City of Hope Mile – Grade II [BC]
1Mile Turf Graded Stake Purse $200.00 Three-Year-Olds And Upward. At SA
City of Hope Mile: I think Nakamura Stables’ Art Of Boom will live up to his poise here and be a slight upset over Bigchief Stables’ Legit which arrives here in very good form. And then there’s Royalty Stables’ lightly raced youngster Eyes Forward which is off to an impressive start.
Here’s the City of Hope Mile Handicap:
Horse Owner Odds SRF
Art Of Boom Nakamura Stables 4-1 100
Legit Bigchief Stables *3-1 99
Rearranger Our Athletes 4-1 98
Brit Style Lemax Farms 4-1 98
Eyes Forward Royalty Stables 9-2 94
Wolf Lord John Henry 5-1 98
Noble Conquest High Voltage 6-1 97
Side Eye Mb Stables 8-1 99
Arachnid Bigchief Stables 10-1 97
Credit Criminal Aer Stables 15-1 95
Camp Command Camp Command 15-1 96
Architect Royalty Stables 30-1 94
aeBronx Copper Langley Farms 50-1 96
Most of Rearranger’s races are mile turf stakes races, so you can see how he would not want to miss this race in spite of the unusual occurrence in his last race in which he finished up the track. Just his mile races beyond that, he finished second two in a row: The $350.00 Opening Verse at CD and The Grade III Poker Stakes at SAR ahead of favourite Legit and then fourth only a length back in The Grade I Fourstardave Handicap.
2 Brit Style Lemax Farms 98
Brit Style is in excellent form just about his entire life. He is kind of an example of clever placement. Recently, throw out the marathon race and you’ve got a strong second at 1 1/8 miles in the Grade II Read Stakes at DMR and second at 1 1/16 miles in the Grade II Wise Dan at CD. Now, before this came a string of four one-mile turf races with a string of three wins, including the $350.00 Opening Verse at CD. The one loss? The paramount, the Grade I Shoemaker Mile at SA in which he ran fourth beaten only a half-length.
3 Legit Bigchief Stables 99
Legit looks like the probable favourite off his last race, a winning effort in The $300.00 Green River Island at ELP. Prior to that, he ran a courageous third in The Grade III Poker Stakes at SAR. A mile may not be his favourite route, but he is so consistent in these turf-distance races, he can be counted on to be a factor.
4 Credit Criminal Aer Stables 95
After six dirt races, Credit Criminal switched over to turf sprint racing and has done pretty well at it with a close second in The $225.00 Walker, a win in the $100.00 Shear Mile Stakes and a win in the $175.00 Dade Park Dash. Now, the only question is can the young lass stretch out on grass? I can’t see any reason why not.
5 Side Eye Mb Stables 99
Side Eye spent his first twelve races on dirt and won a stakes and placed in a couple of others before switching over to grass. Hopes were high as he won his first turf race, a one-mile turf overnighter at DMR. It wasn’t before he ran second in the Grade II Twilight Derby at SA and third in The Grade III Dinner Party Stakes at LRL and a win finally in his latest race the $150.00 California Dreamin Stakes at DMR.
6 Camp Command John Henry 96
Camp Command has only tried three stakes races, all Graded, all disappointments, but his recent allowance form is sharp, and he comes here off a win at a mile in a MTH overnighter.
7 Art Of Boom Nakamura Stables 100
As a juvenile, Art Of Boom resorted to 1 1/16 miles turf to break his maiden but went right back to dirt to win his next two, the final in the string was The $250.00 Smarty Jones which got him his ticket into the KYD where he didn’t do too well. So, he made a career of dirt routes, eleven of them with only a shared win in The Grade II Rebel at OP to show for it. Then, after a good (not great) mile turf work, it was decided to try him in the Grade II DMR Derby where he scored a valiant victory and registered a 100 SRF number. Now, he steps up in a highly competitive situation to prove he can take on older challengers in spite of The Grade III PRM Cornhusker Handicap. I think Art Of Boom can.
8 Wolf Lord John Henry 98
Wolf Lord comes here off a respectable fourth in the Grade I SAR Derby. And that’s it for turf pretty much. He raced turf a couple of other times, winning the Grade III Zuma Beach Stakes as a juvenile.
9 Noble Conquest High Voltage 94
High Voltage just purchased Noble Conquest from Riggins Racing for $40.00 and placed him here as his fist attempt for the stable. And well they should, as it appears one mile turf is his favourite route. At the end of last year, he won the $100.00 Let It Ride Stakes at DMR, and this year he has finished third in the Grade III Thunder Road at SA and second in the $30.00 Patterson Stakes at TUP.
10 Architect Delta Farms 96
Architect has only had four recent turf races: he lost two stakes attempts, but shared a win in a WO seven-furlong allowance race and then shared a win in a PRX mile-70 yd overnighter.
11 King Z Mb Stables 102
King Z declared
12 Eyes Forward Royalty Stables 94
Lightly raced three-year-old Eyes Forward has only one one-mile turf run, his maiden win in a $30.00 claimer at PRX that he won and was claimed out of from Mb Stables. Royalty Stables immediately placed him in the $275.00 American Derby at CD where he finished a close third, then entered him in the Grade II Secretariat Stakes at 1 1/16 miles which he won. For one so new to racing, he looks to have a strong chance here.
13 Arachnid Bigchief Stables 97
If Bigchief Stables decides to lay Legit back, then Arachnid could be the stable’s rabbit; but Legit is a speed horse in his own right, so that scenario seems unlikely, but on the other hand, they wouldn’t want a speed duel between their own horses, so what do I know? Anyway, Arachnid comes to this race of a sharp win in the $100.00 Wickerr Stakes at DMR.
14ae Bronx Copper Langley Farms 96
Bronx Copper comes here off a couple of wins in a row, but the latest is the exciting one. He upset a DMR overnighter at one mile on the turf.
Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES
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