On the Beat – DPC Eve
It’s the week before Del Penn Champions Day, and the backside is rapidly filling up with the best of the best. Each morning, the number of photographers and reporters increases, as does the number of horses taking to the track in preparation for the big day. Excitement is in the air. Still, there’s a full card before Del Penn fever completely takes over.
The lone stakes on the card is the Shan’s Bird Dirt Mare Stayer, held at the marathon distance of two miles. It’s a compact but competitive field of four. The narrow favorite is ferncourt’s Wild Fat Cat. The flashy chestnut seeks her first stakes win here, but rides a two race win streak at the allowance level, and is probably in the best form of her career. Lebowski00 sends Armed Marauder, who won the St. Badgerthon at this distance two starts back. The Alysheba mare has been putting up steady speed figures in the upper 90s. Alexandrova missed by a 1/2 length to Armed Marauder in the St. Badgerthon, and more recently romped home in an allowance by 10 3/4 length. The Medaglia d’oro filly is poised to turn the tables Saturday for spqr13th. Woette’s Tornado rounds out the field. The stars1 trainee put up a sharp effort last time out, although her other speed figures are slightly slower than the last time out.
In the second race, the royally bred Whiteboy Wasted looks to run her record to three wins from three starts. The Storm Cat x A.P. Indy miss broke her maiden as the heavy favorite, then improved her speed figure to a 90 SF in her second start. At 13/1, she offers a nice price for those willing to back the redhill26 trainee. Also keep an eye out for Jump Phar, who returns to sprints, where she had compiled a 6-2-2-0 record for tenwhisper. That said, the Jump Start filly’s speed figures have been higher over routes.
In the sixth race, Alien King looks like he has a solid shot of going two for two. The son of Montjeu won at 6 furlongs with an 82 SF, and should appreciate the additional furlong. Most of the queenab trainee’s rivals are either untested on the turf, or have yet to crack into the 80s, despite having more races under their belts. I Like Ike faded in the stretch to finish third last out, and gets a cutback in distance. Mtktwos hopes that the son of the recently deceased Indian Charlie will turn things around here. Of those making their turf debuts, steller2’s Hidden Veil has looked nice on the main track, and could be a real threat if he likes the grass even better.
Classy veteran Ranadan looks to get back into the winner’s circle in the eighth race. The Manowar trainee has banked almost $1.25 million in her career. The seal brown mare won the Filly Grand Prix-G1 and Dancing Blade-G1 as a juvenile, and fell just short i the Irish 1,000 Guineas-G1. Morning line favorite Capital Gold is probably Ranadan’s biggest obstacle, as the bigrama miss is in sharp form, and if she can get loose early, watch out.
Last week, Missed Chances gave it her best effort, but fell just short, settling for second behind Monte Full of Bull. The monte8 trainee was sent off at 17/1, but won nicely with an 83 SF. In the next, Lyrical Gangster won easily as the 8/5 favorite. Big Brown Eyes once again proved superior to Seahorse Quest, leaving that rival one length behind at the wire, as the two fillies posted a 93 and a 92 SF in their drive to the wire.
La Pulce showed exactly why she was the heavy favorite in the Italian Wood, winning under wraps by two lengths. The pisanof homebred is now five for eight. In the Wizard of Winter, Immensely emerged the victor of a stretch duel with Saturday Sky to score by 1 3/4 lengths. The Giant’s Causeway colt earned a 91 SF, and picked up some all-important stakes points for mtktwos. Kelly was aboard.
Congrats to all of the runners and their connections!