The Suburban (Grade 2)- $350.000 Purse
BEL- For Four Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Quarter on the Dirt
July 8, 2023

The final weekend of racing at BEL for the summer gives us plenty of reason to be excited before high end action resumes in New York at SAR. Part of the Saturday card is the 19th running of the Suburban, which is a ten-furlong race held on the main track. It was first held in 2004 and has been run during every year other than 2010. Its purse has been as high as $750.000 but has also dipped as low as $200.000 during that time. That said, the $350.000 that is offered is on the low end. There have been plenty of well-known winners of the Suburban, including the likes of Barbarino, A One, and Splash Mountain. The 2022 winner, Combat Wombat, also deserves to be put in that category, as it was one of his current thirteen career wins. He’s still listed as active at this time, but you have to wonder if we will see him back out there. Our field for the 2023 race is strong, with a total of eleven horses making their way to the starting gate. Let’s take a look at them now!

#1- Detained (Rock Creek, ridden by E Jaramillo)- We start things off with this seven-year-old gelding that has made 40 starts to this point, and won nine of them. He has been with Rock Creek for just over a year, and has won twice in his new silks, those races being an optional claimer and an open allowance. While Detained has plenty of stake experience, he has not made many such starts with Rock Creek and it’s hard to be that excited about this ambitious placement after he was beaten by three lengths in an open allowance at LS last month.

#2- Cantillon Effect (Night Rider Stables, ridden by J L Ortiz)- When the year started, Cantillon Effect was not racing for high purses, winning a $32.000 claimer at SA, and then winning a small N1X allowance. But since those did end up as victories, Night Rider Stables gave him a much bigger test with his entry in the $175.000 Marathon at CD. He did not threaten the winner there, but in placing third of five, the trainer was satisfied and advanced him into the Grade 2 Brooklyn, where he was only beaten by half a length. With that encouragement, Cantillon Effect takes on some of the better active horses in virtual racing now.

#3- Pluckzy (Gdp Inc., ridden by R M Hernandez)- Ran here last month in the Metropolitan Handicap, and opened some eyes with his late charge to get up for third in that one. He’s had bigger moments, such as winning the SA Derby as a three-year-old and even running third here in the BEL last June, but he needed a big run in the Metropolitan, and he was able to get it. At ten furlongs, you would think he would be good, given that BEL performance, but other longer distance races have not been his strong suit. Still think he will be a player here. He likes this track.

#4- Quality Road (D J C Racing Stables, ridden by J C Ferrer)- Quality Road also comes into the Suburban off a big effort on this track, as for him it came in the $200.000 Commentator Handicap, for NY-Breds, in late May. That was his first stake attempt in about a year, but in between those starts, he was productive, regular hitting the board in races that were primarily held in Florida. This is quite a test for him, however, but he may take a true liking to this distance, and he may be about to run a big one here. You won’t see him in my picks, but I do like him in this spot.

#5- Crack Dab (Gdp Inc, ridden by J R Velazquez)- No one in this field has made more money than Crack Dab has, with earnings just over $2,300.000. Until his last race, it may have been a fair comment to have said that his best races are behind him, since it has been a while since that great stretch of finishes that he had in 2020. His last race showed that he is still the same horse and capable of having a race like that at any time, when he won the Grade 1 Gold Cup at SA, going wire to wire for ten furlongs. Individuation and Lets Celebrate, a couple horses we just saw in the Foster at CD were horses that he defeated in that race.

#6- Ey Mon (Arindel, ridden by L Saez)- Last year, Ey Mon came close to immortality by running second in the PRK, narrowly missing the head bob at the wire. He would run in the BEL after that in what was probably his worst career race. He’s stayed away from this track since then, but now Ey Mon is back and ready to show that he is a much better horse than that. Of course, it’s been a year, but he is three for four in 2023, and comes here off a win at, of course, PIM, where it was the Grade 3 PIM Special. Hopefully this time going to BEL after PIM works better.

#7- The Martian (Mo Mentum Farm, ridden by F Geroux)- The Martian also cashed a check in the PRK last year, running fourth in that race but would not run in the BEL. However, he did run in the Grade 3 Dwyer and placed third, which was part of his road to the BC Dirt Mile. As a four-year-old, he hasn’t that real big result to be excited about but did place second to Ey Mon at the PIM Special in May. Unlike that one, he has already made the PIM to BEL trek, running in the Grade 2 Brooklyn last month, where he was in a dead heat for fourth. Definitely, he can be competitive, but I don’t know about putting him on top.

#8- Eight West Party (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by M Franco)- This will be the 31st career start for Eight West Party, and he’ll be looking for his fifth in. He was mostly a productive horse, though not necessarily a winner, in optional claimers and allowances for most of his career but did manage to win the $100.000 Diliberto at FG late last year. 2023 had not been kind to him up until his last start, which based on his form heading into it was an ambitious, but he ran third in the Shoemaker Mile. Yes, on the grass. It’s back to the main track here where really, he has not been as good.

#9- Sensei (Mb Stables, ridden by P Lopez)- You may remember Sensei from the Suburban last year, where may have been no match for Combat Wombat, but still managed to finish in the second position. Later in the year, he would end up winning the Grade 1 Awesome Again, before heading to the BC Classic and running fifth. Was he starting to become the next great Mb Stables horse? This year, he started off decently, but in his last two races, he has been perfect, getting back-to-back wins right here, in the Grade 3 Westchester and the Grade 2 Brooklyn, getting a 101 SRF. He is certainly very capable but sees another very deep field here.

#10- Killer Instinct (Mb Stables, ridden by T Gaffalione)- This Fire N Fury colt has won seven times in 22 starts, but he has been especially hot lately, with four wins in seven starts. That run began out at DMR last September by winning the $125.000 Shared Belief Stakes, which allowed him to return to the graded level, where he then won the OK Derby. This is a horse that may be remember from running second in the Peter Pan last May and never stopped running well but must have just been low on the stable pecking order. Comes here off of a win in the Grade 3 Blame at CD last month.

#11- Spankersville (The Sidley Stud, ridden by L Dettori)- Sensei isn’t the only one in this field that can claim to have won the Brooklyn last month, because Spankersville joined him at the wire for a dead heat. While Spankersville had been successful on the main track before this year, he began 2023 with four straight turf races, and won two of them, highlighted by the Grade 2 Diarmida. But a tough run in the Man O War here on an off track had The Sidley Stud thinking about the dirt again, and the Brooklyn showed it was the right call. No reason to think he can’t get it done here.

Prediction: 9-3-5-11

— NS

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES