The 20th Running of The Flower Bowl-G2
Saturday, September 3, 2022
SAR Race #10 $600.000
F&M 4+ 123 Lbs 13/8 Inner Turf
G1 BC F&M TURF AUTO-QUALIFIER
Course Record-2:10.95 (Mean Street-2016)
Stakes Record-2:12.20 (Zalinda-2021)
The three-day Labor Day Holiday here in the States brings to a close the ultra-competitive SAR meeting. Before the Spa closes its doors, we get the 20th edition of The Flower Bowl-G2. With a punched ticket to the G1 BC F&M Turf on the line, as well as the $600.000 purse, we see some of the division’s best in the gate for this one. Seven of the eight runners are graded winners in 2022, but all of the competitors are stakes winners this season.
7yo wonder-mare La Terrifiant makes her 2nd appearance at the meet, after taking last month’s G1 Diana, and the Smokey Stover-trainee will take a lot of money at the windows in her quest to add to her already sterling resume. She will have to deal with fellow ’22 G1 winner Perfectly Pink again after the latter rallied to get within a length of La Terrifiant here last month. While those two are the only 2022 G1 winners in here, they are not the only betting options. Let’s take a look at the eight contestants in this year’s G2 Flower Bowl:
#1 Perfectly Pink (The Freakshow/J.C. Ferrer): Third and beaten a length by La Terrifiant last time, mare wins the draw this time as she moves from the seven post to the rail. Was making-up ground on the winner last month, but probably left herself too much to do late in that one. Her G1 score at BEL came in front-running fashion, and, while she doesn’t have to be the pace setter, that aggression could serve her well from this post.
#2 La Terrifiant (Smokey Stover/L. Saez): Not sure what can be said that would be something new here; mare is absolutely top-class and is destined for a 6th consecutive BC start. That type of consistency, and versatility, has been her hallmark since she hit the track and we have had the privilege to watch it all. Though she has shown an ability to race on everything other than flaming concrete going any kind of distance, this is where she fits best. A chance to train a horse like this is why we are all playing this maddening game, so just be grateful we get to see her continue to do her thing.
#3 Sweetness (High Voltage/P. Lopez): Speedball hasn’t been headed in the first three points of call in almost a year so at least you know where we should find her early. That being said, all of that early speed has been used when going much shorter. If you dig past the first page of her form, you’ll see races where she has settled well off of the pace when going these types of trip. Hard to see her letting off of the gas from this inner-ish draw and expect they’ll have to pass her in the lane if they want to beat her.
#4 Maggie Greene (The Sidley Stud/M. Franco): G3 and G2 winner this season already, classy mare was aggressively sent to the front in her latest effort. She had a 10-length lead early and a 5-length lead at the head of the stretch, but she would come home 3rd and beaten three lengths. What will we see from the 7yo this time? She’s done well this season when sitting behind a target, and you have to think, with the result of last month’s experiment still fresh in the memory, we see her attempt to get back to those tactics for this assignment.
#5 Build Battle (Mb Stables/Ru. Silvera): Filly narrowly missed last month after rallying from well off of Maggie Greene’s pace last time. Now, she was sitting 2nd and 3rd early that day, she was just eight and ten lengths behind, respectively, at the first two points of call. She did take her G3 this season in wire-to-wire fashion, so it stands to reason that she’d like to be closer this time. The game is definitely chess and not checkers at this level, but don’t think anyone understands that better than her conditioner despite what you may have read recently in the forums.
#6 Maya Caribe (First Flight Stable/T. Gaffalione): Rewarded the new barn for their $25.000 claim with a G3 victory in the debut for the new crew, but she’s been off form since. We can excuse last month’s G1 try due to the pace scenario and her struggling to get out of the gate, but there’s nothing that stands out about what went wrong two back. This is a tough place to try to get out of a bad run of form, but, if she can get out of the gate, she is capable of producing a better result than what we’ve seen from her in the lat two efforts.
#7 Loihi (Martyparty/A. Cedillo): Filly is a dual-G3 winner this season and has shown she can get the job done with very different tactics. Throwing last month’s G2 at BEL out, she’s been really good this season when going 9-furlongs and further. Tough to gauge what type of trip she encounters from this draw, but if she can settle six-to-eight lengths off the pace and find herself in the two-path, then she should be perfectly content. This would be the biggest score of her career, but there are some things to like and she should appreciate every inch of the 11-panels.
#8 Starship Twister (TwinTowersRacing/J.R. Velazquez): Wildcard alert! Currently 21st on the BC Distaff leaderboard, 5yo mare will be trying the turf for just the third time in her career for this. Not sure what to make of her two prior turf tries as they came over two years ago and against much lesser company. That she didn’t win either isn’t all that hard to get past, it’s horseracing and sometimes you lose; however, have to wonder why we haven’t seen her on the grass in so long. This feels like a case where there weren’t too many opportunities for her in the Distaff division so why not give her one crack at qualifying on the turf. Then again, that last turm mile moves may signal it’s the perfect time to change surfaces.
Final Analysis: We never go against La Terrifiant regardless of the competition. We’ll play it 2-5-1 in The Flower Bowl-G2. Goo luck everyone!
Categories: STAKES ARTICLES
