Iroquois (Grade 3)- $100.000 Purse [BC]
CD- For Two Year Olds
One Mile and One Sixteenth on the Dirt
September 12, 2015
The BC Juvenile can await for the winner of the thirteenth running of the Iroquois at Churchill Downs. This Grade 3 event will send two year olds around the track for a mile and a sixteenth, making it the longest race that any of the participants have ever run. The field is full, as this is a race within our game that you never have to worry about field size. Trainers want to see where their two year olds will stack up and this race provides a great chance to get confirmation of a horses’ ability, or serve as a tough reality check. While on paper, it would seem like this race can be a precursor to potential TC success, that has not really been the case. Iroquois winners that have run in TC races are actually the exception to the rule, with less then half finding their way back to this track on the first Saturday in May, or another TC race. Those that did haven’t found much success. Half Spirit’s accomplishments are an exception to the history of this race as the 2007 Iroquois winner did indeed win the 2008 KYD. It should also be noted here that in the early days, the Iroquois was held in late October or early November, so it hasn’t always carried it BC Juvenile qualification distinction. Golden Oaks Stables and Riggins Racing are tied at the top of the Iroquois leaderboard for trainer wins, with two apiece. M Guidry and C Borel share a similar tie at two on the jockey leaderboard. Twelve trainers bring promising two year olds to post. Let’s take a look at them, and enjoy them for where they currently are in their careers.
#1- Commanding Attention (Calumet Racing, ridden by C Orm)- Let me start with a disclaimer that is impossible to evaluate this horse based on the information available publicly. There are two public works, one at 3F, and one on a muddy track. There’s one race, where he dusted a free track field last month. That was a good showing, and the muddy workout looks pretty good too. Then, there is that sire, the great Commanding. That would be the best thing going for Commanding Attention right now, as Commanding has produced two stake winners so far, and a bunch of others who have the potential to do so. We have to see what Commanding Attention is capable of a little better before having more confidence, though a win here would leave no doubts.
#2- Doomsday Machine (Pocket Aces Racing, ridden by A J Court)- Here’s another one that looks like a case of the trainer taking a shot to see where his horse stacks up. This Slow Lane colt has been on the track twice thus far, and has won one of his career races. The fact that both of those races were at RUI takes some of the shine off of the accomplishment, though. The victory came in a race at 7 1/2 furlongs, and he clearly demonstrated that he was in a class of his own against the three rivals he met that day, routing the field by nine lengths. Sending him to the Iroquois is a stretch, and I am not sure if the works back it up, but as is the case with Commanding Attention, a win would silence any questions.
#3- Creepy Englishman (D J C Racing Stables, ridden by J M Johnson)- Well, now we know why he scratched out of the Hopeful (G1) at Saratoga on Labor Day. This will beg a different question with him then, as to why the trainer pulled out of a $350.000 race to go here a few days later. Was it the longer distance of this race? It’s BC designation? Or did the trainer not have full confidence in the Hopeful? Of course, it could also have been about meters, but that’s not as fun to mention as a reason. Regardless, Creepy Englishman looms as one of the better horses in this field, earning a win on this track in May. Last month, he ran in the Grade 3 Best Pal and failed to beat a horse, though its one of those PP lines that suggest the effort may have been better then it seems.
#4- Highest Esteem (Mb Stables, ridden by R Morales)- The trainer looks to win two big graded stakes for two year olds this week as he saddles Highest Esteem in this race. This gelding doesn’t have the kind of great pedigree that you might expect out of this stable, but he does have Steel Ball on the dam side. On Sunday, he turned out a work at PRX for a mile that currently rates tied for 18th at the distance thus far from his age group. He has raced just twice thus far, and has a win in two races of which came in July at ELP. The trainer has done a good job with him and has stayed patient, and this would be a good time for that to pay dividends.
#5- Dogsgotwings (Downwind Stables, ridden by A L Castanon)- The gelding by Dogs Bachelor Party has gotten off to a promising start thus far in his career. The only win to speak of is his maiden race at GG in April, but it’s a couple of races that he did not win that will stand out. After his debut, the trainer brought him here for the Grade 3 Bashford Manor, and he just missed, finishing second to Black Mach One, who might be the best two year old out there right now. A month later, he ran into the likes of Grandeur and Symboli Rudolf in the Grade 3 Sanford at Saratoga, and missed by less then a length. He has powerful opposition here as well, but has proven that he will be right with them at the wire.
#6- Techfluence (The SIdley Stud, ridden by C Borel)- The jockey looks to pick up his third career win in the Iroquois, and he will be riding one of the best horses in the field in his effort to do so. Techfluence has won two of his three career starts, with the second win being the Grade 3 AP Washington Futurity at that track just three weeks ago. While others in this field have run very well against graded competition, Techfluence is the only horse here that has won one. His sire, Techno, isn’t really a known commodity yet, but he is by Jolly Be Great, and he has sired two stake winners out of just ten foals so far. Perhaps at that rate we will be talking about him in a much higher regard in the near future.
#7- Custer Of The West (Sanny Village, ridden by S X Bridgmohan)- This gelding by Rene caught the attention of Sanny Village when he broken his miaden on the fourth of July while running for Blushing Meadows. Others may have noticed the impressive 93 SRF he earned that day, but Sanny Village liked it to the tune of a $315.000 offer, and the horse ended up in his stable that day. He made his debut with his new trainer in the Grade 2 SAR Special at that beautiful race track, he would barely be beaten by Black Mach One. There’s that name again. What’s he doing right now? That gives him something in common with Dogsgotwings, and both of them will be string contenders in this race. He is my pick to win.
#8- Bottoms Out (Blushing Meadows, ridden by Mar Garcia)- The trainer will look at the horse going in to the left of his entry with a lot of interest, but Blushing Meadows still has himself a strong entry going to the gate with this Copper Bottom gelding. Copper Bottom himself was a BC Juvenile winner, and is a bloodline I am very high on. Bottoms Out has been showing a lot of potential in the morning with some great mile works at DMR, and has been able to translate that into race track success. He’s one just one of his three races, but quite simply, he has just been yearning for the races to go longer. This is a bit of a jump off that race, and because of that I can’t quite put him in my top four picks, but if his odds do climb on raceday, you need to take a shot at him.
#9- Stolen Thunder (Riggins Racing, by H J Theriot III)- Riggins Racing will be looking to get sole possession of first place for most wins in the Iroquois with his third win, and hopes that Stolen Thunder can be up to the task. He’s raced twice so far in his career, and picked up a win at DMR while going a mile last month. That winning time was essentially identical to the winning time that Bottoms Out put up at the same track later in the month. What he also has in common with his neighbor in the starting gate is that he has never raced at this level before. Normally, I could look past that, but there are so many in this field who have had good runs in graded events, it’s hard to make him one of the top picks.
#10- Coup de Lyon (Nakamura Stables, ridden by P W Ouzts)- Not too often you see this jockey aboard a horse in a race of this magnitude, but the jockey colony at CD doesn’t give many options, and trainers can’t summon jockeys from other tracks. Coup de Lyon has raced five times in his career, and had a couple disappointing results, especially in the Colin Stakes. Of course, let me stop there and acknowledge that Coup de Lyon has been running in better quality races. That poor performances led to a geld by the trainer, and in the next race our new gelding ran a time at ELP that was a second faster then the winning time that Bottoms Out and Stolen Thunder had in their mile races. Coup de Lyon did also look pretty good in the Grade 3 Bashford Manor in late June. He should be one of the favorites in this race.
#11- Carneyman (Broken Spoke Stables, ridden by M Mena)- The trainer seeks their second career graded stake victory with this autogen colt. In four races thus far, he has picked up a pair wins, including an ungraded stake win. That game in July at the TTA Sales Futurity- Colts at LS, which is a $100.000 race for TX-breds. His other victory also came against those bred in the Lone Star state. Though he has also contested a graded event, and was third in the Grade 3 AP Washington Futurity, and was beaten by less then a length. That can silence anyone who might want to dismiss his performances against TX breds. Carneyman will enter the toughest race of his career, but he’s working well and has the talent level to surprise.
#12- Baysom (Mshot Stables, ridden by N J Milford)- Finally, on the far outside, Mshot Stables brings Baysom to the starting gate. The Baybayin colt has won one of his two races, with the win coming in late July in good looking fashion at six furlongs. Off of that, he makes a big jump into this race. There is a little inconsistency in his works, and that is a concern, because he has going to have to bring his best to have a chance in this race. If there is a reason that the trainer knows as to why that is the case, such as testing adds, then that observation can be dismissed. I think he is in quite tough here, and getting the outside draw didn’t help matters.
Prediction: 7-5-6-10
— NS
Categories: Grade III
