There are days when the trainers bring almost as much lustre to a race as their horses. On Saturday, a field of ten fillies and mares, 3 years old and older, will tackle the Grade I Demona Handicap<\/I><\/B>, a mile and an eighth race on the California turf course, expected to be firm and in fine shape. In addition to some gaudy horse records, fully half the field is saddled by trainers that have won 20% of their races or better. And the favorite in the field isn’t even one them (although 18% ain’t too shabby either). The field by Post Position:
PP 1 – Grand Entry (Storm Cat x Seeking The Gold x Blushing Groom(FR)) <\/I><\/B>The good news for this royally-bred 4 year old is pretty widespread: She is very consistent, finishing in the money 13 of her 16 lifetime races, including 7 wins. She is also in top form, working on an impressive streak of three wins in a row, and four in her last five starts. Veteran breeder\/trainer chilimac <\/I>(a veritable winning machine, humming along at a scary 26% wins in 639 races) has this gal thinking she can win anything she tries, and she just may at that. The only visible concerns here might be the class jump, as her only graded try was the Grade II Hanna Barbera Cap 6 races back, where she finished a well-beaten 6th (of 9 entrants), and her speed figs. While in the ballpark with these, she hasn’t thrown the multiple 100+ races that some of her competition here has. That said though, if she handles the class bump this time, watch out. She is the only confirmed early speed in this race, and it’s well within her parameters to wire this field if she can get clear enough early enough, especially since she’s against the rail and won’t have to worry about cutting around horses to save ground. Nice value at 7\/1.<\/P>
PP 2 – Goin’ Long (Zalazl x Royal Egyptian x Proud Clarion) <\/I><\/B>Also at 7\/1, this more modestly-bred gal also wins a lot (11-5-3 in 27 lifetime starts), but her style may be an inhibitor for her in this race. This 5 year old mare from the azul25 <\/I>barn (13%) is a hard-core closer when she runs her best races, and the more ground the merrier for this lady. With a field like this that looks (on paper at least) to have a moderate to soft pace, she may be one of a number of quality closers here, all flying late, and not much else to separate them. If someone goes out with Grand Entry to push the pace, closers like Goin Long will pass horses at the end, but I’m not sure she has enough to run down the winner(s).<\/P>
PP 3 – Aim For Paradise (Awesome Again x Caro(IRE) x Alleged)<\/I><\/B> Just a notch below in the morning line odds at 8\/1 is the 5 year old mare bred and trained by the sparadise <\/I>stable (9%). This mare’s definitely running in nice company of late (her last two were Grade I tussles), but her last time out she fell out of contention early and spit the bit out before the stretch in a 10 furlong outing. That one might be a throw out, as her start before that, she ran a respectible 4th in similar company. And that 4th was at this exact distance. She too is a closer, and will be working hard down the stretch. It really all depends on which Aim For Paradise shows up on Saturday. The last time she had a low-80s stakes performance, she came back to flash an impressive 102 speed fig in winning an ungraded stakes race at 9 furlongs. That was on 21 days rest, and this time, she’s been laid off for 10 weeks, so she’s coming out fresh. Will she need a tightener?<\/P>
PP 4 – Spooky Ballet (Silver Ghost x Nureyev x Rainbow Quest)<\/I><\/B> The lukewarm favorite in the morning line at 4\/1, this veteran campaigner comes in with some impressive win numbers. She’s won better than half of her 37 lifetime starts (19-4-5), and is one of two millionaires in the starting gate for this race. Breeder\/trainer apmccoy <\/I>(another win machine with nearly 18% winners in 459 races) has her set to go, coming off of what must have been a disappointing last race, where she seemed poised to strike, but the stretch charge she loves just never came. The cutback to 9 furlongs doesn’t appear to be much of a help, as she relishes distances between 10 and 11 best (at least so far this year), but as a younger lady, she didn’t have much trouble at the 9 furlong distance either. Definitely capable of passing the best of these on her best day, but this favorite might be a bit vulnerable.<\/P>
PP 5 – Nag of Notley (Gone West x Sadler’s Wells x Northern Dancer) <\/I><\/B>Another royally-bred grande dame, this bunsay <\/I>charge (still another veteran win-machine, at 20% in over 500 races – and congrats on that 100th win, too) has the most starts in this field, and while she can still wow the kids from time to time, this 5 year old isn’t flashing the speed she had as recently as last year. Unlike most in this race, she can stay near the front when she wants to, and it will be interesting to see if bunsay gives Nag’s jock instructions to try to run with Grand Entry early. May well play a role in the pace scenario here, but she’ll need to turn back the clock some to be at the wire ahead of this group.<\/P>
PP 6 – Otto You Do It (War Chant x Nureyev x Affirmed)<\/I><\/B> Wow, talk about multiple personality syndrome. Will the Otto that ran a 102 to win going away in a Grade II last time out show up on Saturday? Or will the one that lived up to the “Ugly Breeders Bowl Distaff” race by finishing way up the track with an 85 speed fig be the mare in post position 6? In her last 8 races, she’s finished 10th or worse 4 times, and won 3 times. She’s a nightmare to handicap. Her trainer is yet another of the very successful barns in this race (gallorette <\/I>wins at a 20% clip), and 23% winning jock Gossett is on her back, so you don’t have to worry about Otto’s connections. If she’s on her race, she can finish in the top 3. But since each of her last couple of wins (excluding the last time out) was followed by a bounce of superball proportions, I’m staying away this time, coming off of a win.<\/P>
PP 7 – Adagio Fragrance (Cozzene x Caerleon x Kris S.)<\/I><\/B> This is a 9\/2 shot I like here. A lot. Of the closers here, she is pretty versatile, able to sit 3-4 lengths back, as well as 6-7, as needed. She’s also classy, working on two hard-closing 2nd place finishes in her last two, which were a Grade I and a Grade II respectively. She tends towards second-itis, having 11 places to 6 wins in her 28 starts, but she seems to be racing as well as she has in a long time. She certainly isn’t showing any signs of wear and tear yet. Add to the mix ANOTHER star trainer\/breeder in cream <\/I>(21% wins in 1345 races!) and a star jockey on her back in M. Staples (21% wins in over 400 rides), and this little lady might well trade in her bridesmaid’s dress for a winner’s wreath.<\/P>
PP 8 – Lily Mansfield (Deputy Minister x Secretariat x Nijinsky II)<\/I><\/B> Still another exciting stretch runner capable of a big afternoon, this lightly raced 4 year old (4-3-3 in 15 career starts) from the bigmoose2<\/I> barn (14%), has shown the pure speed at 8 furlongs to easily compete with these if she likes the added ground. She ran a very impressive 107 two races back, finishing less than two lengths behind the 4th ranked older mare in the classic turf division. To her credit, she didn’t bounce badly, staying competitive in the Grade III Other Spa BB Stakes last time out, finishing 5th, but only 3 off the winner. If she likes the added ground (her career longest is 8.5 furlongs, in her last two outings), and gets a perfect pace and trip, this one could definitely cash a check. But those are substantial ifs.<\/P>
PP 9 – Carolina Dreaming (Point Given x Deputy Minister x Nijinsky II)<\/I><\/B> Starting from the 9th post won’t bother this 4 year old, as she runs her best when she’s last out of the gate. In 10 of her last 11 starts, the first call saw this big brown filly dead last (and the one she wasn’t last she was 8th of 9). But she closes ground hard once she gets that big engine of hers going. Her speed figures aren’t the tops in this field, but breeder\/trainer congie5 <\/I>(another 20% winner) has this daughter of the Grade A mare Minsky primed and ready. But she’ll need the race of her life, and a suicidal pace in front of her, before she’ll win this one. Look for her late.<\/P>
PP 10 – Alma(IRE) (El Prado(IRE) x Mill Reef x Riverman)<\/I><\/B> The only 3 year old in this field isn’t likely to be intimidated by boxcar odds. In her last race, the Grade II Roberto Clemente Handicap, she ran away from the field to win at 8 furlongs with a 105 speed figure, at odds of 14.6\/1. As an aside here, I was amused by the fact that this filly won a race named after Roberto Clemente with a jockey named L. Brock on his back….talk about karma (you’ll get the reference if you or someone you know is\/was a baseball fan in the 70s).. But I digress. Despite that outstanding effort last time out, which was 12 speed points higher than her career best, I think this usoz <\/I>(14%) charge comes back to earth a bit on Saturday. But if you like longshots, and believe this little lady is indeed lightning in a bottle, you could do worse than Alma at 13\/1 here.<\/P>
My Picks<\/B><\/I><\/U><\/P>
1) Grand Entry\u00a0 –\u00a0 A very quickly diminishing wire-to-wire upset.<\/I><\/B><\/P>
2) Adagio Fragrance\u00a0 –\u00a0 Charging hard, almost gets the pace-setter.<\/I><\/B><\/P>
3) Spooky Ballet\u00a0 –\u00a0 A close battle down the stretch, not quite enough.<\/I><\/B><\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Some of the Sim’s Winningest Trainers Face Off Against Each Other<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":392,"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-2897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2897","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\/392"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2897\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}