4 KEE Wiley (GI)
$350.000 4yo&Up F&M 1 1/16m Turf 123lbs 4/11/2020
Nine classy ladies are entered for Saturday’s Wiley (GI), a mile and a sixteenth trip around the lush KEE turf course and this looks to be a knock-down, drag out for a nice purse.
This is one of those races where you could just throw a dart and probably do as well as handicapping it, but I landed on High Ended to get the job done today. Since chancing hands back in Nov she shows a pair of wins and a just miss second in a GI race, and although he caught the outside post, I look for her to throw another one of those huge
efforts today.
It doesn’t get any easier going through this group and I took Rules Are Madness in the second spot. She bounced back nicely from that uncharacteristic sixth place finish to get the job done at TAM in the Hillsborough (GII) and a few of those are back to try her in this one.
I’ll look for a bounce-back from Rainy Day Woman after her firth place finish in the Buena Vista (GII) at SA. She’s better than that and I’m chalking up that performance to the wet surface… if it rains here, maybe I rethink that, but let’s look for firm turf and a big effort from the mare.
Here’s The Field –
|
Cest And Me | D J C Racing Stables | Tunon M | 123 | 3/1 |
Won four of twelve starts last year and she is nothing but straight class. Was third beaten a length in the Hillsborough (GII) to get her 2020 season started and any time this one gets into the gate, you know she has a shot at the win. She was fifth in her only start over this course so if you are looking for an out, that’s about all I see. I giver her a big shot her.
|
Credit The Cat | Nakamura Stables | Cedillo A | 123 | 5/2 |
Another that certainly knows how to bring home the bacon winning thirteen of her twenty lifetime starts. Yet, she changed hands twice last season and that makes me shake my head. Second in the fore-mentioned Hillsborough (GII) and didn’t miss the board in any of her five ’19 starts, where she won from five furlongs to a mile and a half. Talk about versatile. I don’t think you should overlook her here either.
|
Moeraki Boulders | Threshold | Gutierrez Mario | 123 | 7/1 |
Only off of the board in two of nine starts, and she won by four last out taking down OptAlw types at TUP like it was nothing. She won her only stakes try but that was a NG race at DMR where she prevailed by a nose. She can run, no doubt about it… but this is a step up in class for sure. If that doesn’t bother her, she could be a factor.
|
Rainy Day Woman | John Henry | Lanerie C J | 123 | 7/1 |
Tired last out when fifth in the Buena Vista (GII) at SA on a soggy turf course, which I don’t think is her favorite. Won the Frankel (GIII) on firm grass over that same course, so it kind of proves the point. She was eighth over this grass back in the fall, but has won some big races so it’s just a matter of which horse do you get here today?
|
Holualoa | Smokey Stover | Arroyo N Jr | 123 | 4/1 |
Another very consistent filly that was third beaten only a half length in the Very One at GP and had back to back four length wins prior to that race. She’s been on the board in ten of eleven, if that helps to explain that she can flat out run. This is a tough group but this could be her break-out race.
|
Rules Are Madness | Angelos Stable | Vargas J A Jr | 123 | 2/1 |
Got the job done in the Hillsborough (GII) and faces a few of those foes again here today. She’s never raced over this track but those three am gallops sure do indicate that she like Lexington home cookin’. Eight wins from eighteen races indicates she knows how to get her picture taken. She’s a huge force to be reckoned with.
|
Investment Return | Grimley | Davis D | 123 | 4/1 |
Nice win on the GP grass last out to take the Mary Todd, but she has struggled when facing graded foes. Still you can see that she has some ability and a good trip here could put her in the thick of it all as they run towards the wire.
|
No Signal | Mb Stables | Saez G | 123 | 8/1 |
She has struggled mightily when faced with the task of graded foes and normally I’d probably pass over this one pretty quick; however, this is from the big barn and you never skip his horses. She switches back to the grass after two main track races and that last work was a real head-turner… a REAL head-turner.
|
High Ended | Fractious | Van Dyke D | 123 | 5/2 |
She’s been tough as nails for quite a while and here’s another that shocks me that she changed hands, and since then she has a pair of wins including that three-length monster run taking the Buena Vista (GII) at SA and was second just a half-length back in the American Oaks (GI). She worked well over the surface getting ready for today and is a must watch.
Categories: Grade I
