The Mohawk ($200.000 Purse)
AQU- For Three Year Olds and Upward Foaled in NY
One Mile and One Sixteenth on the Inner Turf
October 19, 2019
A field of six will be going to the gate for the 17th running of the The Mohawk, which sends New York breds around the inner turf course. The race was originally not restricted to just NY-breds, something that did not begin until 2007. Penitentiary was the winner of this race last year, doing so for D J C Racing Stables and giving the trainer his second win in the race. He will have a strong presence in this field as well with two of the horses in what seems to be a well balanced field. Let’s take a look at this race!
#1- Hide The Lemon (Ace Racing Stable, ridden by A Cedillo)- The newer trainer to the game picked this one up from Gdp Inc just two weeks ago via a $20.000 claimer, and has some high hopes for him. Hide The Lemon has some stakes experience, but it is not where he has been recently. He’s been first for second in his last five starts, most of which were claimers
#2- Clash Of The Titans (Night Rider Stables, ridden by Ro Maragh)- This is the only older horse in this field that is trying to take on three year olds, and he’ll have to carry three more pounds because of it. It will be his stake debut, but he is no stranger to going this distance on the grass, so he has earned the opportunity. Not the horse to beat, but could have a shot if he finishes the race out better then he did at SAR six weeks ago.
#3- Dream Tree (D J C Racing Stables, ridden by A A Gallardo)- One of the two starters for the trainer here, and it is time for Dream Tree to step up to this level of competition. His last start saw him finish second at a BEL open allowance, which is good, but the trainer has been hoping for more. His stakes placements have seen some rather dismal performances. It’s confusing, because everything about this horse otherwise seems to suggest he should be running better in stakes.
#4- Kray Kray Kray (Blushing Meadows, ridden by D Davis)- I haven’t been seeing a lot of Blushing Meadows in races like this recently, so it’s good to see the veteran trainer back not only with an entry, but one that should be a top threat. Kray Kray Kray is still lightly raced, as he makes just his seventh start here. There are two things that caught my attention, one being a good fourth place run at the Grade 2 National Museum of Racing, and if that race was a little longer, as in the distance we go here, that would have been a better result. Secondly, he worked really well at BEL last month.
#5- Legends Of War (D J C Racing Stables, ridden by C J Lanerie)- I wouldn’t want to go into this race with just Dream Tree, either. While that one may finally reach his potential, if I had another option, he’s being entered, too. And thus, D J C does that here with a more consistent horse in Legends Of War. Ran second of three horses in an ELP open allowance in his last start, but hold the phone a second before you say, why didn’t he win. The horse that beat him by just a head, Puako, ran fourth just two weeks ago at the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile and is an up and comer. This isn’t the Shadwell.
#6- Feathers Not Dots (Team 7 Illusions, ridden by J Lezcano)- The Cherokee Sunset gelding has not raced in over three months when he ran fifth at the Grade 1 BEL Derby. Leading up to that, he had a few races close together, so he needed some rest. Hopefully, now, though, he doesn’t go from too much to not enough on a flip of a switch. He’s been in some top notch graded stakes, but has not done anything in any of them of note.
Prediction: 5-4-2-6
— NS
Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded
