The 20th Running of the G2 San Clemente Stakes
Saturday, July 23, 2022
DMR Race #7 $200.000
3YO Fillies 1-Mile (T) 122 Lbs (plus penalties)
Track Record-1:32.22 (Bound For Victory-2012)
Stakes Record-1:33.02 (Amalfi-2021)
The headliner of the first Saturday of the DMR meet, the 20th running of the G2 San Clemente Stakes has drawn a field of five sophomore fillies. The five runners will carry 122-pounds as they chase the $200.000 purse for one-mile journey on the DMR turf. With a bevy of graded opportunities around the country, we get a few short fields as everyone has options on where they would like to run. While Im Ugly For Sure is the lone winner of a stakes race on turf, Coconut Milk took a $125.000 dirt sprint in her 2nd career start as a juvenile. Others have been competitive in similar spots, so while it did come up light in quantity, the G2 San Clemente still offers intrigue. Let’s meet the field:
#1 Coconut Milk (Wood Duck Stables/E. Maldonado): Rail-horse made her turf debut with a 3rd in a WO allowance going 7f. Prior to that effort she’d done some good things on the main track. Tries routing for the first time in this one and gets the rail which should benefit her given her early foot as well as her ability to sit behind a target. Has to answer the distance question, but have to assume this is within her scope given the lone 1-mile turf work back in April.
#2 Im Ugly For Sure (Bigchief Stables/K. Frey): Winner of the $100.000 Blue Norther at SA in her juvenile finale, she tried graded foes twice to start this season. After running 3rd in seasonal bow, ran a disappointing 5th in a KEE G2. Last time we saw her, she was 3rd in $100.000 stake where she only received one pound from five older rivals. Seems every bit as versatile as the rail horse and she’s shown she can get the trip.
#3 My Imagination (Arindel/T.J. Pereira): Three-time winner took an allowance to start her season and has only kept stakes-company since. The February start is a toss out as it appears the quick turnaround wasn’t her forte. Nothing wrong with how she ran in her next two starts, but she hardly did any running in a 9-furlong G3 the last time we saw her. Should definitely appreciate the cutback for this but she’ll have to show some improvement to score.
#4 Safe Today Party (Martyparty/J.J. Hernandez): Filly has bounced around in class and distance, but she’s displayed her talents on a couple of occasions. Lass is maybe the only horse that doesn’t mind taking a bit further back and that should help her get to the rail so she can save some ground. She’ll need to show more, but expect her to be hitting her best stride coming down the lane.
#5 Talk Of The North (Mb Stables/M.E. Smith): Filly has only two races and a TUP MSW win, but she seems to be improving as the temperatures rise. Definitely gets tested for class here and this isn’t an ideal spot to face winners for the first time. That being said, she looks like she will appreciate stretching-out to the mile distance. Granted, she’s short on experience; however, her works suggest she fits and one could go broke playing against this barn’s runners.
Final Analysis: We’ve been high on the rail horse since she started two-for-two, so that could be clouding our judgement, but we see the G2 San Clemente as a 1-2 cold exacta. Good luck to all of the participants in this and in all of their races on this big weekend of action!
Categories: STAKES ARTICLES
