Valley View – Grade II
I mile Turf Stake Purse $400.000 Three-Year-Old Fillies. At KEE
Valley View dates back to 2005 where it was run at 1 1/16 miles on the turf for a purse of $125.000 grade three. It remained a grade three until last year when it was elevated to grade two. Also, it didn’t change to one mile until 2023, and this is the first year at $400.000. First winner of the race was Switched At Birth owned by legend stable Deez Racing Stable. Mb Stables won this race last year with Secret Of A Lady, which is still storming along as a grade one winner, and is back this year with Angelic Wonder to look for their second win, and it looks a good chance. Race favourite looks to be Date Knight which is racing in great form right now. Here’s the field:
Horse Owner Odds SRF
Date Knight Our Athletes *7-5 98
Infiltrate TwinTowersRacing 6-1 90
Aime La Nature Our Athletes 3-1 89
Piatt Royalty Stables 4-1 94
Queen Kingdom Aer Stables 5-1 95
Angelic Wonder Mb Stables 7-2 96
Sea Of Galilee Winning Link Stables 8-1 99
Elegance Of Light Maxmillion Farm 15-1 99
Date Knight ran seventh in the grade three KD Ladies Turf last out. So how does she wind up favourite here? Well, that was a $2,000.000 grade three and she was beaten only a length and scored a 98 SRF. She won the race before that: the grade three ONT Colleen Stakes at WO. She was second in the two races before, both grade two stakes races. She just looks loaded.
2 Sea Of Galilee Winning Link Stables 94
Sea Of Galilee was once a clever auction buy for $3.000 from Mb Stables by Bigking who immediately won the $100.000 Letellier Memorial Stakes at FG. A half dozen races later; Winning Link Stables purchased her at auction for $44.000 and immediately picked up a third in the $100.000 Harris Stakes at SA. And here we are; this will be her third try on turf.
3 Angelic Wonder Mb Stables 96
Winner of four of six starts lightly raced Angelic Wonder may represent the greatest threat to the favourite in this race. She comes in here on a string of three straight wins, the most recent of which is the $75.000 The Miss Southern OH Stakes at BTP, none of us got to see that race. It’s hard to beat a horse that is on a streak like this, but this is a bit of a step up.
4 Elegance Of Light Maxmillion Farm 92
Maxmillion Farm picked up Elegance Of Light from Wood Duck Stables for $100.000 and switched her over to grass where she seems to be thriving. After capturing an allowance race with ease at PRx her trainer decided to test her in this graded stakes. Big step up, but stranger things have happened in HRP World.
5 Queen Kingdom Aer Stables 95
Lightly raced Queen Kingdom is just getting into the stakes business and relatively new to turf but is showing a lot of promise. She won the $100.000 Harris Stakes last and third in the grade three Senorita Stakes both at SA and both sprints. She has won as far as 1 1/16 miles, so she should be able to step up here.
6 Piatt Royalty Stables 94
Piatt has basically spent her career stakes sprinting with consistent results, so she is a question mark here, but there is an indicator because she did race a mile at SA back in January in the $175.000 CA Cup Oaks and finished a narrowly beaten second, so a definite chance here. The fact that she can run on-speed or come from off pace will help down the lane.
7 Infiltrate TwinTowersRacing 90
So, how does a horse that just ran fifth beaten two in an allowance race earn second choice in the handicap? Well, that wasn’t a race, it was a blow out prep. 184-1 because the oddsmaker knew she was no sprinter. They knew she was a router. I know she ran second in the grade three Honeymoon Stakes at SA and put up a good fight in the grade one DMR Oaks at 1 1/8 miles. I like her as the race long shot.
8 Aime La Nature Our Athletes 89
Throw out that last sprint stakes because I don’t think Aime La Nature is at all a sprinter, and you have a strong second in the grade three ONT Colleen Stakes at WO. Scan her form sheet and find a good turf miler which ran third in the grade three Durante Stakes at DMR and won the Herecomesthebride Stakes at GP. She should be a strong presence in this race.
Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES