Valedictory Stakes ($125.000 Purse)
WO- For Three Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Half on the Dirt
December 9, 2018

This Sunday north of the border, we will be treated to the ninth running of the Valedictory Stakes, which provides horses the opportunity to run the full twelve furlongs allowed in the game. There are six that have taken on this challenge, and that includes the second and third place finishers from the unofficial BC race, the Marathon, last month at CD. This race was won last year by Diamond In The Sea, but the D J C Racing Stables runner who won his stake debut would never win again. Two years ago, Techfluence, a winner of $1,800-plus and counting, won the race for The Sidley Stud. Paradise Stable has won this race more then anyone else, doing so twice. Don’t get a chance to say that much, and I’m sure I’d disappoint him if I didn’t add that in. Now, let’s get to the race!

#1- Higher Limit (Night Rider Stables, ridden by L Contreras)- Claimed by the trainer at the end of the year last year, and the El Gran Broomstick gelding has gone on to have a great year. Finished third in his last race, coming from behind to finish in that spot in the Grade 2 Marathon last month. That finished snapped a three race winning streak that included winning the Grade 3 Greenwood Cup at PRX. My only concern with him is the lower SRF that was awarded for the Marathon.

#2- Seven Iron (Rock Creek, ridden by E R Da Silva)- The trainer hopes for their first career stake win, and this is a swing for the fence. He was claimed from Winplace for $22.500 in his last start, and makes his Rock Creek debut. Had he won the claimer, I would feel better, but he finished third, and missed by two lengths. When racing against his peers, he is often able to get in the money, but this is a big jump and its testing my refusal to say a horse has no chance when I write a preview. There’s always at least, some chance.

#3- Pomodoro (Aer Stables, ridden by G Boulanger)- An up and coming three year old gelding that has been in the money in 11 out of 15 starts, including four wins. He has tried similar ungraded stakes in his career, and nearly won the Display Stakes right here around this time last year. For this race, he will be stretching out to a distance he has not come that close to running at, with his max being nine furlongs. It may have been a long time coming for him, and I believe he will fare well, but there is tough company here.

#4- Range Of The Sun (Team 7 Illusions, ridden by R M Hernandez)- Condensed preview for him: If he runs his race, he wins, end of story. Of course, we know there is never a lock in this game, just like there is never a horse that has no chance. With Range Of The Sun, we’re talking about the winner of the Grade 1 Gold Cup, and then running second in the Marathon last month at CD. He’s been in races like the Pacific Classic as well, and while his finishing position there was not too great, this is not the Pacific Classic. He hasn’t won since the Gold Cup, and the trainer is probably using this race to get him back in the winners circle in hopes of bigger accomplishments next year.

#5- Whiskey Creek (Calia Stable, ridden by J Lermyte)- This three year old gelding likes to get up on the lead early, so if that is the plan again, the field will have to be mindful of him. That’s not a given, though, since they are shorter races then what we will see today. His two wins came earlier this year, including breaking his maiden at SA. He last raced two weeks ago, in the mud at PRX, placing second. I would have preferred to have seen more recent victories to have made him one of my picks here.

#6- Branded (Hambletonian Stables, ridden by P Husbands)- Claimed from Mb Stables in August for just $14.000. At the time, he had won two in a row, and was perhaps lost in the shuffle of that stable. Hambletonian liked what he saw, and soon acquiring him, ran him in the $100.000 Elgin Stakes for Canadians right here at WO, he ran second. Most recently, in the CC Jewel, just last week.

Prediction: 4-1-3-6

— NS

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded