GIII – Longacres Mile

$200.000 Graded Stake 1 Mile on Dirt for Three Year Olds & Up

2016 Champ: Champagne Supernova

The GIII Longacres Mile is a staple of the summer meet at EMD. It is one of their biggest days of racing all year long and this year has attracted an exciting field of six horses including up and coming three year old star Crop Duster.

1- Spooned (Trained by Team 7 Illusions, Ridden by Lopez E)

Closing from seven lengths back to win the CA bred Bertrando last time out justified giving Spooned this chance in a graded race. That was his first attempt in a stake race but was impressive. This step up will be much tougher but he could sneak up and win this if he can get the racing luck he needs.

2- Red Broomstick (Trained by Mb Stables, Ridden by Bowen R)

One of two three year olds in the field is Red Broomstick. His most recent start was a third place finish in the GIII OH Derby. Cutting back to a mile looks like the right choice as he seems to like the distance. He is hoping to use this race as a spring board back into a legit threat in stake races after struggling for the better part of the year so far.

3- Dogs Infowarrior (Trained by John Henry, Ridden by Couton J)

The last few years Dogs Infowarrior has been running in nothing but races longer then a mile and an eighth so seeing how he handles the cut back in distance should be an interesting one. His most recent start was a very solid second place finish in the GIII PRM Cornhusker Handicap. He has been very inconsistent his whole career with great and very bad efforts very often back to back so you never know which version of this six year old your going to get.

4- West Northwest (Trained by Blushing Meadows, Ridden by Matias J)

Appropriately named West Northwest has shipped into the northwest for this one. This seven year old gelding had a dominating eleven length dead heat win two starts back in the GII Alysheba then struggled a bit last time out in a CT allowance race but he needs longer then a seven furlong race so stretching it back out to a mile should help this veteran.

5- Crop Duster (Trained by Barcelona Farms, Ridden by Gutierrez J M)

Bursting on to the scene last time out with a dominating wire to wire victory was Crop Duster. In against a tough field of eight in the GIII Iowa Derby he was able to lead every step of the race and winning by four lengths in a stake record time. He looks like hes getting better every time out and if he can put in a similar performance to his last expect him in the winners circle Sunday afternoon.

6- Indian Chief (Trained by Scorpion Stables, Ridden by Steiner J J)

From the outside post is four year old colt Indian Chief. After winning back to back stake races in the middle of last year Indian Chief looked like he was on the rise but since then has stalled out a bit and has not been able to get back in the winners circle in a stake race and only has one victory to his credit in that time. He is still finding a way to be a threat to be in the money every time but needs a big effort to get back into the winners circle

My Selections: 5/4/2

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES