The Turf Dash ($100.000 Purse)
TAM- For Four Year Olds and Upward
Five Furlongs on the Turf
February 18, 2023

Taking place this Saturday, The Turf Dash is pretty much exactly what its name suggests. It will run at TAM for the 18th time, first appearing on the schedule in 2005 and being held every year other than 2019. At first, the race was held for a $75.000 purse before being upgraded to $100.000 in 2014, so trainers won’t break the bank with a win, but it’s a nice race to win and have on your horses resume. In 2022, Avenue Z won The Turf Dash with his gelding, Wine Critic. Unfortunately, that seemed to be his last hurrah and he has struggled since. This year’s winner will hope for a better fate. Here is a look at our field of six.

#1- Z Baby Blue (Asgar, ridden by C Lozada)- The gelding has won two out of three and will appear in the Turf Dash for the second time. Those two victories were also in turf sprints, coming at DMR, but the race between them could suggest that this is a horse that cannot fully be trusted. The last time he was out there was a $45.000 claimer in early December. He also appeared in the 2022 Turf Dash and was a non-factor in the race. The jockey as of now, C Lozada, is 0-for-30 thus far in 2023.

#2- Pink Condor (Axeman, ridden by A A Gallardo)- The career earnings on this one, over $1,000.000, will be the first thing that you notice. You have to go back quite a bit over his 52 lifetime starts to where he had this biggest win, but the seven-year-old has remained very consistent. He’s finished somewhere in the top four in every race since November 2021, with most of those wins being in open allowances or optional claimers at high, or at least mid-level tracks. Certainly, Pink Condor has earned the right to go stakes racing for the first time in nine months.

#3- Full Thundaga (South Beach Racing, ridden by P Morales)- Despite being five years old, this gelding has been lightly raced sand only makes his ninth career start here. He won three of his first five, a stretch that included a two-year layoff for whatever the reason may have been. He would eventually be claimed for $20.000, and continued his successful ways, winning two of three. Full Thundaga has not always been racing in the toughest fields and has never been in a race like this. However, he does know the track, as this will be his fourth straight race at TAM. Might be a horse for the course.

#4- Showable Set (Two Hearts One Love, ridden by I C Wenc)- Picked up for $14.000 down at GP last December, and will make his debut for his new trainer, and we will see how long they end up being together. It may have been a very wise purchase, as Showable Set has experience running at the high level and finding a way to get a piece of the purse. We can’t say this is the toughest field he has been in since he tried the Grade 3 Futurity in 2021, but it has been a while since been in a stake.

#5- Two Gallon Jugs (Bears Stable, ridden by J E Lopez)- The biggest successes for the Miles Per Gallon gelding came during the winter months last year, so perhaps he gets his best horsepower during the colder weather. In eleven starts last year, he won four times, highlighted by the $75.000 Horizon Stakes at BTP. Two Gallon Jugs has gone back and forth of late running short and long and while he’s gotten good results both ways, he seems a little more consistent as a sprinter.

#6- Bluesman (Spankys Barn, ridden by Sa Camacho)- After running well for his prior trainer, Bluesman was placed in the September 2022 auction and picked up by Spankys Barn for $30.010. Since then, he has raced three times in his new silks, win one win. In November, he had a near miss in the $60.000 Cluer Memorial Stakes, then was second in a $75.000 claimer at SA. Those races were still sprints, but not quite as short as this one. I think that’s actually a good thing for him, however.

Prediction: 3-1-2-6

— NS

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded