The Critical Eye ($200.000 Purse)
BEL- For Fillies and Mares Three Years Old and Upward Foaled in NY
One Mile on the Dirt
May 25, 2015

The Critical Eye will be run for the first time in our virtual racing worlds history, but it’s not to say that it might not have been scheduled before, as sometimes these Memorial Day weekend NY-bred races have failed to fill.  In fact, this one filled on the last day, but thankfully we got the four runners we need.  It’s not just any four runners either, as this is an accomplished group of fillies and they will all try to become the first winner of this event, which hopefully become more of a staple on our stakes calendar, year after year.  Here is the field!

#1- Great Velvet (Canadian Racing, ridden by J Alvarado)- On the rail, we have the only entry in this field who can not yet call herself a stake winner.  In fact, she has never run in a stake before, but she has earned her shot here.  Brought along in a highly patient fashion, which is a trademark of her trainer, this Jolly Be Great filly has won two of her four career races, which were both NY-bred races, going at least a mile.  In her last, she was stretched out to nine furlongs, and might not have liked the last furlong as much, so is scaled back here.  To win this race, she is going to have to duplicate the time she ran on April 2nd, but she may be able to do that.  It’s going to be interesting to see how she steps up here.

#2- Amazing Discovery (Mb Stables, ridden by J L Ortiz)- Finished  a disappointing seventh in the Grade 3 Eight Belles at CD on KYO day.  I picked her to win that race, and she did nothing but ride in the back of the pack and never made her presence felt. Now, it is good to see her going back up to a mile.  In the Eight Belles, she did finish better then she started, and now she gets her eighth furlong back.   This is a great bounce back race for her, as it is still a competitive field, but it being a smaller field will help the trainer get her back on track.  I won’t let the same horse “sting” me twice in a row in picking them and I have my bee elsewhere.  If she does bounce back, and run as she did in the Grade 2 GP Oaks, then she is the horse to beat.

#3- La Gran Kirky (Australia Wide, ridden by I Ortiz Jr)- It’s good to see Australia Wide returning to the race track, and he certainly made his intentions known by making several purchases.  One of them was La Gran Kirky, a horse that once seemed to be mentioned as being for sale every week by M.b.o. Racing Stables.   After being aggressively placed and rewarded in spots, La Gran Kirky was eventually purchased by Pan Farms for $200.000 for the privilege of looking pretty in his stable for a few weeks.  Without a race in those silks, she was off to Australia Wide earlier this month for $100.000.  We’ll see how these two match up, La Gran Kirky certainly has a lot of potential, and it’s good to see her now with an accomplished owner that seems to want her.

#4- Blarney Bee (Smokey Stover, ridden by J J Castellano)- If we didn’t look at two of her bigger question marks, then Blarney Bee is probably the class of the field.   She is consistently turning in SRF’s in the upper 90’s, while the others have not shown the ability to run them as consistently.  Sure, Amazing Discovery has hit 97 once and La Gran Kirky has the potential too, but Blarney Bee gets it done every time.  But now, for those question marks.  The first of which is the distance, as she has made her name known at seven furlongs.  She appears to be ready to run it fine, but can she beat Amazing Discovery at a mile, when the last furlong will be Amazing Discovery’s strongest? Then, there’s the second question: the 126 pounds part.  Giving six pounds to her primary contenders, and eight to Great Velvet is no walk in the park.   I’m going to back her in spite of this, though I am not entirely convinced that she’ll be ok with the weight.

Prediction: 4-2-3-1

— NS

Categories: Ungraded