Sand Springs
1 1/16 Mile Stake Purse $150.000 Fillies And Mares Four-Year-Old And Upward. At GP

Sand Springs is a nice tight little field of young mares with not much wear and tear on them yet. It looks like Nakamura Stables’ oldest, most experienced mare in the field at six years old has the best chance after turning to turf two races ago after twenty-five dirt races. Her main competition may come from long time turf Graded stakes runner Aime La Nature if the distance doesn’t do her under. If so, it will have to be up to Maxmillion Farm’s Charlenes Way which should handle the distance with ease. Here’s the field:

Horse                                  Owner                               Odds  SRF

Childe Girl                          Nakamura Stables             *3-1        96

Charlenes Way                   Maxmillion Farm                 7-2        78

Neon Buttons                       TwinTowersRacing           4-1        93

Aime La Nature                  Our Athletes                       3-1        92

Rusti                                   Maxmillion Farm                 6-1        96

1  Neon Buttons                      TwinTowersRacing               93

Neon Buttons had spent most of her career on the dirt and sprinting when the decision was made to retest adds and retry turf and the result was a second-place performance in the $100.000 South Beach Handicap at GP. Night Mare Racing tried her on the turf a couple of times, so the end result is a promising mare that has never finished out of the money on turf. Looks like that streak will continue.

2  Charlenes Way              Maxmillion Farm                    78

I have to throw that marathon race out for Charlenes Way just because I don’t think that’s her schtick, and I forgive her the beaten favourite the race before because she wasn’t fresh. Then I have to overlook the loss in the Grade I QE II Challenge Cup because I think it was too soon in her career, which gets us back to the Grade III Dueling Grounds Oaks and the Grade II San Clemente Handicap and what we have is a very nice Graded stakes horse that Max has built out of what was four races before a $4.50 claiming horse. So, comparing an in the money Graded stakes horse to an in the money stakes horse, this might be the winner.

3   Childe Girl                Nakamura Stables                96

Twenty-five races on the dirt and Childe Girl was a decent occasional stakes horse, even won the Grade II Mother Goose back in her sophomore year. She finished her five-year-old season with a nose second in the $125.000 Bay Ridge at AQU for NY Breds, then started the new year off with a surprise turf mile bullet work in 1:35 1/5H. Not bad for a six-year-old mare with twenty-five dirt races and zero on turf. So, into the $100.000 Krantz Memorial Stakes at FG where she finished second beaten a length. Impressive. On to the $100.000 Stall Memorial Stakes at FG this time second only a neck back as the favourite. So, maybe a whole new future as a turf star? I think she’ll take this one, anyway.

4   Aime La Nature                         Our Athletes                     92

Aime La Nature has faced more Graded stakes company than any other horse in this race. She has placed in five Graded stakes and won the Grade III Herecomesthebride Stakes at GP. Her last out was beaten favourite third in the Grade III Fox at GP. She’s a speed horse in a short field. There’s just about everything to like about her except one thing: 1 1/16 mile. She has never made that last 1/16 mile. Now, the two times she’s tried were in Graded stakes, so that might make the difference. Since this is ungraded, she might even be the favourite again. But those losses were pretty definitive, so I would think the difference might just be too much.

5   Rusti                      Maxmillion Farm           95

Lightly raced Rusti went straight into the Grade II San Clemente Handicap at DMR where she finished fourth, then went back to training wheels in allowance races until she won an overnighter at SA last out and returns here to help her stablemate with the pace.

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded