Pocahontas (Grade 3)- $300.000 Purse
CD- For Fillies Two Years Old
One Mile on the Dirt
September 14, 2024

At CD on Saturday, we will have a couple of great stakes races for two year olds as the BC Juvenile and Juvenile Fillies get closer. Here, we will look at the Pocahontas, which is the race for fillies, and there are seven heading to the starting gate. All of these horses have plenty of potential, and some will realize that. 2014 winner, The Reaper, and 2016 winner, Toleration went on to have great careers, as did 2020 winner, Feral Impact. But not all of them end up making an impact. 2022 winner, Syclone never hit the board again and there are others on the list that simply did not carry their success past the Pocahontas. Last year’s winner, Be Yourself, one of four Mb Stables winners in the race, isn’t quite a Reaper or Toleration, but has gone on to do well and still, of course, has plenty of time to do much more. Here’s a look at our field:

1- Sea Sholes (Big Guns Stables, ridden by Mar Garcia)- This filly is still a maiden, but that is not a fact that is stopping the trainer from entering her in stakes. After all, of her two prior starts, she has also run in the $175.000 ELP Derby, where she was fourth. It’s certainly not unprecedented for a maiden to win a race like this, but there are several options in here that I find more appealing.

2- Escapist (Williams9, ridden by L Saez)- After making her first two starts for Fractious, and running third in the $150.000 Astoria, Escapist was sold for $350.000 to Williams9. In her first race in her new silks, the filly showed very little in the Grade 3 Adirondack at SAR and will need to bounce back here. A young horse is entitled to a tough start every now and then, so hopefully, that is all that was.

3- Center Of Gravity (Alydar Stables, ridden by T Conner)- This filly is perfect for her career thus far, going three for three. Last month, she won her stake debut in the $175.000 ELP Derby, which meant that her prior trainer had to immediately sell her, as he typically does. It’s good to see her in a barn that will get everything out of her, as Alydar Stables will be able to do. Eventually a perfect streak to start a career like this will end, but that doesn’t have to happen quite yet.

4- Absent Friends (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by T Gaffalione)- Broke her maiden in her second start at FE, winning by a length and sending her into the Grade 3 Sorrento Stakes last month. She was a non-factor in that, dropping to eighth after running with the lead group in the early moments. She’s going to be asked to run longer now, and that may be what it takes for her, but I do think she still has something to prove here.

5- Bad Blood (D J C Racing Stables, ridden by M E Smith)- Won on debut in July at BTP, and will be returning to the track for the first time since then. Her six furlongs are great, and I love how she worked at MTH on Monday in anticipation for this race, but her mile work simply does not seem to cut it, at all. Now, there can be many reasons for that and I assume that there are better on the farm. Still, that’s enough to make me look in other directions here.

6- Letsgoflyakite (Maxmillion Farm, ridden by A J Juarez Jr)- In her third start, she flew her kite high by breaking her maiden at AQU, following two strong efforts at high or mid-levels to do that previously. That earned her the chance to run in the Seeking The Ante at SAR, and she did well there with a third-place effort. Going longer will not be a problem with her, based on the strength of work at AQU last week. Should get a piece of the purse if not the top prize.

7- The Lioness (Mb Stables, ridden by F Prat)- This has been a good race for Mb Stables, as he has won it four times, and three of them have gone to have great careers. The Lioness will give him a great chance to win it again, as she comes here off of a second-place result in the $200.000 Sorority Stakes at MTH. That came a month after breaking her maiden at DMR, and she will have plenty of upside going forward. She’s a strong contender here.

Prediction: 3-6-7-2

— NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES