Mountain Top Futurity ($150.000 Purse)
RUI- For Two Year Olds Foaled In NM
Five Furlongs on the Dirt
June 25, 2023
Early season two-year-old stakes are always fun, especially the State bred ones. The horses are full of promise, and trainers hope that they will develop into the next great thing, and maybe even get to the KYD. There is not much history to look at yet with these young horses, just potential. The State bred stakes also provide a good glimpse at what trainers like to breed in a certain state the most. Here in the Mountain Top Futurity, seven of the eleven horses are owned by either Jive Inc (who has definitely made a home in NM), Asgar, and T Boy Racing. It may not be NY or CA, but the State bred purses are pretty good here, and there is a good number of races like this one right here to make money in, so NM should be a place that gets strong consideration as a breeding ground. The 2022 winner of this race was Moment Of Man, for Mb Stables. It was part of a good summer stretch for him, but he was not able to sustain it, and is winless as a three-year-old so far. The best past winner of the race is likely 2020 winner, Mendocino Gal, who is out of T Boy Racing. She has simply had an impressive stranglehold of NM-bred races throughout her career, winning 22 of 33 overall, and over $1,100.000 for her career. It’s not unusual for fillies to show up and win this race, and two will look to do the same here. Let’s take a look at our entire field!
#1- Magic Runner (Asgar, ridden by G Vera)- Winless in two starts, both coming in April. Attempted the Kendrick Memorial Stakes two months ago and ran in a third-place dead heat. There is nothing wrong with his works, but you will find faster in this field in regard to that. Not sure if he is quite up to the level of the others, but it’s a two-year-old stake, so it’s unpredictable.
#2- Forgotten Impact (Bears Stable, ridden by K Purcell)- Probably the one that I should be rooting for, since his dam passed through my stable for a little bit. He’s one for two and comes out of a NM-bred maiden that he won by two lengths. Works look good, so I expect him to contend.
#3- Grave Authority (Asgar, ridden by K Serrano)- Hit the track about as early as he could and ran second against State Breds on April 2nd. I like that after that race, he was not thrown right back into another one, and this will be his second career start. Asgar has taken his time to get comfortable with the horse and he appears to be a consistent worker. He’s not the one to beat, but I think he will be in the mix at the end for a piece of this.
#4- Key Sinche (Arindel, ridden by L R Rodriguez)- He has made two career starts, running second against NM-Breds, before winning with identical race conditions in his second start. While those two races show plenty of promise, he does not have a public work since May 5th, and it really was not an impressive one. Surely, he has improved since then, but it would have been nice to have seen how much he has.
#5- Puppy Plex (Jive Inc., ridden by M T Fuentes Jr)- This is the one that stood out at me when I looked over the field as probably the one that is in the best spot right now to be considered the favorite. He’s 1-for-2 for his career but comes out of a maiden win at LS that he won by three lengths. Then, on the 13th of this month, he laid out a very impressive work at SA, showing that he may be getting even better. He’ll get my nod here.
#6- Whiskey Party (T Boy Racing, ridden by E P Gomez)- She is the second of three horses here that come out of the Kendrick Memorial Stakes, and she was the best finisher there, running second. The winner of that race probably has bigger aspirations right now. For Whiskey Party, that effort earned him a 93 SRF. Unfortunately, she does not have many public works, so it is really hard to determine how she measures up right now, and it’s been two months since the Kendrick. Her most recent work doesn’t stand out, but there could be reasons for it.
#7- Tribal Chief (Mb Stables, ridden by T J Hebert)- Like Whiskey Party, this is a filly, and they get a three-pound weight allowance for this race. That’s something that can be very valuable at this point in their careers. Tribal Chief has made just one start, on the first day that she was eligible to race and ran third. Since then, Mb Stables has been getting comfortable with her, and she worked very well at LA earlier this week.
#8- Hanny Beatrice (Jive inc., ridden by A J Juarez Jr)- Finished in a third-place dead heat with Magic Runner two months ago at the Kendrick Memorial Stakes, which was his second career start. He did win on debut on the second of April, so has been resting up since the Kendrick. Didn’t work quite as well as his stablemate out at SA, but it was still a good time, and he should be a contender in this field.
#9- Bregman (Luz International, ridden by M A Perez)- One of those horses that clearly needed a race, as he struggled on debut at SRP, before going to PIM at the beginning of this month and looking very good in a two-length victory. He was given bute for that race, and it looks to have been very beneficial. Working well, and if you put money down, bang a trash can as he runs in the stretch, as that may provide encouragement.
#10- Rattling Necklace (T Boy Racing, ridden by F Amparan)- The Timber Rattler colt is 1-for-2 in his career this far, running third on debut before winning last month against NM-Breds. In a race where there is not a lot to go by in order to make picks, I am put off a bit by his work on the 15th. There could be many reasons for it as perhaps things were being tested, but several in here are working about a second faster than that.
#11- Revis Island (Jive Inc., ridden by J L Scriver)- Jive Inc. will have three horses in the field, and sees Revis Island have to start from the outside. The horse has only made one start, coming out at FP last month where he ended up winning by two lengths. The gelding looks to remain perfect here but may find his stablemate a little too tough. Still may get a piece of the purse.
Prediction: 5-7-9-3
— NS
Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded
