Big Daddy ($125.000 Purse)
TP- For Four Year Olds and Upward
Six Furlongs on the Dirt
March 8, 2025

For the second time, Big Daddy will be held at TP. This is an ungraded stake at six furlongs for older turf horses on the main track, and it draws a field of nine. The debut race had identical conditions and purse in 2024 and was won by Asgar’s Long Capo in the mud. That gelding got hot for a little while over the summer, but ultimately that tailed off. He remains active but has not run since September. Here’s a look at this year’s field:

1- Maxing Mayan (Lazy Eye, ridden by F De La Cruz)- On the rail, this colt will be making his stake debut after registering a 99 SRF with a wire-to-wire effort in a SUN allowance. That was his first sprint in over a year, but Maxing Mayan has been good regardless of the distance up to this point. Just ten races thus far, with four wins, and the time is right to see if he can go on his own hot streak, especially for larger purses.

2- Grand Entrance (Mb Stables, ridden by I Moncada)- Mb Stables is going to see if this one has what it takes to run at the stake level, and it does seem promising for him. After all, Grand Entrance has won five of eight, and four of his last five. Last time out, he went wire to wire in an impressive five length victory at CT, although that was only in a field of three. Not bad for a $12.5000 claim a year ago from Fractious when that trainer was active.

3- Blamethespeedparty (Luz International, ridden by C J Lanerie)- Unlike the two to his inside, this gelding has plenty of stake experience. In fact, he has won over $700.000 for his career with multiple stakes wins to his credit, including a graded victory. However, things are different now for Blamethespeedparty, as he was sold by Martyparty for $80.000 three weeks ago and will make his debut here for Luz International. Other than running in new silks, nothing has really changed with him, and he should be a strong contender here.

4- Italian Captain (Avenue Z, ridden by G A Martinez)- This will be the 41st career start for Italian Captain, but he is going to need to get back to the form he had through September of last year. That is when he won the $100.000 Rumson Stakes at MTH, but since then he has not run particularly well. I’ll stop short of saying he’s been poor, so let’s just call it underwhelming. Last time out, he did earn a fourth-place check in the $125.000 Pelican at TAM but was still beaten by three.

5- Tropical Monsoon (Night Rider Stables, ridden by J NavMarin)- Another horse that is making his stake debut, and it comes at the young age of six. He’s passed through a few barns in claimers over his career, with a lot of hard luck seconds turning around with Night Rider Stables as he has won three of five. Since October 2023, he’s been in the top four every time out there, and if he’s just now starting to figure out how to win a little more often, I like that he is getting this kind of opportunity.

6- Kick N Scream (Wood Racing Stable, ridden by S Sanjur)- A lightly raced horse that has pretty much done everything right in his career. In seven starts, he’s won five times with an ungraded win from TUP happening last year. After he ran fourth in the $30.000 Retirement Stakes in June at FE, he seemed to take that literally and retired from action until last month. Good to see him back and that he has not lost anything with that layoff. Now, hopefully we see him more often because there is a lot of potential here.

7- Max Party (La Canada Racehorses, ridden by A Cedillo)- After running in the BC Juvenile in 2023, Max Party would not be heard from much in stakes although he regularly hit the board in overnights. Eventually was gelded in September and continued the same type of consistent performance in optional claimers. He’s had a few ungraded stakes mixed in but can’t seem to hit a dry track when he has recently. That should happen this time around, and he should have a good shot here.

8- Judge (Nakamura Stables, ridden by C Roman)- The Bronx Bomber gelding struck out in his last outing, running next to last in the Grade 3 Toboggan at AQU. He has races like that from time to time, and when that has happened recently, we have not seen two poor efforts back-to-back. This being a bit of a drop from that, in terms of class, could help matters, but when a horse is seven and making his 38th career start, throwing a race like that out entirely may not be a good idea.

9- Beaten Path (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by S Doyle)- His path has seen him be beaten on most occasions, as he has only one once over 18 starts. Okay, that was harsher than was necessary, but that remark was a low hanging fruit. Since May, Beaten Path has cashed a check in five straight, and was within a half-length of the winner in three of those races which are both ungraded races and optional claimers. If the trainer can just get a little more speed out of him, he can flip the script and start winning races like this.

Prediction: 3-2-7-6

— NS

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded