Bradley Stakes ($100.000 Purse)
FG- For Four Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Sixteenth on the Turf
January 18, 2025

It won’t be one of the biggest races of the weekend, but good horses will be in action on Saturday for the 20th running of the Bradley Stakes, a race that was at one time graded, but has been ungraded since 2019. It’s never carried a large purse, running for either $100.000 or $125.000 over its life. In 2024, Mb Stables picked up his second Bradley Stakes victory with eight-year-old veteran Pxg, a horse that is still active, but has not won since that Bradley win and is no longer running for high purses in the silks of Power Racing. Eight will head to the gate, and some of these are very well accomplished and likely worthy of running for a greater purse but will settle for what they can get here. Here they are:

1- Ethereal Flame (Bears Stable, ridden by M J Pedroza)- Pxg’s win last year was not the only one by an eight-year-old, as it happened in both 2009 with Wind Walker and 2022 with Banshee Star. Ethereal Flame would be the fourth such eight-year-old to win, and he is no stranger to the winner’s circle with 18 wins in 43 starts. Five of them have come in his last eight races, including the $200.000 Mohawk for NY-Breds two back. He may not have been good at GP, but I can throw that up as maybe he just did not want to run that long.

2- On Fire (Mb Stables, ridden by J R Velazquez)- Beautiful breeding on this one, by Tactical and out of Wicked Heat, but unfortunately, he is a gelding so we’ll never know what he could have done when his racing career is over. He’s won over $1,200.000, but you really have to go back to 2023 for those big wins, one being the Grade 1 BEL Derby. In 2024, he did not earn even $100.000, barely missing that, but it does show that he is not what he used to be. Works well, and in the right barn to make a comeback, plus I love anything out of Wicked Heat. A shame that all her male foals were gelded (or deactivated without a single breeding).

3- Fear The Stars (Riggins Racing, ridden by F Geroux)- Similar to On Fire in that he is an accomplished racer, but you have to go back to 2023 to find his best results. In 2024, he won about the same as On Fire, just a tad shy of $100.000. His lone victory of the year came in April in the $125.000 Woodhaven at AQU, which was a nice wire to wire win, but he was not able to build on that. He’s continued to be competitive, so could also be in position to make a comeback in 2025.

4- Americas Hope (Nakamura Stables, ridden by B Curtis)- While the three to his inside have won plenty over their career, none of them have earned as much as Americas Hope, who is a bit over $2,000.000 in lifetime earnings. Ran third in the BC Turf in 2023 but would follow that up with a winless 2024. Though there were no victories over the year, he still hit the board five times in eight races and was strong last time out, placing second in the $100.000 Diliberto here at FG last month. No reason why he cannot do one better here.

5- Je Lai Depense (Big Jd Racing, ridden by P Lopez)- Bounced around in claimers in 2023, before Big Jd Racing picked him for $9.000 in late October. He continued to run in those races for a little while until showing that he could do more than that. Won four in a row mid-year, highlighted by the $135.000 Lure at SAR in August. Continued to run well in ungraded races, but struggled in a pair of Grade 2’s. No harm in seeing how far he could climb, but perhaps his niche is right here in this type of race. That said, he’s meeting a few in here that he could also see in a Grade 2.

6- Evil Lives Here (Choppy Inc, ridden by J L Ortiz)- In terms of a racing career, Evil Lives Here looks like a baby compared to those he is going up against, with just five races to his credit up to this point. He’s won two of them, including last time out in December with a strong effort at DMR in an optional claimer. That’s a victory that certainly earns him a chance to make his stake debut, and this would be a good spot for that. He’ll be tested by his competition here, but judging by his works, he is more than ready to take them on.

7- Jerk Pork (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by M Franco)- Over his ten-race career, he has been more of a strong finisher than a winner, with just a single victory while hitting the board seven times. Three of those races have been for TwinTowersRacing, who acquired him for $45.010 in the September auction, but he has not done much to excite in a race like this. That ability is there, but bettors are probably at the point where they need to see another win to have more confidence in him. After all, he was 127/1 last time out, and didn’t do much. Of course, that was the Grade 1 HOL Derby.

8- Apache Ascent (High Voltage, ridden by D E Centeno)- In fifteen starts, Apache Ascent has won twice, so he has Jerk Pork beaten there, but the competitive runs are not as common, doing so only five times. Apache Ascent has plenty of potential, and his last three races could represent a turnaround. However, he has too many duds scattered in his past performances as well. Those last three races have been sprints, but he goes back to running long here. His works aren’t bad, but others are better.

Prediction: 1-3-4-2

— NS

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded