The Manhattan Handicap (Grade 1)- $1,000.000 Purse
BEL- For Four Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Quarter on the Inner Turf
June 11, 2016
The eyes of the racing will be on BEL this weekend, but the final jewel of the TC is not the only reason to be excited as there is plenty of talented virtual horse flesh going to post on this day. One of the top races on the undercard will be the 13th running of The Manhattan Handicap, a place for older horses that go long on the turf, and without having to worry about three year olds. Most of the field will be racing in this handicap at 117 or 118 pounds, but the weights do range from 116, to Antelope Storm at 123. The biggest names on the past winners list include Loooking Goood who won over $3,600.000 in his career. That’s about 2/3rds of what the great Dogma’s $6,500.000-plus of career earnings. Dogma won the event in 2006, and those winnings put his true greatness in perspective. There are four trainers, who are no strangers to winning, who have won this race twice: Australia Wide, Mb Stables, Sanny Village, and Whitewater Stables. The first two on that list have the chance to make it three here. R J Albarado and R Bejarano have ridden two winners in the past. We have eleven set to go, so here’s the field!
#1- Buzzing (Mb Stables, ridden by R J Albarado)- Along the rail, we have the first of three entries in the race from Mb Stables. While Buzzing does not have the resume of Visa Vice or Stormy Kg, you can’t deny that he is in the best form of his career right now. It is potential that he has always shown, and led to him participating in the Queens Plate last year, where he finished fifth. That would be the last time, until now, when he was entered in a stake and he has recently been making his living in optional claimers. Buzzing comes into the race having won his last three while showing improvement in SRF figures this year.
#2- Full Speed Ahead (Night Rider Stables, ridden by S X Bridgmohan)- The five year old autogen has done everything but win a graded stake in his career. Overall, he is six out of 20, with victories against strong allowance company in his early days to an ungraded stake win last October. Otherwise, the trainer has consistently been placing him at this level, and Full Speed Ahead has hit the board in five of them, but that win has been all elusive (10-0-2-3 graded record). He has never quite run this distance before, but in races a furlong shorter, he has recently been coming on strong at the end, so perhaps maybe just a little more distance is all he needed. Against those other fields, that is. He hasn’t faced a crowd like this in a while.
#3- Visa Vice (Mb Stables, ridden by D Moran)- Don’t know how much more I can say about this amazing nine year old that has won a graded stake in every year of his career, from two on up. Even at nine, his 2016 earnings of $376.000 is more then the career earnings of four of his rivals in this race. He was out at the track on Tuesday and put together a mile turf work that’s as good as any he has had in his career, so age is still just a number for him. It will surprise some that he is in this race, and perhaps not the Metropolitan, a race he has been in previously; as he has not been on the grass much lately (only once since October 2013). That will have some wondering why that is the case, and it will be an interesting discussion point if he either wins, or bombs.
#4- Sri Lanka (Heavens Own, ridden by R Bejarano)- The seven year old may look young next to Visa Vice, but he too has had a very successful and lengthy career. Over 42 wins, he was 13 wins, and well as 12 places and last year was particularly successful. During the summer, he won the Nijinsky Stakes (Grade 2) and AP St Leger Stakes (Grade 3) back-to-back, which helped springboard him in to the BC Turf. Well, first, it led to a private sale from Axeman to Heavens Own for $450.000, and then the BC Turf. Unfortunately for the new trainer, that race would be a disappointment. Since the changeover, Sri Lanka did get a win in the Grade 2 Ft Lauderdale in January, so we know he can still get it done. He is a veteran of races like this, having routinely gone a mile and a half during his career.
#5- Pink Devil (Night Mare Racing, ridden by J Rosario)- Things have certainly come full circle for Night Mare Racing on this four year old. It started with her auctioning Pink Devil off unraced, and since then he has exchanged hands in private sales a total of six times. He has shown potential to race at this level, but after coming up short in several races, he could not find a steady owner. So, that sixth private sale saw the original breeder, Night Mare Racing, buy him back in September 2015, and there has been no place like his home stable for Pink Devil. Two races ago, he went long on the turf for the first time and won an allowance in an HRP-rout of three lengths. That led to him going to Grade 3 Ft Marcy here last month, and he was a strong second with Full Speed Ahead among those he beat. I’m eager to see what he does with this field.
#6- Stormy Kg (Mb Stables, ridden by J R Velazquez)- The best moments for Stormy Kg came in 2014. That was the year that he would finish second in the BC Turf to Ashkalani, and was part of a stretch where he had one win and five seconds in a string of six straight races, all except one were Grade 1’s or 2’s, and the exception was a $250.000 statebred stake. That was his heyday, and it’s seeming like a long time ago now. Stormy Kg did win the Grade 3 Singspiel Stakes in his race in Mb silks, but other then that he has mostly been an afterthought in recent races. A bounce back is needed, if he still can.
#7- Tucson (Aer Stables, ridden by J Alvarado)- The trainer saw big things when he claimed the now seven year old gelding for $35.000, and so far Tucson has lived up to that confidence. Since being an afterthought in Grade 1 Pattison last year, he has one win in four graded events, coming in the Grade 3 FG Handicap in February. However, with a couple of more favorable headbobs at the wire, we could be saying that he has won three of those four races. Two second place finishes, coming in the Grade 3 Bradley Handicap and the Grade 2 Pan American this year saw him lose to the winner by .02 and .06, respectively. Most recently, he was a little disappointing in a 4th place finish in the Grade 1 Man O War, and this field seems a little better then that one.
#8- Democrat Politician (Australia Wide, ridden by J L Ortiz)- It’s not the equivalent of chancing one’s political party, but Democrat Politician will be making a surface change from dirt to turf for the first time. Not only that, it is also the graded stake (or any stake) debut for the gelding. He’s been seen campaigning in Florida over his last four starts, all in optional claimers, and he won one of them. Because of this step up and move to turf, Democrat Politician is not a recommended option for the conservative bettor.
#9-Round The Champion (Threshold, ridden by J R Leparoux)- Last month, Round The Champion won an optional claiming race for the third win of his career, and Threshold was certainly very impressed by the result. Off of that, an aggressive move in placement is made to put the four year old gelding against some of the best turf distance horses currently in the game. Round The Champion is no stranger to this level, and the most comparable race he has been in would be the Grade 3 McKnight Handicao ($100.000 Purse), where he was fourth of seven. This weekend, he runs for ten times that purse level.
#10- Antelope Storm (Grimley, ridden by J J Castellano)– A great start to the 2016 season has led to Antelope Storm being the highweight for this race. The 123 pounds that he will carry is 5-6 pounds more then the majority of the field. That is about the only negative thing that can be said about him in this race. He is coming into our field in the best shape of his life, winning his last two races against fields much like this one. Last month, on the KYD undercard at CD, he was victorious in the Grade 1 Woodford Turf Classic, and prior to that he was the winner in the Grade 2 Muniz Memorial Handicap at FG. J J Castellano has been aboard in three of his last four races, and all three of those ended with a trip to the winner’s circle. With even weights, Antelope Storm is the class of the field, but carrying five to six more pounds then his rivals will give an added challenge.
#11- Bombastic Kathology (Oval Express Farms, ridden by F Pennington)- On the outside, this four year old colt has won four of the nineteen races that he has been in, proving that when he is on his game, he can be as good as anyone. The problem for Bombastic Kathology is quite a bit of inconsistency. When on, he’s won races like the 2015 Grade 1 Arlington Million against the very best in the game. But then he also has too many races like his most recent start, and 8th place, beaten by five lengths in the Grade 1 Makers Mark. It seems like everything must be perfect for this colt to fire off one of his big ones. He’s capable, but not the easiest horse to bet on.
Prediction: 7-10-5-3
— NS
Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES
