The Forego – Grade I
7 furlongs Dirt Stake Purse $500.000 Four-Year-Olds And Up. At SAR
The Forego is one of the original stakes races of HRP with its debut in opening year 2003 where Paradise Stable’s Warrior Spirit scored a one-length come from behind win with jockey P Day in the boot. Warrior Spirit went on to run second in The Jerome next and then never came close to hitting the board again, including a stable embarrassing seventh in the BC Classic that year. Idiot owner. Over the long history of this race, the purse value has fluctuated from the original $250.000 to as high as $700.000 and back down to today’s value of $500.00. Up until 2019, the race was open to include three-year-olds, but from 2020 on it has been restricted to four-year-olds and up. Over the years, one horse has won the race twice, that was Angelos Stable’s Shoot Skyhigh which won in 2009 and again in 2011. Angelos Stable won the race again in 2023 with Electric. One other stable has won the race three times and has three entries today in an effort to score number four: Mb Stables.
Horse Owner Odds SRF
Edward The Good Mb Stables 7-2 101
General Zod Royalty Stables *3-1 103
Warrior Of Peace YME Stable 6-1 96
Dorian Gray Mb Stables 4-1 101
Only Way Is Up The Sidley Stud 9-2 101
I Want It All Luz International 5-1 96
Capiche Robeth 5-1 97
Glee Night Rider Stables 30-1 95
Admiral Knight TwinTowersRacing 8-1 95
Public Information D J C Racing Stables 10-1 92
Bluff Master Mb Stables 10-1 95
Calvados Twobyfour 20-1 95
Glee was claimed from D J C Racing Stables in May for $7.500 and stepped up to his third straight win in a MTH Allowance in a sharp 1:08 3/5. His connections have decided to take advantage of a hot horse on a streak and have moved him up to a grade one. The seven furlongs should be no problem for him as the current streak includes a mile win. What may be the big problem is the class factor, jumping from NW1 allowance to grade one is a bit jarring, and the last time he tried a jump off a streak, it didn’t go so well, but that was long ago, and he’s an older, more seasoned horse. We’ll see.
2 Edward The Good Mb Stables 101
Edward The Good won’t be the favourite off that shortfall in the Crosby at DMR, but that was six furlongs, and prior to that he ran off three straight at six-and-a-half furlongs and seven furlongs with top company. That was the grade one CD at CD at seven furlongs that Velazquez guided him to an open margin win at and he’s back today to look for a return to the winner’s circle. Not the favourite, but my pick to take it all.
3 Admiral Knight TwinTowersRacing 95
Admiral Knight was picked up from Maximillion Farm in May for $5.000, and after a win at a mile at an ELP Allowance, his connections decided to take a shot at a grade one stakes race. This is not your ordinary $5.000 racehorse, though. The class factor may have already been answered in that Admiral Knight won the $100.000 Runyon at AQU back in March 2024. So, a stakes winner with a recent win, and a stable known for bringing unknowns up to stakes level… worth a shot.
4 General Zod Royalty Stables 103
Here’s the favourite. He comes in here hot… marching his was through longer route stakes, he shortens up to a mile in the $300.000 Hanshin at CD and runs an interested second. So, his connections take him all the way back to six furlongs, and he upsets the apple cart with a 3/4-length win in an impressive 103 SRF. He looked right at home in that sprint win. More’s to the point: he looks like he’s going to love this seven-furlong challenge.
5 Calvados Twobyfour 95
A lightly raced seven-year-old, Calvados won the $100.000 Speightstown Sprint at LS one race back but then tried a five-furlong turf sprint at DMR and wound up in the unfortunate end of a blanket finish. His history, as light as it is, makes it questionable if he has the class for the big of a jump.
6 Only Way Is Up The Sidley Stud 101
Only Way Is Up had been really consistent coming up to the Crosby with back to back wins in the grade three Cartier Stakes at six furlongs at WO and the grade three Kellys Landing at six-and-a half furlongs at CD just prior to the race but seemed disinterested in the Crosby, coming into the stretch with M Smith only a length behind and finishing a length behind. Perhaps he was expecting to push on a bit. He does show a preference for longer, and here he will find a distance more to his liking. This is your dark horse in this race.
7 Public Information D J C Racing Stables 92
Public Information has been in a bit of a funk lately. This distance used to be his forte. He won last year’s grade three Bold Venture Stakes at WO and followed that up with a close third in the grade three Vosburgh. But after a win in an overnight at a mile-70 at FG, he has reeled off three off the board, low SRF performances coming up to this race. He is still working in the low 1:10’s, so it doesn’t look like the end for the six-year-old, but he could use some waking up here.
8 Bluff Master Mb Stables 94
Bluff Master is one of those wonder horses that Spinetingling develops and sells to be transferred to the pay level by those that race at that level. In this case, Mb Stables purchased the horse for $80.000 after Spinetingling purchased him from Choppy Inc. at auction for$1.000 at promptly ran off four straight open margin wins at the low level with him, including two stakes races. Once in Mb Stables, the horse ran third in an open allowance race but failed to show in the grade two Vanderbilt Handicap at SAR. Not much to recommend from that lead up.
9 Warrior Of Peace YME Stable 98
This lightly raced four-year-old is my longshot choice in this race. This horse doesn’t really have the depth to be here except he showed me something about seven furlongs: he loves the distance. He has never been beaten more than a neck at seven furlongs. YME Stable is one of the savviest trainers I have ever met, and if he has this horse in here, he has noticed the same thing, or he just has the horse prepped for a top performance. Ignore this one at your peril.
10 I Want It All Luz International 96
I Want It All hasn’t exactly been tearing up the stakes scene lately, looked sharp winning an overnight at six-and-a-half furlongs at SAR last out and is being handled by another clever trainer who is sure to have him at his best for this race. If you look closely at his last three or four starts, you see some strong closing effort with high SRF numbers. I think with the right break he will be right there.
11 Dorian Gray Mb Stables 101
Dorian Gray puts Mb Stables with two likely in the money, maybe even the exacta. Looking at that run in the Crosby and extrapolating to seven furlongs, he looks the winner even. Thing is, he doesn’t usually run that way, and I think it will be a trick for the trainer to get him to repeat. He has a tendency to get too close to the speed and get a little wobbly legged in the late stages. Get him right, use the outside push and he just might be the winner.
12 Capiche Robeth 97
Not going to love the post. Returning to graded competition after a successful campaign in overnighters, Capiche is going to have to work out that stalking speed from way out there. The win last out was a big surprise to the odds monkeys. But I don’t get it. That fifth in the grade one Malibu Stakes at SA was only a length and yet, 180-1 in The GP Mile? Now, here I am dismissing him, but as previously mentioned, I’m an idiot.
Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES