The Flower Bowl – Grade II [BC]

1 3/8 Mile Inner Turf Stake Purse $500.000 Filly & Mare 4 Year Olds And Up.

One of the smallest fields for the pick em here but it is no easier to try and pick the winner. However, there is a standout here in the ace draw but a standout with a question mark. I say a question mark but how many times have I said surface means very little in the programming at HRP as many dirt stakes winners seem to switch to turf with little or no difference in their form. So Present Tense, a grade one winner last time out and the veteran of 40 dirt races comes to the grass for the first time in her career at six years old. It shouldn’t really be happening but with a decent enough turf work coming into this it probably will. On the negative side until that last win, she had looked a little jaded this year and wasn’t showing us the sort of form we expect from her so that may have something to do with the GOATs decision to switch her to this surface, whatever the reason she certainly spices up this race.
Be Exceptional is a stakes veteran too and deserves a shot in a race which has seen her compete in 18 more turf races than Present Tense, but she has always struggled a little with consistency so we won’t be sure just how well she will run until after the race. Of The others Techfluence High falls into a similar category to Be Exceptional and could run well at her best but she hasn’t been at her best for a while. The biggest danger to Present Tense looks to be her stable mate Categorical Destiny who took the Ballston last time out after some unsuccessful efforts at lower level.

For me this looks like another big win for Present Tense and Mb Stables

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES