finished fourth last time out in her first graded event ever, the very prestigious Grade 1 seven-furlong Exam Stakes in Upper New York as a 14-1 shot. She came from far off the pace, about eight lengths back at one point, to be exact. But the way she ran in deep stretch to finish only a length and three-quarters behind the leader in that pretty impressive Grade 1 field showed us that she belongs here in Ontario Saturday. That Grade 1 Exam Stakes was the highest speed figure of her career also (104). Before that, she copped her first stakes win in Northern California, in the Deputy Cat Dirt Filly Dash, another 7 furlong event. This daughter of Henny Hughes really is starting to love this seven-furlong distance a lot, and we have a feeling this is a name you’ll be hearing quite a lot in the future in this distaff dirt sprint division. If Smart Old Henny doesn’t get tied up in too much traffic here, she can show off that strong late kick she’s becoming known for. And she just might shock this field in Ontario. This is a filly whose star is on the rise. Watch her carefully, especially in deep stretch, when she should come flying late against this bunch.

7 – THE DAILY NEWS (KY) Owner: MTK and GALLOPLAZ SIM Joint Venture (lsllives)

Odds: 14/1 (Giant’s Causeway (IRE) x Out The Prospect (Mr. Prospector x Northern Dancer))

This four year old daughter of Giant’s Causeway looked like she was going to be a long distance runner at one point for her owners. She even ran a ten-furlong event way back, before her owners decided to turn her to the sprints. And she’s done extremely well in this division. She’s out of the Mr. Prospector mare, Out The Prospect, who won over $600,000 on the track during her racing career. The Daily News is one of Out The Prospect’s several very impressive foals. She’s a half to two stakes winners and the graded stakes winner Il Prospetto, who earned nearly $900,000 dollars on the track as well. The Daily News turned to the sprints for good last year back in June, but she really didn’t see much stakes action until her last three starts really. She won her first stakes try, the 7-furlong Sophie’s Choice Dirt Mare Sprint back in May. She threw the highest speed figure of her career in that one (105). Then she came back with two fifth place finish in a couple of graded events in her last two starts. The first was the Grade 2 seven-furlong Gleaming Invitational on the left coast, where she popped a 101 speed figure, and then last time out she was fifth again in the Grade 2 Honored Miss Stakes in Upper New York. She’s been running against some really nice company lately and picking up checks, so if this one pops up here and happens to score big, don’t be too shocked. She’s a very talented sprinter who’s really just coming into her own here.

8 — ALIEN GALAXY (KY) Owner: Next Bonus Racing (911)

Odds: 6/1 (A.P. Indy x Fappiano x Deputy Minister)

The four year old scratch-bred daughter of A.P. Indy had been throwing some pretty nice speed figures this year, before she ran into a buzz saw of a race last time out in the Grade 2 Lil’ Leprechaun Dash. We thought she might have a huge race there, coming off some very nice efforts earlier in the year, especially after her Breeders’ Bowl appearance in 2010. She had six of eight races where she had thrown triple digit speed figures, and she had also won a couple of stakes wins in the Unpopular (KY) Special Stakes in Rhode Island and the Song Of Denmark Stakes in Iowa, where she threw a 108 speed figure to win that event back in January. She also finished second in the Rakida’s Road Stakes after those two wins, before she took on graded company earlier this year. Those two starts were her only sub-100 speed figure races this year, but for some reason she just didn’t fire in the Lil’ Leprechaun, finishing eighth there and throwing a 95 speed figure. She had the highest speed figure of her career (112) when she won the Lil’ Leprechaun in 2010, but a repeat performance was not in the cards for her. She hasn’t thrown anything that high in the way of speed figures since her 2010 win in the Lil’ Leprechaun, but she looks like she’s ready to bounce back and show us what she’s really made of in Ontario on Saturday She likes to come from off the pace and make a late rush, so look for more of the same from her this weekend. It’s a style that’s worked well for this A.P. Indy mare owned by Next Bonus racing, and let’s not forget another thing. This girl has either won or finished in the money in 19 of her 28 career starts, which is an extremely impressive strike rate. She dropped down to number 73 in the dirt sprint rankings after that debacle in the Lil’ Leprechaun, but don’t be surprised if she puts together a couple of wins here in the next month or so and shows up in Kentucky in the Breeder’s Bowl Dirt Sprint again.

9 — IN THE STREET (KY) Owner: Jlor3851 Stables (jlor3851)

Odds: 14/1 (Street Sense x Dehere x Alydar)

This five year old scratch-bred daughter of Street Sense is doing something very unusual here. After 38 career starts, mostly in the middle distances, she’s making only her fifth sprint start of her career. That’s simply incredible. But her owner is probably thinking, it’s never too late to try something new. And that’s always the sign of very sharp connections–the ability to try something new with a horse. She’s got a lot of speed in her pedigree, so hey, why not? She’s done pretty well in these middle distance events she’s been running in most of her career, but she’s never been quite able to break through to the big time in that division. So here she is in the sprints. She’s got a couple of listed stakes wins in her career, and one of them was a sprint, so maybe this was where this one was meant to be. Two starts back, she popped a 106 speed figure in an 8-furlong allowance event, but it had been a while since she busted the triple digit mark anywhere. It’ll be fun seeing her turn back to the sprints. She’s really a nice mare, with 24

of her 38 career starts either being wins or in-the-money finishes. That’s pretty impressive. And who knows? This turn back to the sprints could give In The Street some new life and turn her into a champion. She’s running into a pretty tough bunch here in the Grade 3 See The Way Stakes in Ontario Saturday, but that’s okay. She’s got speed to burn, and she just might be jump up and surprise this bunch.

10 — AMAZINGLY SLEW (KY) Owner: Seamhead Stables (headstr0ng)

Odds: 10/1 (Awesome Again x Seattle Slew x Relaunch)

Here’s another Awesome Again mare in this field. The five year old Amazingly Slew is a very nice mare who’s been running some fairly nice races in the speed figure department most of her career. She’s been pretty lightly raced, with only 23 career starts, and she’s only got 14 starts in the sprints. But in nine of her last 11 starts, she’s popped triple digit speed figure races, and every single one of those races except two have been in the sprint division. If you think just because Amazingly Slew doesn’t belong with this bunch, just because she’s not highly ranked in this division, think again. This mare can fly, and she loves the sprints. She’s 10/1 in this spot, and she’s got Seattle Slew and Relaunch back there in that pedigree of hers. She’ll be one you might want to keep your eye on here in Ontario this weekend. If she can throw a triple digit speed figure here, she might just win this whole thing. It wouldn’t surprise us one bit if she did exactly that. She’s only run in one stakes race her entire career, and she finished second there back in January, so the odds makers are putting a lot of stock in her speed figures in making her a 10/1 shot here. She doesn’t have nearly the stakes experience a lot of these have, but what she does have is a legitimate shot to score a win in her second career stakes race ever, but also it would be her first graded win ever in her first graded try. And that would look huge on her resume.

11 – QUARTER TO TWO (KY) Owner: Flagdown Racing (kissnsocal)

Odds: 7/1 (Doneraile Court x End Sweep x Mt. Livermore)

Quarter To Two is sort of like Amazingly Slew, who will be breaking just to her inside here in Saturday. She’s not very highly ranked in this division, but she’s commanding a lot of respect with the odds makers, who have made her a 7/1 shot in this spot. The five year old daughter of Doneraile Court (End Sweep x Mt. Livermore) has been throwing around some pretty big speed figure numbers of her own lately, yet she hasn’t been running in stakes company. Four starts back, in May, she popped a career high 112 speed figure in an allowance event in Eastern Kentucky, and that race started a string of four 100+ speed figure races for her. She only just started racing last season, at the beginning of her four year old campaign, and she’s only got 22 career starts during that span of 19 months. She started off her career with a dismal 43 speed figure race in which she finished a well-beaten fifth, but look how far she’s come. She’s a pretty good example of an owner who doesn’t give up on a horse despite one bad race. And Quarter To Two has paid her owner back handsomely, with $136,000 in earnings in just over a year and a half of racing and 15 starts in which she’s either won or finished in the money. That’s not bad….at all. She’s breaking from an outer barrier, but that shouldn’t hamper her chances much. She should be very keen to run on in this spot, and remember, she’s on that streak of triple digit speed figures. It looks like Quarter To Two is getting ready to go on a big time streak where she could do some serious damage in this sprint

division.

12 — GOLD TI (GER) Owner: Kings Park (dkyoung8)

Odds: 10/1 (Java Gold x Firey Linda (Storm Cat x Damascus))

Gold Ti is in the same position a lot of these are in here in Ontario. The four year old daughter of Java Gold out of the Storm Cat mare Fiery Linda is not only trying for her first graded stakes win, but this Grade 3 See The Way Stakes north of the border in Canada is her first graded try ever. And she deserves it, especially after what she did last time out. After four of five starts where she popped triple digit speed figures, including a couple of monster 106 races, this entry from Kings Park Stables blew out a whopper of a race her last time out. She was in Hong Kong, in the 7-furlong Alcatraz Dirt Mare Sprint. She was facing a surprisingly strong field in that listed stakes event and she rallied late to not only win that event, but she popped a 109 speed figure in that race. This one definitely belongs here with this bunch. She’s ranked 109^th in this division, and who knows? With a win here in Ontario and maybe a big graded win in October, she could easily find herself in contention for a spot in the Breeders’ Bowl Dirt Sprint in November in Kentucky. And what an accomplishment that would be for the daughter of Java Gold. This one could be dancing in Kentucky come November if everything falls her way the next two months.

13 – PROFORMER (KY) Owner: Cmd Stables (backagain)

Odds: 5/1 (Dynaformer x Papua Theft (A.P. Indy x Mr. Prospector))

Proformer is one of your co-favorites here at 5/1, along with Awesome Eden. She’s a four year old daughter of Dynaformer who has 28 career starts, ten of which she’s won. And she’s either placed or showed in seven other starts. That’s a remarkable 75 percent strike rate of races where she’s finished in the top three. That’s a big reason why she’s ranked 81^st in this dirt sprint division. And she could use a win here, and maybe one more in October, and she, too, could be dancing in Kentucky in the fall classic Breeders’ Bowl races in November. She’ll be racing in her 12^th start this season, which is pretty remarkable in itself. What is even more remarkable is that in nine of her last ten starts, she’s been above the triple digit mark in speed figures. And that’s no easy feat, given the frequency’s she’s been racing this year. She’s only won two allowance events this year, but look at the speed figures on this one lately: two 106’s, three 108’s, a 107, and a 111’s. That’s amazing. And that’s why she’s one of your morning line favorites here in the Grade 3 See The Way in Ontario this weekend. All she has to do is what she’s been doing all year, popping those big speed figure numbers, and she looks extremely tough in this spot.