Royal Heroine Stakes, Purse $200.000, Grade 2, 1 Mile, Turf for Fillies and Mares 3+
Here is a nice race for older fillies and mares going a flat mile on the turf. There is a nice field of six horses that will line up to do battle and there is no shortage of graded stakes winners that are going to take their shot. This should be a wide open affair. Let’s take a look at the field:
1-Angstrom (Captinj)- Has won 4 out of her 15 career races with 3 of those wins coming on the turf. She is a former Grade 3 winner on the SA tack. That win did come back in April of 2014 and was going an 1/8th of a mile longer than today’s distance. Since that win she has run 8 times and has not won. Can she turn her form around in this Grade 2 affair? We will see but she has picked a tough field to try and do so.
2-Speculate (MB Stables)- Is a lightly raced 4 year old winning 4 of 9 total races including a Grade 3 race on the turf 2 races back going a mile and ¼ on the SA turf. She shortened up after that race to a flat mile on the turf in a Grade 2 race and was able to hit the board and finished 3rd. She seemed to come out of that race well and seems primed for a nice race with a nice bullet work last out on June 23rd going 5F on the turf at SA. This is one that you have to look for at having a say so in the final result.
3-Know How Causeway (Chili King Stables)- This horse is a multiple graded stakes winner, including a Grade 1 win in the Belmont Oaks in July of 2014. She also made an appearance in the BC Filly and Mare turf and finished a very respectable 3rd by ½ a length. She has run 5 times since the BC and managed 1 win and 1 second in those races. The win came 4 races back and was going a flat mile on the turf at SA in the Grade 2 Buena Vista Stakes. Since that win she has finished 7th, 6th and 6th respectively all in Grade 2 races. Are her best races behind her? Based upon some of the workouts it looks like she still may have something left in the tank.
4-Tropical Kiss (Nakamura Stables)- She boast an impressive record on the turf where she started 20 times with an impressive 12 wins while hitting the board 16 of the times. She is a multiple graded stakes winner including winning the Grade 1 Just A Game stakes in June of 2014 going today’s distance on the turf at Bel. She comes into the race in great form winning 3 of 4 races, including the Grade 2 Nassau Stakes where she beat Speculate. She looks to be on top of her game right now but will be carrying 2 more pounds then the rest of the field, will this be enough to hold her back? We will find out.
5-Tidal Wave (Paradise Stables) She also comes into the race in great form winning 3 of her last four races as well. She is a multiple Grade 3 winner both of them on the turf, with her most recent Grade 3 win coming in her last start going a flat mile on the turf at SA in the Wilshire Stakes. Since that race she has come back and worked well showing that she should still be in form and possibly be able to stretch the win streak up to 3 races. She will need to improve on the last race just a bit to beat this tough field but she looks like she may have it in her. I think this horse has a real look to be there at the wire.
6-End Times (Sarah Stable)-Is a multiple stakes winner with 1 win of the graded variety. That win came in the Grade 3 Athena Stakes in October of 2014. Since that race she had run 7 times hitting the board in 5 of them including a win in an overnight stake at FG sprinting on the turf. She has been keeping some tough company as of recent, running in back to back Grade 2 races including a nice second in the Nassau. Her recent public works look very similar to her previous works going into the nice 2nd in the Nassau so she looks like she could figure prominent in this race getting the 2 pound weight break against Tropical Kiss.
This is a nice Grade 2 race this weekend where there is a lot of graded stakes winners in the field. It looks as if there are many who have a legitimate shot at crossing the finish line first. Here is my prediction. 2-5-4-6
Warbucks
Categories: Grade II
