SUN Handicap ($150.000 Purse)
SUN- For Three Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Eighth on the Dirt
April 18, 2020
Despite a smaller purse, the SUN Handicap brought together a good field of twelve, featuring many successful horses that may have been a little tough on their luck in recent months. Dream Controlled, the winner of the BEL in 2018, is a horse that has not won any of the stakes he has been in since the end of November, and his last start was concerning. This kept people away from him at the betting windows. We did put him among our picks as the fourth selection, so while we mentioned him well, we could have been more confident in him. There seemed to be better options in the field, and one of them included Cube Zero, the horse that won the race last year. However, Dream Controlled would finally find his way back to the winners circle in a stake, for the first time in 17 months. To do so, he beat stablemate Minutes Hand at the wire, giving Mb Stables a 1-2 finish in the race. It marks the first time that Mb has won the race, and the second time R Chirinos has been aboard the winner. Congratulations to them! The time of the victory was 1:48.22. Let’s take a look!
(½ Mile- :45.94)- Most of the horses that started on the outside find themselves pushed out to the lead. This is especially true for Brady Is A Lady, from Sharis Stables, as he aggressively pushes out to a length advantage over Arisen, from The Nuyorican Stable. Brady Is A Lady was a little slow to move over to the rail, making him quite wide on entry to the opening turn, but he would eventually get there. Arisen stayed with him. Hemi Powered, from Nakamura Stables, was also up front out of the gate, but was restrained to the middle of the field eventually. That was not true for his stablemate, Hollywood Ballet, who maintained a position stalking the leaders. After half a mile, he would be joined by a couple of Mb Stables horses that would eventually finish first and second in the race. Dream Controlled, that eventual winner, ran in the middle of three wide while Minutes Hand stayed attached to the rail. Another length back, Flamenco Beach ran four wide in the middle of the pack for Alydar Stables while Moment In History stayed on the rail for Pan Farms. Running between them was Hemi Powered, and last year’s winner Cube Zero (Aml Racing). The trailers are La Lune Rain (T Boy Racing), Cheviots (The Sidley Stud), and Bo Knows (John Henry).
(3/4 Mile- 1:09.64)- Over the backstretch and entering the final turn, we don’t see much change in how the horses run. Brady Is A Lady is still out in front, but Arisen is showing signs now of not being able to keep up. He’s still second, but tiring, and both Minutes Hand and Dream Controlled move down a lane to make sure they do not get hindered by him. A length behind them, Moment In History does the same. Otherwise, we don’t see any horses making a move on the leader or to advance their position, so let’s move forward.
(Top Of The Stretch, 1.5F To Go)- Brady Is A Lady is trying to hold on to his lead, but each of the two Mb Stables runners were in perfect position to strike, and they made it count. Dream Controlled did it best, maintaining his lane and pulling even with Brady Is A Lady at the top of the stretch and it would be apparent that he going to make this pass easily. Minutes Hand was running right to his inside, about half a length behind, and also was full of run. Behind them, things were getting clustered up quick as faster horses who needed to maneuver traffic explored their options. A Moment In History had a good lane and stuck with staying behind Minutes Hand. La Lune Rain did well to get out of harms way and swung out wide, to the outside of Flamenco Beach. This would probably not be a winning move, but would serve the longshot well. Cube Zero was in the middle of this, but could not advance. Cheviots and Bo Knows had no where to go, and all Hemi Powered could do right now was run into the back of his stablemate, Hollywood Ballet.
(Finish- 1:48.22)- With a furlong to go, Dream Controlled seemed to have everything in control, and Mb Stables could relax that he had the race won. However, approaching the wire, Dream Controlled saw that lead shrink as a challenger appeared, but Mb Stables could still relax that he had the race won. Minutes Hand valiantly came back on his stablemate and finished second. Brady Is A Lady hung on and showed some heart in his third place finish, even though, as the post time favorite, people wanted to see a little more. La Lune Rain worked hard on the outside and made it close. That gets T Boy Racing the fourth place check. Moment In History was with this group, but misses a piece of the purse. It was about a length and a half to the rest of the field. The rest of the running order is Cube Zero, Flamenco Beach, Bo Knows, Hemi Powered, Hollywood Ballet, Cheviots and Arisen.
About the Winner- Dream Controlled, trained by Mb Stables and ridden to victory by R Chirinos, is a five year old gelding by Controlled Hook and is out of the late Misty Dreams. He was bred in California as a yearling by LionKing Stables, and acquired by Mb Stables, via Kopites, in private sales for $50.000 in May 2017. He had just two April two year old races under his belt at that time. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his ninth in 26 starts, and it’s his fourth stake win. His career earnings are now $1,661,610.
Track: Fast
Time: :454 1:093 1:35 1:481
$2 Mutuel Prices:
$1 Exacta: 6 – 1 Paid 41.80
$1 Trifecta: 6 – 1 – 11 Paid 185.20
— NS
Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded
