Arlington Stakes (Grade 3)- $225.000 Purse
CD- For Four Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Sixteenth on the Turf
June 3, 2023

Six horses have made their way to CD for Saturday’s running of the Arlington Stakes, which is a turf event that runs a little more than a mile. This race will be remembered more for being run at AP, being contested there from 2005 until 2021. The closure of that track did not mean the end of the race, as it was moved here to CD last year. While the purse for the race has never been that high, it has seen some very good past winners, including the late Sky Rocket in back-to-back years, as well as Bronze Sabre. The race in 2022 was won by Raj The Magician, for Wood Duck Stables, where he spent the majority of his career. He had a strong season which resulted in a BC Mile start but was claimed in his next start by Night Rider Stables, who was the initial breeder of the horse. Wood Duck will be looking to make it two in a row but has five others looking to keep him from doing so. Let’s meet this field!

#1- Pxg (Mb Stables, ridden by L Saez)- A well accomplished horse with over $2,000.000 in earnings, thanks to thirteen wins in 40 career starts. The last time he visited the winner’s circle was in October of last year, taking the Shadwell Turf Mile, which got him into the BC for the first time. Since then, he has been hit and miss, so you don’t want to write him off yet but he used to be a very consistent horse. We last saw him in the Grade 1 Forester Turf Classic, and simply did not show up. However, this is not the Forester, and he was so much better in the Grade 1 Makers Mark two back. You have to go all the way back to 2019 to find the last time he had two bad starts in a row. He’ll rebound, I think, but that doesn’t necessarily mean a win.

#2- Tiger Claw (Fractious, ridden by J Loveberry)- We saw him in the Arlington last year, and he ended up making up an emphatic close to barely miss at the wire, placing second. Later on, he would win the Grade 2 DMR Mile which would help send him into the BC Mile. That did not go well, so much so that previous trainer London Racing would not start him again and put him in the December auction. There, he was picked up by Fractious for $51.010 and he put him back in the stake level. Based on how his three starts have gone since then, I think the jury is still out as to whether or not Tiger Claw has successfully bounced back.

#3- Bronze Bomber (Threshold, ridden by A Beschizza)- Will I really have two weeks in a row of picking a Threshold horse in the preview and having that horse backing up my pick with a win? It may very well be, because I like Bronze Bomber in here. The six-year-old gelding has won six times in 23 starts, but I like the way that he has been running recently. After winning an allowance, Bronze Bomber has earned triple digit SRF’s in his last two races, and while neither of them was a win, he was up against very good company. That includes running in the Grade 1 Forester Turf Classic for his last start, where he was fourth but much better than Pxg. Recently, he has had a knack for being near the winner, if not a victory, and I think the slight drop off in field quality from the Forester will help him out.

#4- Ovechkin (Arindel, ridden by T Gaffalione)- Disappointingly, Ovechkin has never started from post #8 for his entire career, but he can’t do that when he has only been in a field with at least eight horses on four occasions. He also has only finished in spot #8 once, which came in his last start, an optional claimer at CD. And that’s something to legitimately be disappointed about, because he had been running so well previously. Prior to that, he went to TAM and lightning struck for him with a TAM Turf Classic win, the fifth time he had achieved a goal of winning a race. He’ll take his shot here against graded company for the first time. Worked very well here last week.

#5- Black Card (Wood Duck Stables, ridden by F Geroux)- The trainer looks for their second straight win in the Arlington, and Black Card should give them a pretty good shot. While I don’t think Black will surpass Bronze here, there’s plenty to like about a horse that has won two of his last three races. That includes the Grade 2 Twilight from October. Despite that result, he was put on the shelf for quite some time and did not resurface until the optional claimer he won in March. In his last start, he was strong in a fourth-place effort at the $300.000 Opening Verse where Tiger Claw was one of the horses he defeated. More of the same will put him in the thick of contention here.

#6- Fire And Ice (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by Mar Garcia)- Perhaps an aptly named horse, because he has been hot and cold over his career. In 22 starts, he has only managed to pick up two victories, one being his maiden at TUP and then a LAD allowance last August. But he does come close and may be guilty of having seconditis. Six times he has been the runner up, including in three of his last four starts. None of those are at the stake level, and he will actually move up to this level for the first time in his career. Under the guidance of TwinTowersRacing, he typically runs well, so you can’t forget him, but I also can’t pick him to win. Or to finish second.

Prediction: 3-5-1-6

— NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES