Ali – Grade III
1 1/8 Mile Dirt Stake Purse $300.000 Open 4 Year Olds And Up.

1st     Jolly Rook         Angelos Stable        Elliott S

When the race engine took choice B from the wide gate i was a little worried he wouldn’t get to run his best race but as luck would have it the pace was strong enough to give him a chance of making ground and boy did he do just that. It is easy to forget that this horse was a dual grade one winner at three because his four year old season, as many are, was a long way from that sort of success. Today though we saw a glimmer of that brilliance as he swept by in the final furlong with a devastating burst rarely seen at HRP these days. With two wins in a row now i think he can continue his resurgence and become a BC contender again as long as the race engine keeps on his side.

2nd      Toxic Personality     Arindel         Gutierrez R

Three races since being bought and three completely different races really sums up HRP these days. A hard closing second in the Pegasus from a wide draw first up then an appalling no show in the SA Handicap and now right up on the speed after a fast start and just going down inside the last few yards. It is clear this eight year old retains plenty of his grade one winning ability but one feels he needs to find some consistency to get the results he deserves. Long may he run and just maybe he could make it through to November.

3rd       Real One    Nakamura Stables     Court J K

Another that ran a terrible race in the farce that was the SA Handicap he bounced back today to run his usual style and ran a solid third. There is surely another race on his radar but i think this was about his mark against this quality of opposition.

4th    Strange Magic      TwinTowersRacing       Sanchez M J

You gotta be in it to win it is a motto that i like to use with this stable and once again they found a good performance from a horse that looked out classed. Getting position A, the lead, from the wide gate he didn’t go and force the pace which was a good move but instead settled well and kept on for fourth.

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded