Barrera Stakes (Grade 3)- $100.000 Purse
SA- For Three Year Olds
Seven Furlongs on the Dirt
May 12, 2018

When I looked at the field before the race, Peculiar Sensation really jumped out at me as the typical type of horse that Mb Stables sends to a race like this that ends up winning and going on to bigger things. In 2016, Mb Stables won with Give Your All, a horse that went on to win multiple Grade 1’s, in a victory that started what is now a three race winning streak for the trainer in this race. Peculiar Sensation has the same look, coming into this race on tremendous form though making his graded debut. Unlike every other horse in this field, he was not running in KYD prep races, and continued to run in long sprints. That paid off for him today, as while it was a competitive race, the experience and form of Peculiar Sensation made all the difference. As the trainer has now won the race three times, the winning jockey, J Talamo, also has three. Congratulations to them! The time of the win was 1:21.70. With the win and weekend results, Mb Stables is now just eight graded wins away from 500 in his career. Before we get into the recap, note that Neon Wolf was a late scratch. Now, the race!

(1/4 mile- :22.77)- A steady start for all, and it would be Broken Tap emerging with the lead from the outside for Barcelona Farms. With each stride, he pulled away a little bit more, allowing him to lead after a quarter mile by over two lengths. The next three were unhurried, and ran three wide right behind him. The eventual winner, Peculiar Sensation was in the middle lane here for Mb Stables, and he would have Jkk Racing Stables’ Lg The Menace to his inside, and Powerful Suit, out of Nakamura Stables, to his outside. Psychotic Ruler was a length behind them for D J C Racing Stables. The trailer would be Denomination, from Fractious, but he was in the mix as well and only two lengths out of second, and four and a half lengths from the lead.

(½ mile- :45.77)- As the field makes their way down the backstretch, Broken Tap maintains a graceful stride on the front end, keeping a two length advantage. Moving into the turn, Powerful Suit, who had been in the third lane, is the first to start reacting with a push, and not too long after that, Peculiar Sensation does the same thing. At this point, they had not closed the gap all that much, but they were letting their intentions be known. Lg The Menace was still on the rail, but not looking quite as ambitious. Two lengths further back, both Psychotic Ruler and Denomination were not ready to get involved quite yet.

(Top Of Stretch, 1.7F To Go)- Broken Tap seemed to handle the turn quite well, and looked like he could be up for the challenge as Powerful Suit began to reel him in. On exit of the turn, however, Powerful Suit was able to make up considerable ground, and at the top of the stretch, he had drawn level with Broken Tap with the pass for the lead seeming inevitable. Peculiar Sensation, at this point, had lost a little ground to Powerful Suit, and was still a length back. In fact, temporarily he lost the third position to Lg The Menace, who it had seemed he was going to pull away from a little earlier. Psychotic Ruler looked very sharp leaving the turn and seemed to have an exciting bid in store for the stretch, but Denomination would not be able to go with him.

(Finish- 1:21.70)- With a furlong to go, Powerful Suit had taken over the lead, and Broken Tap was trying to hang in there. Meanwhile, Peculiar Sensation responded to the urging of J Talamo, and climbed back into the picture, getting with half a length from the lead. He still had Lg The Menace to contend with on the rail. Psychotic Ruler was doing everything he could. In the late moments of the race, one Peculiar Sensation was just ever so slightly quicker with each stride then was Powerful Suit. Not until the very end could we be sure that he would get up in time, but he would be able to do so in a pretty exciting stretch finish. Powerful Suit is a hard luck second place finisher, but he needed a good result, and I think this will still accomplish that for him. The photo for third was excruciatingly close, and in the end the stewards could not separate the pace-setting Broken Tap from the closing Psychotic Ruler, and the dead heat just barely over Lg The Menace, who nearly made it a three-way dead heat. Denomination is the denominator for the field.

About The Winner- Peculiar Sensation, trained by Mb Stables, and ridden to victory by J Talamo, is a three year old gelding by Buzzing and out of Viking Touch. He was bred in New York by M.b.o. Racing Stable as a yearling, and acquired unraced in private sales by Mb Stables in February 2017 for $60.000. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his fifth in seven starts, his second stake win, and his first graded win. His career earnings are now $184.880.

Track: Fast
Time: :22³  :45³  1:09²  1:21³

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 2 – 4 Paid 75.40
$1 Trifecta: 2 – 4 – 6 Paid 356.10, 2 – 4 – 7 Paid 356.10

Scratched: Neon Wolf(L)

Winner picked by NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES