The Blame (Grade 3)- $275.000 Purse
CD- For Four Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Eighth on the Dirt
May 31, 2025

Lunar Victory heads to CD on Saturday in hopes of repeating as the winner of the Grade 3 Blame. If he does so, he will accomplish the feat for two different trainers, and he does seem to be the one to beat in here. It’s a field of six, and the other five have different plans as they look to be the ones to grab the win. This is the sixth time that the race has been run, debuting in 2020 as an ungraded stake and then achieving its graded designation in 2023. The purse went up in an incremental manner before reaching the present $275.000 amount last year. Let’s take a look at those that will be taking part:

1- Lunar Victory (Mb Stables, ridden by J R Velazquez)- We’ll get right to it: if Lunar Victory runs his race, he has no excuses to not win. After winning the BC Dirt Mile last fall, he was sold by Fractious to Mb Stables for $600.000 in a private sale between trainer heavyweights. Lunar Victory has won once in four starts with Mb Stables, but he’s been running regularly in races that the others here have not consistently been in, race in, race out. He has five straight triple digit SRF’s, including a 103 from his runner up in the Grade 2 Alysheba. There are rivals in here that will make him work for it and will ensure that Lunar Victory is at his best, and if Lunar Victory is not, then those horses can and will win. However, he is the class of the field in the program, for sure.

2- Ultra M A G A (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by R M Hernandez)- I’ll stop being a broken record with this horse when Ultra M A G A shows me he can win another race. In 25 starts, he’s only managed one win, which was interesting an allowance and not a maiden race. The trainer feels he can get the job done at this level, and he’s not necessarily awful when he is out there, but he does eat up a lot of entry fees. One day, perhaps, I will be able to write up an article on him finally winning again, but it’s not something that I am going to put virtual money on.

3- Face The Lunatic (Martyparty, ridden by P Lopez)- This is the chief concern for Lunar Victory in this race. They went head-to-head last time out in the Grade 2 Alysheba, and Face The Lunatic was only one spot behind him, running third with a 102 SRF. He’ll also be looking for a little bit of Blame revenge, as they also ran against one another in last year’s race, one that saw Face The Lunatic run third and miss by four lengths. Now, Face The Lunatic was a BC Classic horse, thanks in large part to running second in the JC Gold Cup, and he’s continued to run well since then but only has one win in his last five. Has all the look of a second-place horse in here, but he’s still very capable of grabbing the win.

4- Themefrom Antarctica (Ajm Stables, ridden by C J Lanerie)- Three months ago, Ajm Stables claimed this one for $75.000, which was very good value, indeed. He won the optional claimer that he was in, which at the time was his sixth win in seven starts, a stretch that also included victories in the BC Derby and the Harlan, each a Grade 3. Since arriving with his new trainer, Themefrom Antarctica has won one of two, running in the middle of the field in the KY Cup Classic before grabbing an optional claimer, where he was up for a $100.000 tag, last time out. You have to respect a horse that’s won ten of twenty lifetime, and he should be in the mix here.

5- Senor Vinagre Y Agua (YME Stable, ridden by T Gaffalione)- Last August was a big month for him, running in both the Whitney and the Pacific Classic. When he showed up at SAR, he wasn’t a stake rookie and was hit and miss in overnights. That would be the story of his August, running well in the Whitney, placing third, but showing little in the Pacific Classic. He’s only raced two times since then, running fourth in the Forty Niner Handicap before a lengthy five-month layoff. After being second in an optional claimer, he’s again been idle for two months.

6- Sick Boi (Royalty Stables, ridden by M Franco)- This is a horse that either wins, or fails to hit the board entirely. In his last six races, all coming after the trainer made a $225.000 private sales investment to pick him up, Sick Boi has managed three wins, then three sixth place finishes. Go back further, and he’s been either first or sixth in eight straight. Won his last race, an optional claimer, and he’s never won two in a row. Not picking him to win, so will that mean sixth again?

Prediction: 1-3-4-5

— NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES