Mineshaft Stakes (Grade 3)- $250.000 Purse
FG- For Four Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Sixteenth on the Dirt
February 17, 2024

The highlight of Saturday’s card at FG may be the Risen Star Stakes, but older horses are going to get a chance to run for a nice purse as well as the nineteenth running of the Mineshaft Stakes takes place. This race began modestly in 2005 with a $100.000 purse, and has seen the likes of Icicle, Shootfromthehip, and Class Edge earn the victory. 2022 was the first year that the purse was increased to $250.000, and we would have a dead heat that year between Milford Sound and Saturday Khartoum. Last year, Speter got the win for Nakamura Stables. He is still active and routinely racing but has not even hit the board since that win. A field of eleven will hope to be the next name added to the winner’s list, and here’s a look at them!

1- Ey Mon (Arindel, ridden by P Lopez)- The winner of the 2022 Queens Plate had a fine 2023 where he won four out of ten races, which were highlighted by the Grade 2 Fayette at KEE. It was a strong enough year to earn him a spot in the BC Classic, and he finished in the middle of the field. This year, he’s made one start, and it was also in a big race: the Pegasus World Cup at GP but it will not go down as a career highlight. On three weeks of rest, Ey Mon will be hoping for a strong rebound from that race because while you can always forgive running seventh in the BC Classic, he can use some positive momentum.

2- Gas Lighting (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by D Davis)- Victorious in just one of his nine starts last year, but it was a good one: the $200.000 Downs at ALB, which was a field of five. Off of that, he was sent to the Grade 2 Clark, and it’s $600.000 purse around Thanksgiving. His result there could be looked at a couple different ways, first being that he failed to hit the board but second being that he actually turned in a 100 SRF and was only a length off the winner. He’s been idle since then and kicks off his five-year-old season here.

3- Jolly Rook (Angelos Stable, ridden by L Saez)- He’s certainly been around for a while, and is best known for his 2020 where he won the Haskell and the Travers back-to-back. Now, he’s a seven-year-old with 48 races under his belt and he has won fourteen of them. Two of them were graded wins during 2023, one in a sprint, but the other being the $500.000 Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap right here last March. Also looked good in the Hooper, a Grade 3 from GP, three weeks ago and he is working extremely well.

4- Noble Faerie (Riggins Racing, ridden by P Husbands)- Speaking of winning the Haskell and Travers back-to-back, that’s something that Noble Faerie did not do last year. He was in them both, though, and placed second in the Haskell before he apparently sunk in the slop at SAR for the Travers. He was still able to get to the BC Dirt Mile, and only missed the win by a length. Unfortunately, he also only finished ninth. Rebounded by winning an open allowance at DMR in December and will make his first start since then. I like him at this distance rather than exactly a mile.

5- Speightstown (Nakamura Stables, ridden by D E Centeno)- This gelding has been successful over his 23 race career and is approaching $900.000 in earnings. He’s also on a quite a roll right now, with four consecutive victories. The first three wins of the streak were at mid-level tracks in overnights, so not something that is going to intimidate his rivals here, but Speightstown then put forth a monster effort in the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes with a wire-to-wire win, topping Lets Celebrate along the way. No reason to think he cannot do more of the same here.

6- South China Sea (Fractious, ridden by R L Moore)- Here’s another horse that is hot at the moment, as the six-year-old gelding has won his last three, a streak that began after he disappointed in the Pacific Classic. The first two wins were at a mile and a half, coming in the Tokyo City Cup (Grade 3) and the TAA Stakes (Grade 2), a race where he beat last year’s Mineshaft winner, Speter. Won an optional claimer last month and is now 6-for-10 overall in his young career. My only concern with him is whether or not this race is too short for him.

7- Living In The Matrix (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by F Geroux)- Ran ten times last year, and won three of them, with the biggest win being the $150.000 California Dreaming Stakes, which is for CA-Breds, and was a field of four. After that, he was moved up to Grade 1’s, but that seemed to be a little too much for him, at least at that time, with two double digit finishes. Fortunately, he was a lot better at WO for the Grade 2 Autumn Stakes, where he set the pace and did fizzle out to fifth but was only beaten by a half-length by winner Quality Road, who he sees again. Comes here off an open allowance win and must run like that again to have a shot in this field.

8- Prevent (Mb Stables, ridden by O Murphy)- Ran in some very big races during 2023, including the KYD, BEL, and BC Dirt Mile, but he really did not do much of anything after winning the SA Derby in April. Last month, he won an optional claimer, which could get him back in the right direction, but I need to see a little something from him against this company again. Eating a lot of nomination fees of late.

9- Demon (Wood Duck Stables, ridden by J R Velazquez)- Ran in the BC Sprint last year, and was able to cash the fourth-place check in it. Winning the Nerud and hitting the board in both the Forego and the Vosburgh is what got him there and he finished it off in the BC well. He’s run twice since, and won them both, and they were each at distances of at least a mile. Last month, that win came in the Grade 3 LA Stakes. He’s been quite good going long, so it will be interesting to see how much of this he does during 2024.

10- Senor Vinagre Y Agua (YME Stable, ridden by D Van Dyke)- This lightly raced five-year-old gelding will be making just the eighth start of his career here, and it will be his graded debut. It took five tries, and a year and a half, to break his maiden but once that came, he has done nothing but win. He is now on a three-race winning streak and did capture the $100.000 Overskate Stakes at WO for ON-breds in October. Working well, so deserves the shot. The trainer’s patience has certainly been rewarded.

11- Quality Road (D J C Racing Stables, ridden by M Franco)- Finished off his four-year-old season by running in the Grade 2 Autumn Stakes at WO while most eyes were on the BC out west. He won the race for his first career graded win, and it seems like there is more to come for him. He’s had some variation in the distances that he has been running over the last year, but it appears as though his best races are when he runs at, or close to, a mile, making this a good fir for him. On top of his game right now and should have a good shot in this field.

Prediction: 9-3-5-11

— NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES