Red Bank Stakes (Grade 3)- $100.000 Purse
MTH- For Three Year Olds and Upward
One Mile on the Turf
May 27, 2017
This Saturday, a smaller Grade 3 will take place at MTH in the 11th running of the Red Bank Stakes, which will have three and ups running a mile on the grass. There is a rather hefty seven pound allowance for younger horses in this race, so many of us will probably be inclined to pick the threesome of three year olds that are carrying the 117 pounds. Still, we need to give the older veterans a shot as well! Looking at the field, I hate to say it, but it is a little tough to get excited about the race. There is up and coming talent here, certainly, and that will make this race be very valuable in the future for some of these. What we lack here is that one big name to get excited about and provide that spark. It is, perhaps, more about trying to build that name moving forward. Here is the field of nine!
#1- Pervoked (Blushing Meadows, ridden by P L Cotto Jr)- On the rail, Pervoked has run in some pretty good races in his career, but he has not gotten the results in them. Last August, he ran in the Grade 1 Secretariat at AP, but was never a factor, and that’s really the problem. I’d love to be taking about the success he’s had in five graded events, but he has yet to hit the board in any of them. Having said that, he has handled allowance company pretty well, and this race is not much more then an open allowance, really, in regards to competition. The experience that he has had in running in Graded events frequently should help him. So, as long as he’s ok with his weight disadvantage, he could be the one to beat.
#2- Bombastic Nobility (Oval Express Farms, ridden by J Bisono)- The gelding is coming off the best race of his career, running third in the Grade 3 Appleton on April 1st, which is also a mile on the grass. That was his first graded race and being mainly an allowance horse up to that point. You have to like how he stepped up in that race, which was at 93/1 by the way, and if he can duplicate that effort, he can handle the field. A problem for me is that he is seven pounds heavier then three of his rivals here, whereas in the Appleton he was on equal footing. For a horse that’s inconsistent at times, that concerns me.
#3- Recruitment (Mb Stables, ridden by A A Gallardo)- This three year old enjoys his weight advantage here, and also enjoys being lightly raced overall as this will be just his sixth start. As we have seen Mb Stables become an expert on, he has patiently and deliberately brought his Arian colt along, winning his first three races which included a small ungraded stake, and then into graded company. He has not won at this level yet, and we can throw out his last effort as him not liking the soft turf over KYD weekend at CD. He’s your best bet of the three year olds.
#4- Poetry In Motion (Heavens Own, ridden by J C Ferrer)- The General Motors gelding will make his graded debut after his first try going over a mile seemed to work very well at GG in an optional claimer. In the race, he came from way out of it in the stretch to get up for second, barely missing in the headbob. Normally I would say that I would have liked to have seen him win the race, but I am encouraged by a couple of the ones he beat in that fairly good field, given its conditions. It was a day for those carrying less weight, which he will here again.
#5- Cool Touch (Smokey Stover, ridden by J J Gonzales)- Number three of the three threes lined up in a threesome with one another. Cool Touch did try a graded event early in his career that did not go well, and has recently been seen running in optional claimers. His last race, at six and a half furlongs was his best as he earned a 95 SRF in the victory. I would feel better about him going that distance then I am at this distance, though he has shown some versatility in his career. His jockey is off to a brutal 1-for-31 start as of press time.
#6- Jojo Jove (Night Rider Stables, ridden by W A Garcia)- The four year old Sneaky Little Pirate gelding has found the winner’s circle in six of 17 career races, but many of them were in lower claimers. He’s been claimed a couple times, but once he arrived in the barn of Night Rider Stables, has moved forward significantly, thanks perhaps to the addition of the blinkers. He has taken a liking to them, and has been running in bigger races. Jojo Jove is still looking for that big win, but a solid fifth in the Grade 1 Makers Mark Mile at KEE against a loaded field was pretty impressive.
#7- Mameluke (Luz International, ridden by J Bravo)- No one in this field has won more then the $439.740 that Mameluke has garnered, which is more of a testament to a long standing career spanning 31 races and consistent finished in upper to mid level optional claiming races. He has tried a few graded stakes at times, and while his finished were not poor, he has not hit the board in any of them. Mameluke does have an ungraded stake win to his credit, coming three starts back on the main track at SUN, for the $65.000 Lad Handicap. If Mameluke was one of the ones carrying a lower weight, I could put him on top. He’s consistent, and he will be a threat in the stretch for sure.
#8- Trotsky (Asgar, ridden by V Lebron)- Like many of the others previously discussed, Trotsky has tried to run in graded stakes in his career, but does not have a top three finish in any of them to show for it. His primary successes have come in allowances up to this point. One thing to like about him right now is that he is hot, with three wins in his last five starts, one of which was the $75.000 Tropical Park Derby to finish out 2016. The two races that were not wins in that stretch were the graded attempts. If he is a graded stake champion to be, this is his race.
#9- Viking Toolbooth (Delta Farms, ridden by N Juarez)- This five year old Viking Rage horse has the same type of resume that it seems like most of the field has. His predominant success has been in the allowance ranks, and there have been a few graded efforts sprinkled in over the course of his 21-race career. But as I am becoming a broken record with in this preview for our field, none of those graded attempts have resulted in a top three finish. The thing that might give Viking Toolbooth an edge is his experience at running this distance, and he has a nice open allowance win over similar conditions.
Prediction: 1-3-7-6
— NS
Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES
