The Critical Eye ($200.000 Purse)
BEL- For Fillies and Mares Three Years Old and Upward Foaled in NY
One Mile on the Dirt
May 30, 2016
Part of the race card on Monday at BEL will be the second running of the Critical Eye, which is a one mile dirt race for females that call New York home. Last year, La Gran Kirky picked up the win for trainer Australia Wide just three weeks after he was purchased in private sales for $100.000. It would jumpstart her career, as she went on to win three in a row, then followed it up with a pair of runner up finishes running in mostly allowances with small fields but did score a win in the $250.000 Empire Distaff along the way. Earlier this month, she raced for the final time, and has amazingly already produced her first foal! Another small field is in play here, as just for go postward. One of which, Blarney Bee, raced in 2015 Critical Eye. None of the four in here can be considered a pushover, so while it might lack in field size, it makes up for it in quality. Here are the runners!
#1- Blarney Bee (Smokey Stover, ridden by J R Velazquez)- This is the type of race in which Blarney Bee has made her living. A few times, she has attempted graded company, but the trainer has done well to carve a niche for his bee along the NY-bred circuit. She has run in five races like this over the course of her career, winning one, but always seems to hit the board. A mile has been her max distance, and her best results are at seven furlongs, but it’s not always easy to find that exact distance here. Most recently, she went to LAD about two and a half weeks ago, and placed second in an open allowance. It was a close call, but likely the trainer was not satisfied with that result. Blarney Bee should be the favorite here, just as long as she is ready to go. She hasn’t raced on short rest like this in her career thus far.
#2- Isabeli (Night Mare Racing, ridden by J Rosario)- The four year old Model American filly usually brings home a check for her trainer, having finished fourth or better in 12 of her 14 career races. She has been most successful running in allowances, and thanks to the trainer’s wise placement in statebreds, Isabeli was running in N1X’s all the way up to a late February win at GG. She’s only raced once since that, and came up short in early April. You have to go back a little to see where she has run in stakes so far, and to this point, she has not been able to step it up as Night Mare would have liked in them.
#3- Stellar (M.b.o. Racing Stable, ridden by J L Ortiz)- The Charley Farley has a nice weight advantage over the entire field, as she is the only three year old in this race. In the state of the game right now, what may be trouble in the real world is actually an advantage in our world. She carries six less then Isabeli and Noble Majesty, and eight less then Blarney Bee. She ran in strong fields as a two year old, including a couple of NY-bred stakes, but came up short in both of them. Stellar also attempted Grade 2 Golden Rod last year over CD mud, and was 6th. This year began slowly, but has been on great form of late, winning her last two races, which were allowances. It is now time for her to step up and run her signature race, and show the potential that she was flashing last summer. Given her weight advantage over Blarney Bee in particular, I think that she will get it done here.
#4- Noble Majesty (Australia Wide, ridden by I Ortiz Jr)- As a two year old, Noble Majesty’s career got off on the right foot, picking up three wins and running well in races such as the Grade 3 Victory Ride right here at BEL. Towards the end of that season, she was purchased in private sales by Australia Wide for $100.000, but so far the two of them have not seemed to click. In two starts for the legendary trainer, she was third of five in a FG optional claimer, then failed to beat a horse on soft GP turf in early April. Nonetheless, Noble Majesty is brought to the Critical Eye with a chance to make amends for the disappointments shown so far.
Prediction: 3-1-2-4
— NS
Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded
