The Eatontown Stakes (Grade 3)- $150.000 Purse
MTH- For Fillies and Mares Three Years Old and Upward
One Mile and One Sixteenth on the Turf
June 15, 2024

The TC races have just come to a close, and most trainers are focused on finding gems in the current auction, but we still do have some racing going on in what is a fairly quiet weekend on the track. The Eatontown Stakes is a Grade 3 from MTH that has been run since 2006 with one exception. Conditions for the race have been nearly constant through time for this $150.000 turf race. Last year’s winner was a three-year-old from Riggins Racing named Temperature, who did win a couple more times afterwards but never really had her career take off and she has since been retired. Let’s meet our field of seven this year:

1- Favorite Sister (Black N Gold Stable, ridden by R A Vazquez)- As long as there is not a drop of water on the track, Favorite Sister should be a good contender here. After throwing out her struggle in the mud last time out, she turned in two strong performances which are highlighted by winning the Grade 3 Megahertz at SA, and this should be a pretty similar race to that. We’re not expected to have rain here on Saturday, so we should see her good side here.

2- Directors Chair (Nakamura Stables, ridden by I Castillo)- She’s won over $1,500.000 in her career, but we are at a point now where you have to look back too far to find where she won a lot of that. That doesn’t mean she’s fizzled out, just why she’s not running in Grade 1’s right now. Directors Chair can still win, as she has done so in her last two, which were open allowances at TAM and HOU. There were some solid horses in that HOU races, too. Her last graded win was last September, in the Grade 3 Noble Damsel at AQU.

3- Poetic Panther (Maletto, ridden by J A Vargas Jr)- Poetic Panther is looking to do, on Saturday, what the Florida Panthers are looking to do on Thursday: and win three in a row. The first of those two races came in her home state of Florida, fittingly, at GP in the Grade 3 Orchid, and she then took a long road trip, not to Alberta, but to SA for the $100.000 Santa Barbara where she defeated three rivals for the win. Each of those races were at a mile and a half, but she has plenty of positive results at or near a mile to not be concerned about this being too short for her.

4- Voltaire (Threshold, ridden by C J Hernandez)- Claimed for $12.500 about a year ago, and has gone to a have a successful career for Threshold. She’s raced seven times since then, winning thrice and hitting the board five times. The victories include the $100.000 Hop Stakes at FG, where Favorite Sister was one of the ones she defeated, and she enters this race off a runner up in the Grade 3 Sheepshead Bay at AQU. This is a slight distance cut, but she’s been better running at about this distance than those somewhat longer races.

5- Ponzi Scheme (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by N Juarez)- You can trust me when I say that this horse is the one to beat here. Ponzi Scheme has had a great career, winning nine times over 31 races, but she has been on the best form of her career right now. In her last race, she took on strong company in the Grade 1 Wiley and placed fourth while being competitive with the likes of La Terrifiant and Painville, among others. Prior to that, she had a four-race winning streak, highlighted by the Grade 2 Hillsborough Stakes where she topped the aforementioned big names. More of the same from the Wiley handles this crowd. Just a question of how short of a price she becomes.

6- Bombing For Peace (Jerry Garcia Racing, ridden by Sa Camacho)- This filly seemed destined for much better, and scored a huge win last July in the Grade 1 BEL Oaks. However, she has been unable to build on that, as a poor stretch of five races followed. While most were against top competition, being beaten by five lengths in an optional claimer is a letdown. There were good horses there, but that margin of defeat is tough. Hit the board for the first time since the BEL Oaks in a TAM optional claimer about two months ago and we’ll see where she goes from there.

7- Indian Spear (Paradise Stable, ridden by J Bravo)- The seven-year-old mare will make the 38th start of her career, which have predominantly been in overnights. Handled them well but began to show she could run for bigger stakes late last year into this year, with a three race, ungraded, win streak. Last month, she ran in the Grade 3 Gallorette which was not technically her graded debut since she had a one-off attempt in 2020, but a strong second place run on the soft ground shows she can run with these. I think this is a great spot for her to run, and the trainer gets a good chance to see how she stacks up against a good one like Ponzi Scheme to see just how much Indian Spear may be capable of.

Prediction: 5-3-7-1

— NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES