DMR Mile (Grade 2)- $200.000 Purse
DMR- For Three Year Olds and Upward
One Mile on the Turf
August 23, 2015

Sunday will mark the 10th running of the DMR Mile, a Grade 2 event that will feature an epic clash between James Bond and Hulk Hogan.  Well, it would be if we were talking about their namesakes, but the equine versions of those two are not too shabby either.  Neither are their three rivals, as this field of five gets set to go to post.  It would have been nice to see a bigger field here, but this group is worthy of battling for this purse.  You have to go to the early days of this race, not coincidentally when $400.000 purses were on the line, to see the most prolific past winners, such as 2006 winner Billy Nomates and 2007 winner LionKing.  The latter of which won almost $4,000.000 during his 72-race career.  2009 winner Victory Rain won over $2,700.000 in his career, but as track officials have cut the purse, the better turf horses have looked for other options.  Despite the lower purse, we’re left with a quality field of successful racehorses that would achieve their signature career victory in this race if they are the one to win.   Let us take a deeper look now at this field.

#1- A Chrystal Brooklyn (Aer Stables, ridden by G L Stevens)- This six year old gelding by Chrystal Ball has been able to find the winner’s circle in seven of his 18 career races, though only recently has been competing at the highest level.  His career seemed to take a sudden turn for the positive around this time last year when he was claimed by Smithtown Stables from Danang Ents.  Whatever Smithtown started feeding him seemed to work, as his SRF figures went from being consistently in the high 80’s to being in the high 90’s.  February 8th was a strange day for this gelding, as he was claimed by Sanny Village for $32.000, but before anyone went to sleep that night, he was sold to Aer Stables for $37.000. Aer has been able to advance his career further, getting a win in the Grade 3 American Stakes at SA in May.   A run like that again gives him a great chance to win here.

#2- Beyondyourgrasp (Nakamura Stables, ridden by E Maldonado)- As a two year old, Beyondyourgrasp flashed some talent to his trainer at the time, TwinTowers Racing, leading to him being placed in races like the Grade 3 DED Jackpot and Grade 1 CC Futurity.  However, he never was able to do much in those races.  Even as a three year old, he won a couple allowances, but the graded tries just did not go over well.  In late October, he was claimed by Nakamura Stables for $62.500.  He wasn’t an immediate success story for the new trainer either, but this spring he started to become able to show that ability in graded events, placing 3rd in the Grade 3 Fleet Sprint Handicap.  Last month, after winning the ungraded $75.000 Elkwood Stakes, he just missed in a photo at the Grade 3 Oceanport Stakes.  Beyondyourgrasp is now arriving, and looks like a top contender here.

#3- Bond James Bond (Night Rider Stables, ridden by J Talamo)- Early in his career, this six year old gelding was seen running for smaller claiming tags.    He was then advanced to starter allowances, and continued to have success, so he continued to be moved upward in a very methodical manner. This paid off, as Bond James Bond has been in the top 3 in each of his 12 races. The increased placement gradually moved him into a NY-bred stake, placing 2nd in the $125.000 Kingston, then an unrestricted ungraded stake, winning the Forbidden Apple last month.  So, here he is, taking the next step up.  His race times and SRF figures show that he has every ability to win this race.  Of course, we wouldn’t expect anything less from a horse named this, gradually taking on tougher and tougher challengers, and coming out on top.

#4- Hulk Hogan (Kingelleinc, ridden by R Bejarano)- What are these other four horses going to do when this gelding runs wild on you?  There, I had to say it.  Our equine version has actually been very lightly raced thus far in his career, and is the only three year old in this field.   He was a 4th quarter two year old, so he was always going to be a little behind, and was able to break his maiden in his third start at PRX.  He has never lost again.  A month later, he truly did run wild on a LS allowance field, winning the race by a whopping eight lengths.  After that, he moved on to his first ungraded event, and would win the $100.000 Oceanside Stakes right here at DMR last month, by three lengths.   Earlier this month, he fired off a bullet work against 36 others at six furlongs, and his mile works look great.  Hulk Hogan is ready to enter the graded stakes ring and has the ability to pin his opponents at the wire.

#5- Finding Faith (Emerald Racing Inc, ridden by M A Pedroza)- On the last day of May, Emerald Racing Inc made an outstanding claim.  Heading into that N2L claimer, Finding Faith had only one won of eleven career starts, and appeared to be a rather inconsistent horse.  In that claiming race, Finding Faith would finally pick up the second win, and looked good while doing it.  Emerald Racing Inc has made the horse even better, and finding faith is 2-for-2 since being claimed.  The first of the wins was a statebred allowance, and afterwards he was sent to the $150.000 California Dreamin Handicap, a restricted CA-bred event, and would win by two right here at DMR.  Now he, like a couple others, looks to take the next step into graded competition and he is ready to go, as evidenced by an impressive bullet work on the 5th which was followed up well on the 15th.

Prediction: All 5 can finish in any order.  Though I’ll go with 2-4-3-5.

— NS

Categories: Grade II