The Amsterdam (Grade 2)- $200.000 Purse
SAR- For Three Year Olds
Six and a Half Furlongs on the Dirt
July 25, 2025

The Grade 2 Amsterdam is a six-and-a-half-furlong sprint, but many of the horses that are taking part in the race spent their time this year on the KYD trail, instead of other sprint races. The purse for the race has been either $150.000 or $200.000 since inception, and while it would be nice to see that increase even more, the amount has been constant since 2021. The 2024 race was the third win in six years for Fractious, winning with the still active Hurricane Ridge. Since 2018, either Mb Stables or Fractious have won the race on all but two occasions. Fractious isn’t here this year, but Mb Stables will start three of the eight runners. Let’s meet this field now!

1- Balestier Road (Mb Stables, ridden by F Prat)- The jockey will be looking for his third straight win in the Amsterdam, and gets the call for one of the newer additions to the Mb Stables arsenal. Balestier Road raced most of his early career at TUP for Hygana Stables, and with success there. That trainer moved him forward to CD, where he did not run well, and would be picked up less than a week later by Mb Stables for $325.000 in a private sale. Started well in his new silks by running second in the Grade 3 Marine Stakes last month. While he has been going long lately, and his works suggest he can always go back to that, he’s going to be in a sprint for the first time in 2025.

2- Fighter Ship (Grimley, ridden by J R Velazquez)- Has one thing in common with Balestier Road in that this will be his first sprint as a three-year-old. However, while that one was running at TUP, Fighter Ship was taking part in derby preps, and thanks in large part to a third in the Grade 3 Ruby Stakes, he got into the KYD and ran third there. After that, he made his way here for the BEL and was hoping to build on that, but it would be the opposite. A subpar outing has led to the trainer taking a detour with his horse here, cutting him back to six and a half furlongs.

3- Highway Robber (Mb Stables, ridden by M Franco)- So, if I wasn’t already very familiar with the conditions of the Amsterdam, I would have gone back to double check at that I didn’t misread the distance when I began. Highway Robber is yet another horse who spent his time going long this year, running in derby preps and placing second in none other than the Wood Memorial. A month later, he ran in third in the Peter Pan, and afterward his distance cut began. Even though he was fourth here, only missing by a length in the Grade 1 Stephens, his race line looks a little flat. He’ll need to be better, but he certainly can be. Works well at six furlongs.

4- Scorched (Mb Stables, ridden by J Lezcano)- Another one that has made his living going long up to this point, running in races such as the Risen Star and the LA Derby earlier this year. Those did not go well for him, failing to cash a check, and things have not improved after taking a step back from the derby trail. The last time Scorched made anything, it was in January, when he won the $100.000 Allison Derby. That’s not going to get it done when you are a part of this barn, and now the trainer looks to cut back to a sprint for Scorched. We’ll see if it works.

5- Fantasy Blaze (Maxmillion Farm, ridden by K Carmouche)- In April, Fantasy Blaze was entered into the BG Stakes as the trainer hoped to blaze ahead into another last-minute KYD entry. Fantasy Blaze was third there, not making the KYD, but seemed destined to build on that wherever he ended up next. That has not happened, as he struggled in the American Turf, and then again in the Grade 1 Stephens here last month. He’s right back into a race with similar conditions, so clearly Maxmillion Farm isn’t worried about that. Wouldn’t surprise me to see a tactical change with him.

6- Turning Point (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by V Espinoza)- The last time that Turning Point didn’t run long? Almost exactly one year ago, and right here on this track. After winning an allowance in the slop that day, which is the also the last time he’s been to the winner’s circle in anything, Turning Point would be sent longer and for a while, he was respectable. This year, he struggled in both the Southwest and BG Stakes, and even when dropped into an optional claimer last month, he lost by five lengths. Has a 4-2-1-1 track record when sprinting before all that started, so this type of race may be overdue.

7- Mr Cockypants (La Canada Racehorses, ridden by S X Bridgmohan)- We can’t say that Mr Cockypants completely avoided derby preps, since he was seen in the SA Derby, but he’s been a sprinter for most of his career. Prior to the SA Derby, which was a dud, Mr Cockypants won three straight, including the always competitive seven-furlong Swale Stakes at GP in February, then the Grade 3 Gotham at a mile. We saw him here last month in the Grade 1 Stephens where he had the most frustrating finish known to HRP trainers: fifth by a length. That type of effort could be good enough here, but I think it possible for him to show a little more, too. He’s my pick.

8- Food Man (Williams9, ridden by R A Vazquez)- His fourteen starts are the most of anyone here, but only two of those races have resulted in victories. You have to go back eleven months for his last win, the $175.000 ELP Juvenile. As a three-year-old, many of his races, you guessed it, have been at over a mile, with a pair of duds in derby preps mixed in. Williams9 did abandon, for now, that path, and cut Food Man back to sprinting in May. He was third in a dead heat at PRX in an open allowance last month. I would have wanted to see more there out of him to make him a pick here.

Prediction: 7-3-6-1

— NS

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES