SSM F/M Turf Sprint
SA Race #5 6 1/2f Turf Stake
Purse $125.000 For Fillies And Mares Four Years Old And Upward Foaled In CA.

1 Magical Queen Winplace Kimura K 123 —

A very lightly raced four-year-old with only two starts but was impressive in a little maiden claimer last time and is working like a filly with more depth than that. It is very difficult to weigh her chances up, she could win and go on to be a decent older sprinter, she could trail in last and be back in claimers next time.

2 Emily Nakamura Stables Alvarado F T 123 —

A five-year-old with some good efforts last year which saw some nice improvement. The most obvious difficulty in assessing her is the fact that most of her recent races and nearly all of her wins have come over longer trips and this downhill track certainly needs a horse with plenty of speed. Fourth in the Matchmaker and an ungraded stakes winner over longer trips she did work well on this track over six furlongs so it is not a stretch to see her class overcoming her speed especially from this nice gate.

3 Alice Springs TwinTowersRacing Smith M E 123 —

This is a TwinTowers special as we see a horse that has never run on turf and is a dirt route winner at grade two taking on a turf sprint on one of the fastest tracks in the world. They bought this one for $132.000 at auction so clearly have a good opinion of them and she showed plenty of speed in the Spinster last time to suggest that she may be trying to burn out of the gate today and just could end up with a new career.

4 Sweet T Spb Racing Gutierrez Mario 123 —

A super consistent five-year-old that had a great year last year with two stakes wins, she has the advantage of being a sprinter through and through and with question marks around some of the more fancied runners she may be able to take advantage of that. She should be able to stalk the lead and is sure to be right in it at the end.

5 Class Kid Chili King Stables Espinoza V 123 —

A fair sprinter in overnights she has shown some recent improvement which has been borne out in her works so has every right to be competitive here. There does seem a few better here but she won’t be far off.

6 Point Of Honor High Voltage Maldonado E 123 —

A seven-year-old and the most accomplished in the field with 14 wins and nearly $1,000.000 in prize money, I would expect her to go forward from this gate so may set up a speed battle with the TwinTowers runner which in turn may set it up for a closer but she is classy enough to stay in front if she gets there and the outside speed push is sure to help with that. She would be the obvious choice having already won at this level over course and distance.

SUMMARY

On paper Point Of Honor looks the winner here, but I am worried about a speed battle and will look to Emily or Sweet T to take advantage of that.

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded