all, Stakes – Grade II [BC]
DMR Race #5 7f Dirt Stake
Purse $250.000 For Three Year Olds And Upward.

1st Stormy Liberal Big Guns Stables Smith M E

First of all, congratulations to Big Guns Stables who picked this horse up from a claimer back in 2021 and today won their first stakes race with this horse since claiming him and it was in a race that could see him get into the BC. The complete lottery of sprinting this season is never better demonstrated than in this race as he was drawn the same as he was in the Crosby last time, ran pretty much the exact same tactics but was stone motherless last in the Crosby and the winner today.
Drawn wide as he was in the Crosby, he was taken to the back just like the Crosby but today he got the clear run and stormed home wide for a nose win in the usual blanket finish.
Just like the lottery if you can get a horse in the BC Sprint, you will have a chance, pretty much the same chance as everyone else, so I hope with the 11 points this one has acquired he can make the field.

2nd Have Phun Gdp Inc Castillo I

Used his gate to position himself perfectly and only failed by a nose to take this race, if the winner had had to take one more sideways movement, he would’ve made it, but these races really are down to inches and today the inches didn’t favor him. I am not really sure where to put this six-year-old in the sprinting ranks. He won the Hanshin over the mile but handled the pace ok today so seven furlongs may be his minimum and a mile maybe his best. It is getting late in the day to be thinking about the BC for this one, but he is a consistent sort and as long as he is allowed to continue, he will be a force to be reckoned with at any level.

3rd King Pigeon Riggins Racing Husbands P

He went way back today which seems to be his best tactics and flew home with the winner ending up just a neck back in third. The realities of racing at HRP are pretty clear when you see the price tag of $165.000 rewarded with a dashing and very close third in a grade two rewarded with a $17.000 profit, pretty much the same profit level achieved by a claiming winner at MTH.
This horse remains an enigma as he always seems to run as a deep closer in stakes races but can run mid-pack or stalk in overnights in faster times. The trainer will have their work cut out with him but if he can work it out this could end up being a very good older horse.

4th Tehran Mb Stables Ferrer J C

There looked to be an air of inevitability when this horse was a length in front with a furlong to run but this was no $1,000.000 race and sure enough he was run down in the shadows of the post, Another that was claimed cheaply it just goes to prove that you just have to find a fast horse and keep entering it in these sprints and whilst others have won this one has now run four very consistent money finishes in a row and I know which one I would rather own! He will probably make the BC Sprint and will have as good a chance as any if he does.

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES