1 1/16 Mile Dirt Graded Stake Purse $2,000.00 Colts And Geldings Two-Year-Olds. At KEE

First, I’d like to apologize for the damaged text in this article. I pulled out an old 2016 article to use as a base because I thought it would work here. It didn’t. It’s made up of all sorts of hidden boxes and rows and columns and other weird stuff that only Coz would understand.

Second, I want to be a little selfish here and tell you my BC Juvenile experience. In 2010, I came here with Noble Warrior. He arrived with a record of 4 wins for 5 starts. He had a string of three straight graded stakes wins. He was the 3-1 favourite. He ran tenth. A lot of you are going to have experiences like that. A few will experience joy. But, hey, ain’t it great to be here?

Finally, a little about the race history, very little because I have another article to write and I’ve already run out of time. The BC Juvenile was first run in HRP’s inaugural year 2003. The first winner of the race was Joey Atkins, owned by Unreal Racing, which went on to a very successful career earning $1,427.27. In 2004, Commander Phil, one of the first super horses won, Owned by Triple K, he went on to earn $3,263.83. The winner in 2006 Timepiece, owned by Serenity Stables, yes that Serenity Stables who has three horses entered in this year’s edition. Timepiece earned $4,067.78. Fast forward to 2010 and Triple K’s second winner Halfling which went on to win $4,111.44. Then there was Century Acres Farm’s Carneyman in 2015 which went on to win The BEL and $3,486.00. in the following year it was The Sidley Stud’s great Ginger Haggis which went on to win the Prk and $4242,92. The BC Juvenile is hardly a predictor of future success, but most winners of this race retire millionaires because of the money they win in this race.

Sim Racer has won three of five starts, however he has never raced farther than seven furlongs, and as a front runner, he’s very questionable as to being around at the finish line. Early on he won the $125.00 Victoria Stakes at WO by stalking his way to the front. In his most recent appearance, he won the Grade I DMR Futurity wire-to-wire. For his first time over a mile, it might well be better to utilize stalking methods, than to risk burning out fighting for the lead.  

Only three races for Dixie Bound, but so impressive that he will likely be the favourite for the Juvenile. After winning his maiden race at DMR, he stepped up from five furlongs to 1 1/16 miles and a maiden to Grade I Pharoah Stakes which he won by an opening margin from eleventh place. Having proven himself as the monster, I hope his trainer can find a way to keep him a little closer because that far back could be disastrous in a fourteen-horse field.

Welcome to misprint land: The borders for Drink And Drive are screwed up, and I don’t know what the hell happened to Umoja’s section.

Umoja has won three of his five starts, but two of those matter not so much but the third, wow! It goes like this: he wins his fist race at CT, he wins his second race an allowance race at MTH, narrowly beaten second in the $250.00 ELP Juvenile, then it happened he won the Grade I Hopeful at SAR. Time to stand up and be noticed. His most recent race was a fast closing fourth in the Grade I Champagne. All of this was done as a deep closer. I would think his trainer would have little choice but to approach the Juvenile the same way.

Grass Crown has won four of five starts and I don’t see any reason he can’t just continue on winning. The only reason I didn’t make him favourite is that the Champagne was some time ago, and I figure the betting public would shy away. Not me, I put him on top of my handicap. So Jerry trained him up to this. He’s one of the sharpest trainers in the world. Grass Crown started his racing life with a win at first asking in a PRX maiden sprint. Bringing him along with proper slow pace, his trainer opted for an allowance at WO rather than rushing into a stakes race, and it was a smart move as he showed his youthful inexperience in his next race, the Grade II SAR Special, as he involved himself in every call taking the lead into the stretch only to find himself unable to hold the position in the final strides and finished third beaten only three-quarter lengths but his first and only defeat. That was on dirt, so his trainer tried turf in his following race, same distance, different surface. The very rich $750.00 KD Juvenile Sprint, and he won it in a drive. Finally, he stretched out to a mile in the Grade I Champagne in a drive. I expect for the Juvenile, Jerry will instruct his jockey to keep the speedy gelding a little farther in this race than he did in the Champagne and start a move around the far turn and take the leaders in the final strides. Simple,eh?                                                                                                                                

A Gamblers Share is still a maiden, but it is one of those cases where the first three races were all hitting the board in sprints. In the fourth race, they stepped him up to a mile and he was an impressive second. It was so impressive that his following race was a deep close fourth in the Grade III Iroquois at CD, so then the Breeders Futurity at KEE from seventh to second by a half. Now, here’s a maiden with a shot: great post for a closer of his style, speed numbers near the top, zeroing in on his timing. Good longshot chance and it would be funny to see a maiden win.                                                                                                                                                          

  7   Cheveley Fog                            Owner: Mb Stables     91          

Cheveley Fog started off life by being sold to Barcelona Farms by breeder Mo Mentum Farm for $27.50. He started his racing life at TAM, running second in his debut, so off to WO where he broke his maiden impressively. Barca was so impressed, he sent him to SAR for the Grade III Sanford and he was rewarded with a deep closer win with Cheveley Fog coming from seventh to the win. His next two races went awry as they do with deep closers now and then when their timing goes off. Things were looking pretty grim until the King arrived and proclaimed, “I proclaim that this horse can win the Juvenile as a deep closer.”
And Mb Stables gave Barcelona Farms $600.00 to prove it. And we shall see.

Snapped has had an adventurous life. He was torn away from his birth home by auction when he was sold by Aer Stables for $7.78. It took him three races to break his maiden, but when he did, it was spectacular: he came from ninth to win by a whopping three lengths. Impressed, his connections sent him to MTH for the $100.00 Sapling Stakes and he won again in that same spectacular fashion, this time from seventh to win by four lengths. That left the Grade I Champagne in their sights. This time he made a mistake, he got too far back and mistimed his late run. He was still eleventh at the top of the stretch yet managed to finish third beaten only a half-length. For the Juvenile, they just can’t let him drop as far back as he wants to; no horse is going to win the Juvenile from posit fourteen.

Sacred Star is another that Serenity Stables snapped up prerace in his rebuilding program, this time from Patterson Stables for $150.00. It took him three races to break his maiden, but these were not your usual oh, dear, do we have a clunker here? No, these were, wow, what a maiden we have here! First off, he was thrown into a SA $70.00 maiden and dueled from wire-to-wire to lose by a nose in his first race. So, his trainer decided to treat him like he won that race and entered him in the $250.00 KY Juvenile at CD, and he laid back tenth in the early going and finished third by only a neck. He stayed at CD and won a $91.00 maiden. So, that’s just getting started. The following race was the Grade III Sanford, and he threw one of those races that deep closers seem to do now and then and finished seventh, but then he bounced right back with a deep close win of the Grade II SAR Special coming from seventh to first by a half. Finally, he jumped up to mile in the Grade I Champagne at BEL and, as sprint closers sometimes do, became a front runner, dueling wire-to-wire only to finish second by a neck. I think Sacred Star will provide much of the pace in this race, but the added distance and quality of competition will catch him short, unless his trainer has thought of that and tries to get him to deep close in a route, then anything can happen and all bets are off.

After winning at first asking, Knight State went on to win the Grade III Iroquois with an explosive deep close effort but then failed to fire in the Grade I Breeders Futurity at KEE. Serenity Stables thought he might have a chance and bought him from Our Athletes for $600.00.

The Pilchard Freak started off life well enough winning a rich AQU maiden at second asking and following with a second in the Grade III Sandford at SAR. Then off to DMR to enjoy the surf and sand and win the Grade III Best Pal. After that he stepped up to Grade I but has yet been able to place at that level.

Well, here’s my longshot bet for the race: Bold Flames has only four races, so there’s not a lot to talk about, but it’s the things he’s done in that short time and his savvy trainer that made me place him second in my handicap. I mean, you know Dan, he always has a horse like this that you dismiss at first glance because all he has is one second place in a stakes race, but come back and study that and you will see that the trainer ran him in three straight six-furlong races and then popped up into the 1 1/16 mile Grade I Pharoah Stakes and Bold Flames responded by a deep closing second. Not bad for a first route. I figure his trainer will send him out pretty much the same instructions as the Pharoah and hope to stay around eighth to the stretch and make his move hoping he has worked out timing just a little better.

Gruesome post position. Litmus Test seemed kind of ordinary with two wins and an allowance loss at CD until he popped up with a deep close third in the Grade I Hopeful at SAR, then followed that with a deep close second in the Gade I Breeders Futurity ae KEE. So far, he looks pretty consistent as a deep closer with just that one crap out. I’m sure they’ll go with what got them here. It would be cool if they got the outside push, and it pushed him up close where he needs to be and he dee the rest.

My Life For Hire gets the car park and looking at his history might want to grab an Uber from there. He was a very useful graded stakes horse running third in two Grade III stake and third beaten a nose in the Grade I DMR Futurity, but then they stretched out to 1 1/16 miles in the Grade I Pharoah Stakes he was fighting for the lead into the stretch when some invisible demon hit him in the head with a sledgehammer and he finished last. I can’t imagine any kind of conditioning that could have cured that in time for this race. Could change tactics: he’s come from off the pace before,

Categories: BC 2026, THE BREEDERS CUP