In the land of glitz and glamour, an all-star field of four-legged stars take center stage to answer that one all-important question as we roll camera \u2013 who deserves top billing on the marquee?\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Let\u2019s meet our cast, from the rail out. 1\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Dales Hollandia (IRE)\u00a0 <\/SPAN>(rosemont)<\/SPAN><\/B> \u2013\u00a0Deserving longshot totes subpar speed figures\u00a0that wouldn’t scare minor stakes foes, let alone this group of monsters, and he’s made just two trips to the winner’s circle in the last year and\u00a0a half.\u00a0 Each of those wins came in gate-to-wire fashion, but with all the speed lined up for this one I can’t\u00a0envision any scenario in which he beats them to the front this week, even with the rail post.<\/I>\u00a0 Well back of Jupiter\u2019s Moons<\/B> in a pair of Derbies last year and all in all, it seems he’s got a\u00a0pretty steep mountain to climb this week.<\/SPAN> 2\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Samaniego (IRE)\u00a0 <\/SPAN>(layeguada) <\/SPAN><\/B>–\u00a0Undoubtedly quick out of the gate, but like the horse to his inside, it appears he needs the lead\u00a0to bring his best to the table.\u00a0\u00a0Fact is, every single win\u00a0of his life\u00a0has been\u00a0of the gate-to-wire variety and\u00a0while he may well be fast enough to\u00a0get\u00a0the lead in this one’s early stages, there appear to be a handful of other horses that have designs on the front end and that seems sure to pose problems for this guy.\u00a0 A win today would make him a millionaire and he is G-1 placed, but that was over a year ago and\u00a0got to believe he folds the tent up and calls it a day when\u00a0he’s got to\u00a0look\u00a0some of these other horses in the eye.\u00a0 \u00a0 3\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Loss Of Control\u00a0 <\/SPAN>(zwango)<\/SPAN><\/B> \u2013\u00a0Longest shot on the board hasn\u2019t won on the turf since clearing his allowance NW2L condition.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>And that was in February – of last year.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Does go dirt-to-turf, if you like that angle, but he\u2019s also going from disappointing efforts against allowance types to certified G-1 company and you can\u2019t possibly like that angle.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Second place would get him more than he\u2019s earned in his twenty-eight race career, but he\u2019s also tackling ten furlongs for the first time in a long time and doesn\u2019t seem to pose a serious threat to our main contenders this week. 4\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Sky Turn To Black\u00a0 <\/SPAN>(fab19)<\/SPAN><\/B> \u2013 Last was super and he\u2019s in the exacta just as often as he isn\u2019t, but graded stakes attempts have been poor, to say the least.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Was shaping up to be a pretty good year for this Sky Mesa colt, but then came a train wreck performance in the G-3 Fort Lauderdale Cap.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Can\u2019t say it wasn\u2019t a closing track that day either as he sat in the back of the pack with eventual winner Beyer Beware<\/B>, and was more than to content to remain in the one’s rear view when the real running started.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Seems to have bounced back from that disaster and with the abundance of speed on hand he should get a favorable pace to chase, should he feel up to it.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Seems he’ll have every opportunity to prove he\u2019s cut from the G-1 cloth this week. \u00a0 5\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Confederacy (IRE)\u00a0 <\/SPAN>(dawgpound)<\/SPAN><\/B> \u2013 Nothing but G-1\u2019s on the menu so far this year for lightning-fast High Chapparal colt.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Those efforts haven\u2019t yielded any picture taking yet, but\u00a0face it, he’s taken on some absolute beasts in those tries and certainly didn\u2019t embarrass himself doing so.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Looks like he\u2019s due for a G-1 at some point this year, but style seems to be all run-and-gun and with\u00a0speedsters to the left of him and speedsters to the right of him, that doesn’t look like the style to bring.\u00a0 The c<\/SPAN>ut back in distance could make him a little stronger in the lane this week, but that also means he’s probably facing a faster pace and he\u00a0might have to show he\u2019s still capable of coming from off the pace to get the top prize this week. \u00a0 6\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Estrogen\u00a0 <\/SPAN>(tnilsson)<\/SPAN><\/B> \u2013\u00a0If you couldn’t guess it by the name, this is our\u00a0only female in the field and really what hasn’t she done?\u00a0 Millionaire is a\u00a0G-1 winner on both dirt and turf and if that’s not enough for you, her G-1 on the green came in this very\u00a0race last year when she smoked the boys, leading every step\u00a0of the way.\u00a0 So usher in a new era of\u00a0feminine rights\u00a0and girl power, right?\u00a0 Well, wait – there’s still the\u00a0none-to-small matter of putting away\u00a0the\u00a0speedy challengers to her inside like Samaniego<\/B>\u00a0and Confederacy<\/B>, then she’s got to worry about the stalkers like Balerion<\/B> and Jupiter’s Moons<\/STRONG>, and don’t think for a minute that the closers like Preferred Power<\/B> and Top Jimmy<\/B> are going to just hand it to her on a silver platter.\u00a0 Top-notch mare,\u00a0but she’s got\u00a0a tall task this week. \u00a0 7\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Preferred Power\u00a0 <\/SPAN>(dshock)<\/SPAN><\/B> \u2013\u00a0Pulpit five-year old comes into this as the morning-line favorite, just as he did in his last start when he was a disappointing fourth from beginning to end and couldn\u2019t catch a loose-on-the-lead Balerion<\/STRONG>.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The veteran of the field had a very solid 2005, in which he snapped up a couple G-1\u2019s and finished ahead of both Jupiter\u2019s Moons <\/B>and Top Jimmy <\/B>when finishing second in the G-1 Man O\u2019 War Stakes.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Hasn\u2019t been able to replicate that kind of tenacity thus far this year though with no better than a pair of thirds in his G-1 outings.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Gets the pace to set up his late kick, but may be vulnerable off his even-running effort in the G-1 Black Dread Awakens last out. 8\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Jupiter\u2019s Moons (IRE)\u00a0 <\/SPAN>(coolk)<\/SPAN><\/B> \u2013 Trainer is dynamite with turf horses and this son of Galileo gets the call this week.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Might have been the best three-year old turf horse in all the land last year had it not been for a certain nemisis which will remain unnamed in hopes of getting this one back on form.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Beat a Hall-of-Fame crew just six months ago in Japan, but has taken a step backward since and has been off the board in his last two, which hasn\u2019t happened since he was a wee two-year old still looking to break his maiden.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>You don\u2019t win $3 million unless you have some talent and he does seem to have the tactical speed to stalk and finish in here, but needs to turn it around quick to meet what were surely high expectations for a bang up 2006. \u00a0 9\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Balerion\u00a0 <\/SPAN>(khalasar)<\/SPAN><\/B> \u2013 Speaking of bang up years, this Mineshaft colt is having a good one and just got his G-1 last out, in \u2013 here\u2019s that phrase again,\u00a0read it with me\u00a0-\u2013 “gate-to-wire” fashion.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Never worse than second so far this year and he\u2019s a lot like Confederacy<\/B> in that he appears to have a lot of upside, but he\u2019s another who seems intent on the lead and it\u2019s quickly beginning to appear that won\u2019t be the place you want to be in order to win this.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Missed by the narrowest of margins in G-3 opener to start the year, so would like to see him\u00a0revert to that kind of stalking trip this week.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Ultra-consistent horse looms large, but it remains to be seen whether he\u2019s just another gas can on what\u2019s rapidly looking to be a fiery pace or can settle behind the first flight and pounce on them late. 10\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Top Jimmy\u00a0 <\/SPAN>(sdmf2)<\/SPAN><\/B> \u2013 Track\u2019s top jock takes the call on this Peintre Celebre five-year old who would love to see the speed horses kill each other off on the front end.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>It\u2019s all about pace for this deep closer who, like Preferred Power <\/B>and Jupiter\u2019s Moons<\/B>, picked up his second G-1 in the Explosive Bet Stakes two back, \u00a0<\/SPAN>then had his rally fall short in Hallelujah Turf Cup as the top two in that race ran one-two all the way around the track.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Quite possible we see a better effort from him in this one and he does have a little bit more ground to work with this week.\u00a0 Probably going to be far, far back early and have a lot of ground to make up in the stretch, but that should make for an exciting stretch and I can’t knock those who like him – including myself.<\/SPAN><\/P> <\/SPAN> 11\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Ballisodare\u00a0 <\/SPAN>(ninerdust)<\/SPAN><\/B> \u2013 Seeking the Gold colt does seem <\/SPAN>to be improving despite losing a heartbreaker last out at a mile and a half in G-3 company.\u00a0 Still, he had everything go his way that day and it’s possible he bounces\u00a0like a superball off that career best speed figure.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Think we\u2019ve established no one will break away to the kind of clear lead he’s been getting this week and that probably leaves him a cut below our top contenders.<\/SPAN><\/P> <\/SPAN> Eleven Cast To Star In Feature<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":159,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/159"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2552\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}