Pasadena Stakes ($100.000 Purse)
SA- For Three Year Olds
One Mile on the Turf
February 19, 2022

A field of ten will be going to post for the Pasadena Stakes, and none of them are a filly! Perhaps since this is simply an ungraded stake, trainers were content to see what their male three year olds could do. This will not be a race loaded with horses that possess great resumes, and is instead mainly an interesting field of up and comers or hopeful to become an up and comer. In sad news, the winner of the race last year passed away overnight. British Cha raced on the 16th of this month, but with this race being written up on the 17th, his deactivation was that recent. Winning the Pasadena for Mo Mentum Farm that day was the highlight of his career. He beat some good ones that day, including Elijah G, Call Me King, and Manchild. So, non-winners of this race should not fret too much. Let’s meet our runners.

#1- Cairod Prince (Fractious, ridden by E Maldonado)- Not a horse that has done much yet, with only two career starts. Last month, he broke his maiden against CA-breds at GG and that has inspired the trainer to take this kind of jump with him. It’s certainly a test, and even in this field I can’t get super excited over him.

#2- The Big Beast (Fractious, ridden by J Pyfer)- There will three in the race from Fractious, and The Big Beast is working over a second faster than his stablemate, Cairod Prince, is at a mile as recently as the 7th of this month. Won the $100.000 Central Park at AQU in late November, but did not run as well here on New Years Eve in the Logan Stakes. Despite that, he’s much more exciting than his stablemate.

#3- Dolomites (Smokey Stover, ridden by K Frey)- The trainer took a big stab with him for his second start, running him in the Grade 2 Pilgrim while he was still a maiden. He did run fourth there, and would break his maiden in the conventional manner two starts later. Last month, he won an allowance at HOU, giving the trainer the confidence to run him at the stake level again.

#4- Weeknd The Hills (Rock Creek, ridden by D Van Dyke)- This colt has won just once over his five career starts, coming at PRX in the beginning of November. Placed second in an allowance the start following, and then last month, he ran in a $75.000 claimer right here. As a big longshot, he ran fourth. The trainer has renewed confidence in him, despite that, to place him here, so we’ll see.

#5- Oh Brother (Rampage Stable, ridden by F Prat)- Not everyone in this field is a lightly raced up and comer. Oh Brother ran in the BC Juvenile Turf a few months ago, but was beaten by six lengths. To get there, he would run second in the Grade 2 Pilgrim. Following the BC, he beat an allowance field at PRX and this will be his first race since then. Seems ready to roll and should be considered a top choice.

#6- Tsaraki Moon (Nakamura Stables, ridden by D Fukumoto)- A consistent horse that has either won or finished third in all of his six races thus far (two victories). Prior to his last race, he would typically run a style of jumping right out to the lead. That worked for him, and his last race, he didn’t have the same kind of start but still got a third. Mostly a dirt horse so far, but his only turf race was also his only stake attempt, coming in the $150.000 Golden Mile Stakes, where he was third.

#7- Creepy Risk (Fractious, ridden by V Espinoza)- Entry number three in the race, and another horse that Fractious is giving a good leap of faith too. After all, he has only made one career start, coming last month at TAM and he did win the race. Always good to see a win on debut like that and he seems as though he is going to be up to this task. It would not surprise me at all if Fractious was thinking this horse is his best shot.

#8- Talador (Mb Stables, ridden by T C Baze)- Mb Stables paid a big price to land this one from Tiratzo, spending $100.000 for a horse that only had a seventh place run at the free track to show for himself. He’s not a success story yet, with just one start made with Mb, coming here last month where he broke his maiden. That’s proof of Mb’s ability to spot a good one, now all that is left to see is how good this one will be.

#9- Odett (Patterson Stable, ridden by U Rispoli)- This maiden opened some eyes at FG on the 12th, so the trainer is foregoing that maiden route and running him here. Looking at his works, he has been dying to run on the grass, so perhaps we should not look much at his previous two starts, which don’t show much. Unless it is a two year old race, I like seeing horses break their maiden normally and have a hard time picking one in a stake.

#10- Applejack (Allinthegate, ridden by K J Desormeaux)- Finally, this gelding by Apples To Oranges has won three of his races thus far, two being solid high level overnight wins. He’s run in ungraded stakes twice, trying the Golden Mile Stakes in November and the Logan Stakes in his last. He didn’t win either but earned a piece of the purse in both.

Prediction: 6-5-10-2

— NS

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded