Alysheba (Grade 2)- $600.000 Purse
CD- For Four Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Sixteenth on the Dirt
May 5, 2023

The big weekend is upon us at CD, and while the KYO and the KYD are the true highlights of these two dates, there are plenty of exciting races being held on the undercard both on Friday and on Saturday with high purses of their own that trainers look to win. Here, we will look at the Alysheba, which is for older horses on the main track, taking them a little more than a mile. This will be the 20th anniversary of the race, and it celebrates that milestone by offering its largest purse in history. $600.000 will at stake for the race, which is up $100.000 from last year, and up $200.000 from 2021. Not too bad for a race that initially an ungraded stake offering a total of $100.000. Charleys Latte and Centerpiece are recent winners of the race, and last year, it was Tempestuous getting it done for Mb Stables. The now five-year-old gelding is still active and running competitively in open allowances now but has not had a win since the Alysheba last year. That race also featured the likes of Howl Of The Hound, Splash Mountain, and Oleg. There is no shortage of talent amongst the nine horses that will be going to post for this race, so let’s take a moment and look at our field!

#1- Positive Id (Gdp Inc., ridden by L Saez)- Made a name for himself last July when he won the Grade 1 Haskell, and later on in the year, he would be up finishing third in the BC Classic. Not too bad for a horse that the trainer claimed for just $30.000 and just needed to start running long. Since the BC, he has made four starts, and won one of them, which was an optional claimer. He’s been in a couple of smaller graded races since then, including the Grade 3 Ghostzapper, where he was third and gets himself a rematch against the two that finished ahead of him here.

#2- Speter (Nakamura Stables, ridden by D E Centeno)- The gelding fared well at the graded level over the summer last year, but fizzled just a little bit towards the end of the year, leading to him being dropped all the way into a $29.000 allowance at SUN on New Year’s Eve. He won that, and with the confidence booster, he turned around six weeks later and won the Grade 3 Mineshaft as well. But he could not sustain that momentum and was a non-factor in the OP Mile. I would feel better about picking him in a lesser field, but this may just be a little too much for him.

#3- Mr Pancake (Arindel, ridden by J R Velazquez)- He’s had a couple of interesting battles with Positive Id over his career, including being a photo finish with him at the Haskell. Mr Pancake was second there, then finished in the same spot in the Travers. This would have him looking promising for the BC Classic but would not run well. Bounced back well in the Pegasus by running third, and then was one spot ahead of Positive Id last month in the Ghostzapper. Mr Pancake may be a tad inconsistent, but I still think he is going to run a good one here.

#4- Electile Dysfunction (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by M Franco)- A horse that has appeared in several of these stakes as of late, and really has not done much to get me excited about him. Rarely gets involved at this level. In his last six starts, he has one good race, a win in an N1X allowance with a commanding wire to wire effort. That’s a tactic that he has not regularly tried, though the last three times he has been on the lead at the start of a race: he’s won. Maybe that will be tried here again.

#5- Quality Art (Mb Stables, ridden by P Lopez)- Six of his last seven race have seen him earn a triple digit SRF, and the only one where he did not was on an off track, and that still earned a 98. He’s only won one of these races, but it is a product of the caliber of opposition that he has been taking on, as he has been given a steady diet of Grade 1’s. The Whitney, The Pacific Classic and Cigar Handicap are just some of them and he usually runs well. In his last start, he ran in the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap and was third in a very tight four-way photo for the win in that $500.000 race. He’s well rested and should be considered one of the top horses in the field.

#6- Crypto (Maxmillion Farm, ridden by R M Hernandez)- After he was gelded last year, he went on a three-race winning streak, including the Grade 2 Vosburg, and that would send him into the BC Sprint. He would be one spot shy of cashing a check there, but picked up right here he left off by running second in the Malibu, missing out on the win by a nose. The results have remained strong in 2023, with two wins in three starts, including his last race, the Grade 3 OP Mile. In that, he did well to come from off the pace, but he doesn’t have to use such a tactic. He’s won his last two when going a 1 1/16.

#7- Ricki Tikki Tavi (La Canada Racehorses, ridden by E Jaramillo) The Bright Command gelding has won twelve of 28 career starts, winning over $1,100.000 in his career. Recent races play a big part of that, with four wins in his last five starts, with two of them being Grade 3’s. The Challenger Stakes was his last such win, and he earned a 98 SRF for that, but he has not taken on this type of field in a while. However, you can look back on his past performances a bit and find that he has been competitive against elite quality fields.

#8- Home Spirit (Night Rider Stables, ridden by J J Castellano)- This one had a successful career before 2023 began, but he really made a name for himself when he scored a massive win in the Pegasus World Cup in January. That’s about as good as it gets, and he followed that up well, too, by running third in the SA Handicap. His last start was also a win, coming the OP Handicap. Now, if you are thinking “didn’t that just happen?” You were right. That is where the concern about him is going to lie, in that he has had just two weeks of rest. He’s done that before, and has done well when he has, but he goes against a deep and well rested field here. Home Spirit should still turn in a good race, but I can’t put him on top.

#9- Hard To Forgive (D J C Racing Stables, ridden by L Dettori)- Earlier, I talked about the Ghostzapper, and how the top three horses in that field are running here in the Alysheba. Hard To Forgive was the one that picked up the win that race, and for this horse, it was a reversal of form. His prior three races were subpar, but we don’t have to be hard to forgive that, because the Ghostzapper effort was quite a positive. The key will be how he follows that up, and he gets quite a test to do so.

Prediction: 5-3-6-8

— NS

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES