Royal Heroine Stakes (Grade 2)- $200.000 Purse
SA- For Fillies and Mares Four Years Old and Upward
One Mile on the Turf
May 5, 2016

Coming up on Thursday this week, we will have the tenth running of the Royal Heroine Stakes, a Grade 2 event that is taking place a little earlier then we may have become accustomed too.  Up until this year, the race had been run either in early July or in late June, so this is the first time it has been this early.  The race hasn’t necessarily had a consistent history, having initially been a stake at the ol’ HOL race track before being moved over to SA in 2014.  It hasn’t been run every year since it debuted in 2004, and has been both a Grade 2 and a Grade 3 in its past, with purses ranging from $100.000 to $250.000.  Last year’s winner, Tidal Wave, will be hoping that there are no changes in who visits the winners circle after the race, however.  She is back again for Paradise Stable, but it will be G L Stevens aboard instead of K Desormeaux.  There are three others who will be looking to dethrone her here, so let us meet our competitors.

#1- Dancing Ghost (Drabfantasy, ridden by J Talamo)- In her last eight starts, Dancing Ghost has either been first or fourth (four of each result) and normally races in small fields like this.  Her best run of form came at the beginning of the year as a three race winning streak saw her take an allowance, and optional claimer, and then the $50.000 Lilly Stakes at HOU.  She has done a little bit of everything, going short and long, grass, and main track but may still be looking to find her niche.  This is a tough assignment here, as she jumps into a Grade 2 after an uninspiring fourth in a NM-bred stake, which was a dirt sprint.  She probably will prefer races like this, but she has never run against the quality of competition here.

#2- Tidal Wave (Paradise Stable, ridden by G L Stevens)- Last June, Tidal Wave came to SA and would win the 2015 running of this very race.  It would be the third of what would end up becoming a four race winning streak for the now six-year old mare.  After winning the race, she made the trip to DMR and captured the Grade 2 Mabee as well.   This year, she has also been able to capture the Grade 3 Marshuas River Stakes at GP, so clearly the Tidal Wave is still powerful.  It has been a great career for her, and you will recall that in her earlier days, she was fourth in the BC Ladies Classic the same year in which she narrowly missed winning the KYO. Shadow Of A Doubt is the only other runner from that race still active.  It’s good to see her continue to be active and to be succeeding on the race track, and that is a credit to the trainer, as many of us would have considered putting her in the shed by this point.  Tidal Wave is the horse to beat, here, but she is not a lock by any means.

#3- Three Little Birds (Threshold, ridden by R Bejarano)- This five year old mare has won nearly of the races in which she has contested, taking eight of 17, including her current four out of five stretch.  Once she figured out how to win, she’s done so in all but four races.  Until recently, the levels she has been at have not always been high, but did take a pair of ungraded stakes during the summer of 2015.  Then, she made her graded debut at DMR at the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon Handicap, and would win the race while earning a career high 100 SRF.  That came in September, and she’s only raced twice since.  It’s a little confusing to figure out why since she looked like her stock was impressively rising, but since she has been back, she has won one of two, though that was an allowance in late March.  She’s a frontrunner, and there’s a lot of early speed in general with our field here, so it will be interesting to see how she fares.

#4- Iron Punch (Joseph Racing, ridden by K Desormeaux)– If it takes an iron punch to bring down the tidal wave, then last year’s rider of the winner has the mount to do it.  K Desormeaux will be aboard Tidal Wave’s biggest challenger here, and his knowledge of his rival should help.  Well, in real world theory, anyway.   This is simply a horse to love, as after the common dud of a debut race, Iron Punch has hit the board in each of her thirteen races since.  Furthermore, she has been in your exacta in eleven of them.  These results have been accomplished out here at the best race tracks in Califonia and is highlighted by winning the Grade 2 Goldikova at DMR in November, with Desormeaux aboard.  In her last race, she was second and got her picture taken with The Patriot Filly (as well as Eva The Diva) in the Grade 2 Santa Ana Stakes.  Tidal Wave was there too, and did not beat anyone.

Prediction: 2-4-3-1

— NS

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES