The Hill Prince – Grade III

1 3/16 Mile Inner Turf Stake Purse $200.00 Open 3 Year Olds.

1st        Destined Charge         Mb Stables      Silvera Ru                        1:51.62

“If he gets an uncontested lead at a reasonable pace he may be too hard to get past but if he is challenged early his track record in a finish isn’t so good. The GOAT will have him primed with the perfect instruction; the rest will be down to the others.”     

Maybe what I said about this horse in the preview is the best way to start this review as it worked out perfectly once again for another Mb on pace runner. If you go back to the SAR Derby this horse ran against a very similar pace over the same trip but weakened at the end. Today the difference was he got an uncontested lead and opened up a big enough gap that the closers had no chance of catching him. That wasn’t the only difference of course, the SAR Derby is a grade one and this was a grade three so the drop in class was another big factor but at the end of the day you cannot let a horse have an uncontested lead on this engine.

We must not forget that this is a grade one winner on dirt that had switched to the turf for the big prize money and done well enough to get another shot and he didn’t need a fourth attempt to get some good prize money on board. This son of Walk Em Down is still pretty lightly raced despite a campaign that only saw him break his maiden in February this year right before taking his first grade one so I think there is still a lot more to come from him especially as he will miss the BC and likely be aimed at some of the big late season prizes fresher than most.

2nd       Ethereum Hack            Family Racing               Zayas E J                          1:52.08

He just didn’t have the pace to hold a position close enough to the leader despite getting the easy inside run. He got going late to run into second in a good effort but at the end of the day you cannot beat an Mb runner that is given an uncontested lead if you don’t stay close enough.

3rd        Harmless Harvest      Pennsville Farm           Prat F                  1:52.29

I hate to say ditto but again for some reason the race engine gave this lightly raced closer so much to do that he was never going to catch the leader. He ran home nicely but that running style will be costing him more wins. Let’s not forget though this gelding only broke his maiden in May so this is a good improvement and he will only get better.   

4th        Regal Classic                Mo Mentum Farm       Carmouche K                1:52.30

Actually did make an effort to get close to the leader but as we see so often directly stalking a good pace is much harder than leading at the same pace on this engine. He may turn out to be more of a sprinter miler than a true router but he has also had a busy year and may just need a few months in the paddock. 

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES