Breeders’ Bowl Juvenile Runners Match Up Again
The Movieland Futurity is the feature this week in California and a finer field could not be assembled for the season’s final grade one for two year old colts on the dirt. The race features a rematch of five runners from the Breeders’ Bowl Juvenile Colts, including winner Bolton Valley and third place finisher Clinton’s Ditch. But there are nine fresh colts willing to take these two on. Bolton Valley entered the Breeders’ Bowl off a victory in the Grade One North Fork Stakes, California’s main prep for the big race. He had previously finished second behind favored My Way Contender in the Grade Two Hoserhead Juvenile, but after a pace stalking trip Bolton Valley rolled to victory in the Breeders’ Bowl, beating Appeasing by one length. Appeasing returned last week to finish third in the Grade Three Sam’s Town Delta Jackpot. Finishing third in the Breeders’ Bowl was Clinton’s Ditch, a winner of the Grade One Sparkling Wine Stakes in New York previously. Clinton’s Ditch rallied from well back in the field to finish a closing third. El Gato’s Mark was also tracking the pace early in the Breeders’ Bowl but tired at the top of the stretch to finish fourth. El Gato had finished second behind Clinton’s Ditch in the Sparkline Wine and won the Grade Three Buckeye Juvenile earlier in the season. Last Stop had been runner up to Bolton Valley in the North Fork. He tracked the winner early in the race but tired to finish fifth. My Way Contender was favored in the Breeders’ Bowl off of three straight Grade Two wins, the Vermont BB Juvenile, the Hoserhead Juvenile and the Future Stakes. All of those races were sprints and his routing debut on the sim’s biggest stage did not go to plan. He finished eighth and never threatened throughout the race. Bella Sposa is the oddsmaker’s choice among the non-Breeders’ Bowl participants. The son of Awesome Again has only four starts with his sole victory coming in a maiden race. He was third in the Buckeye Juvenile behind El Gato’s Mark and second in his last start, an owner restricted stakes behind Clash of Kings who ironically is another son of Awesome Again but is a tick higher in the odds. Clash of Kings has won all three of his starts, including a maiden and an allowance at sprint distances. He did run a 95sp last out which makes him very competitive. Deputy Jelly is a son of Kitten’s Joy who also ran a 95sp in his last start, a second place finish in a listed stakes. He has a maiden and allowance victory to his credit and all five of his starts have come at one mile. Flip Flop Tip Top has finished behind a number of these runners, his best finish being a second behind Shipping Costs in the Montana Futurity but he also finished behind My Way Contender and Bolton’s Valley in the Hoserhead Juvenile and again behind Bolton Valley in the North Fork Stakes. Letmegocrazyonu is a three time winning son of freshman sire Eskendereya who has won two straight allowance races whilst routing. His last victory came at a mile and one eighth with a 93sp. Tsunami Song is another with graded experience, he finished sixth in a grade three and sixth again in a grade one. He did run third in his last start, a listed stakes at one mile with a 91sp. Yalla Yalla comes in with one of the higher last out sps, he ran a 97 to win a listed stakes at a mile on the dirt. Overall on dirt he is 5-3-1 after starting his career on the turf. That was his first stakes win. He did finish third in a grade three previously. Thisishowwedoit is a son of Shamardal who also started his career on the turf. Since switching to the dirt he is 3-2-1-0. Last out he finished second in a listed race named for the sim-great Whoops Apocalypse. Whoops Apocalypse finished sixth in this race, Thisishowwedoit will be looking to better that record. Ten Towers rounds out the field. The son of Tiznow has a 3-2-1-0 record, with an allowance and maiden win to his credit and a second in a listed stakes. He did run a 93sp in his last start, but has never been further than one mile. Good luck to all!