The Pan American – Grade II
1 1/2 Mile Inner Turf Stake Purse $200.000 Open 4 Year Olds And Up.

1st Killer Instinct Mb Stables Prat F

There were no surprises with this exacta which saw a welcome return of running style and form for last year’s BC Turf runner up. If his last three races were all on HL then we can safely say the race engine is at best inconsistent as he went back on pace today after being a closer in the Pegasus World Turf Cup. It may have been the gaming buttons, it may not, so we will never know for sure but at the end of the day he is now ‘back’. In the end he had to fight off a determined effort from the runner up and there wasn’t much in it at the end but having full control of his reproductive organs he certainly did nothing to harm his value both on and off the track today.

2nd Grand Opening Riggins Racing Bridgmohan S X

Matched the winner all the way and whilst he was caught a little flat footed at a key moment, he was taking ground back off the winner all the way down the stretch. This was a huge reversal of Pegasus form, but we are all very used to that here at HRP where what happened a couple of months ago has very little bearing on what happens today. He was a close fourth in the BC Mile last year and I would expect another big BC effort this year in whichever race he ends up choosing.

3rd Martinez Royalty Stables Elliott S

The first two were a class above the rest here and this one managed to win the race of the rest to finish third. This was a better effort than in his last two so there is some hope for the trainer that he may be starting to climb back up his improvement curve, so I would expect him to be competitive for the rest of the year.

4th Prince Ferro Maxmillion Farm Jaramillo E

I think this sort of performance is about his mark and whilst he may out work a lot of good horses his racecourse performance at least today was about as good as I expected. There is some sort of hidden combination that could see this horse leap in performance and if anyone can find that it is this trainer so maybe keep an eye on him going forward.

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES