The Solano Beach Handicap, Purse $150.000, Ungraded, One Mile, Turf for 3+ Fillies and Mares
Del Mar racing is in full effect and this weekend is one of their lighter stakes weekends of the card but that does not mean that there aren’t talented horses running. Here we have 4 nice horses lined up in this turf handicap race which pits 2 former stakes winners against 2 horses looking to win at the stakes level for the first time. Can the stakes winners beat this field carrying a bit more weight? Let’s take a look at the field:
1-Summer Storm (Barcelona Stables)- She comes into the race winning a very impressive 11 out of 18 career starts including 5 out of her last 6 races. These wins have all come at the allowance level or lower with the most impressive of these wins coming 2 races back in an OC 80 at CD. The question for this horse is can she make this jump into stakes company doing something that she has never won at which is routing on the turf. She has tried it one time and did hit the board running a nice 2nd place finish at SA in April. She is one of the low weights in the field which I think will help her and has a shot at stepping up and grabbing her first stakes win.
2-Self Absorbed (First Flight Stables)- She was a recent $15.000 claim and has won 3 of her 11 lifetime starts but those 3 wins have all come this year. She is 1 for 2 on the turf and her turf win did come going around 2 turns, albeit in a $12.500 MCL race at LAD. Off of the claim she was stepped right up to a OC at SAC on the dirt going 5 furlongs but did not fire that day. Since that race she has worked one time over the turf at DMR and the time was just ok. I think this may have just been a shot in a small field to get her going back long on the turf and hope that she can elevate her level to win a stakes race.
3-Angstrom (CaptinJ)- She has won 4 out of 16 career starts but has not won since a Grade 3 win in April of 2014. Since that race she has run in some of the biggest races and has hit the board on 5 different occasions. 3 of this horse 4 wins have come going long on the turf and that is where she has run the bulk of her races. She drew just 1 pound over the low weight in this race which should help this drop and maybe wake her up and get her back into the winners circle. Going into her last race she did have a bullet mile turf work at SA which tells me she still has some run left in her. Can carrying 5 pounds less than the high weight get her over the top?
4-Know How Causeway (Chili King Stables)- She is by far the class of this field and has won 8 out of 21 career races. She is a Grade 1 winner and multiple stakes winner, who last year was in the Breeders Cup Fillies and Mare turf where she finished 3rd. She has managed only 1 win this year however she has been running against much tougher in every race. Even carrying the high weight of this group I think the others would have to do something special to jump up and beat her today.
This is a nice race here today at Del Mar and I did mention in the write up earlier that I think that someone would have to do something special to beat the high weight in this race. That is exactly what I think is going to happen here as I think that a horse is sitting on a big race. Here is my prediction. 1-4-3-2
Warbucks
Categories: Ungraded
