The Champagne – Grade I
1 Mile Dirt Stake Purse $500.000 Two-Year-Olds. At AQU
The Champagne: certainly named right, the class of the juvenile season from the earliest days of HRP. Thundering Bay was the first winner, not a famed horse, made through all the big races, though, BC Juvenile, Triple Crown, BC Classic, just never placed, ended a millionaire, though, came from a legend stable, Fuji Stable. Next was Triple K’s Commander Phil which seemed unbeatable in those days. He went on to win the BC Juvenile. There was the illustrious Five Fives which came within a head of winning the Triple Crown the year after his 2009 Champagne win. Also, highly successful stallion Ginger Haggis which won in 2016 and went on to win the BC Juvenile. Smokey Stover and Mb Stables are the only stables to have won this race twice and Mb Stables returns with three entries inn hope to add one more notch in the bedpost. This year’s running features a dozen closely matched juveniles with varying degrees of stakes experience, or not. Olden Times and Puppet Master are the only two with dirt experience at a mile and Puppet Master the only one to have won a stakes at the distance making him the likely favourite to repeat the feat. After that, we can’t even find a seven-furlong stakes winner amongst the crowd, so we may see some surprises as to which can make the distance for the first time. Here’s the field:
Horse Owner Odds SRF
Olden Times Paradise Stable 8-1 87
Puppet Master Riggins Racing *2-1 94
Need Cash Now Mb Stables 3-1 97
Lemon Aid Red Fox Farms 4-1 92
Sabbath Mb Stables 9-2 92
Suspended Mb Stables 5-1 91
Up To No Good Riggins Racing 6-1 95
Minnesota Heat The Sidley Stud 8-1 91
Reciprocal Rubber Maxmillion Farm 10-1 93
Liams Map Royalty Stables 12-1 96
Painted Ice Alydar Stables 15-1 89
Record Machine Acber Farms 15-1 89
aeDeep Thoughts Rampage Stable 30 1 92
aeCrafsman Family Racing 30 1 88
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Mb Stables picked Sabbath up from Panionios Racing for $85.000 and immediately turned him into a stakes horse, winning the $100.000 Smoke Glacken Stakes at MTH with him in his second race for them. Now, that was at six-furlongs, the longest distance he has raced, but not to worry, he has a spiffy mile work of 1:37 2/5H to let us know that the distance is in his range.
2 Liams Map D J C Racing Stables 87
Liams Map won the $150.00 Tremont at SAR, closed well for fourth in the grade two SAR Special, but didn’t in the grade one Hopeful at SAR. I haven’t seen any evidence of a recovery except a very good trainer.
3 Minnesota Heat The Sidley Stud 91
Minnesota Heat looked something special winning the $225.000 Bashford Manor at CD, but then kind of tapered down running even fourths in the grade three Best Pal Stakes at DMR and the grade one Hopeful at SAR. The distance change from six to seven-furlongs didn’t seem to mean much, but that mile work is not up to par here.
4 Olden Times Paradise Stable 87
Precocious from his earliest works, Olden Times was turning heads in workouts, but not on the track. Also, his works indicate he is more likely a turf horse than dirt, but his owner wants the Derby, so here we are. That it took him two tries at a mile to break his maiden does not bode well for him here, but I still think he has the class to carry that speed around again. I have to believe
5 Lemon Aid Red Fox Farms 92
Lemon Aid was fading when finishing third in the grade one Hopeful at SAR last out, still that was third in the Hopeful, and that was his first stakes race. So, a little seasoning or we’re finding out he’s not a miler. I guess this is the place to find out.
6 Puppet Master Riggins Racing 94
Puppet Master is the only mile dirt stakes winner in this race, having taken the $100.000 Sapling Stakes at MTH in August. He followed that effort with a third in the grade one Summer Stakes at WO on the turf just a couple of weeks ago, bringing up the question of fitness for this race. Form like his, though, says he should be the favourite here, and he’s from a stable that’s known for their ability to get their horses race ready.
7 Up To No Good Riggins Racing 95
Up To No Good is a little confusing right now. Big things were expected of him from day one as he was changing hands for some decent coin, and he lived up to it earning money straight away and running second in the grade three Sanford at SAR in July. But then came the grade two SAR Special where he didn’t show up at all followed by a late run in the grade 1 DMR Futurity which only yielded a sixth-place finish. So, we will have to see if the dream is done.
8 Suspended Mb Stables 91
Suspended has been racing on turf and working on dirt. In his last out he was closing like a freight train when he finished fourth a length back in the $1,000.000 KD Juvenile, and that was at a mile, folks. And just to cool those fears about turf v dirt, he knocked an impressive 1:37 1/5H dirt work. And this is the least of Mb Stable’s threats.
9 Record Machine Acber Farms 89
Record Machine broke his maiden at DMR in July at six-furlongs. Tough spot for his next race.
10 Painted Ice Alydar Stables 89
Painted Ice won at second asking at SAR at six-furlongs. Just posted a 1:37 1/5H work. Tough spot for his next race.
11 Reciprocal Rubber Maxmillion Farm 93
Reciprocal Rubber is another on Hurts surprised at the wire, this time in the grade two SAR Special in August. After that he gave the turf a try in the $1,000.000 KD Juvenile Sprint, but that didn’t go well, so his trainer has given him a couple of months off training him up to this race with a very nice 1:37 2/5H work on September 9th.
12 Need Cash Now Mb Stables 97
Need Cash Now looks the best of the Mb Stables contingent. He just failed to capture the grade one Hopeful last out, but he may not have lost that so much as have been blindsided by the deep close of Hurts in that race. I suppose the extra furlong isn’t going to help much, but I haven’t seen anything in his form to indicate that it will hurt all that much either. Still looks a threat and the infamous slingshot might help.
ae Deep Thoughts Rampage Stable 92
Deep Thoughts broke his maiden at ELP easily at second asking. Tough spot for his next race if he draws in.
ae Crafsman Family Racing 88 Crafsman was outrun in the $200.000 ELP Juvenile. He did post a nice 1:37 2/5H work coming up to this, but little chance if he draws in
Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES