7/28/2021

  8   SAR     The Honorable Miss Hcp (GII)

   $200.000      3yo&Up F&M        6f   Dirt        Hcp Weights

The speedster spinsters will be the name of the game in this one as we look at the field for The Honorable Miss Hcp (GII), a six furlong spring for the gals and we have a solid group ready to go after a serious purse on Wednesday.  I'm taking Precise Performance as the top choice today as she just seems to be the one to get past.  Sprinting has not been her choice of distance lately, she's been going a mile-plus all season, but she has tactical speed and her works indicate that this is a good spot for her to flex her muscles.  I'll go to the outside and take Super Hot as the second choice.  She was claimed prior to that last out race (win) but has seven wins and stakes experience behind her, and she really loves this six furlong distance.  She also had a fourth and a second of this surface last season, and I like a horse for a course.   

Here's The Field -

The Big Barn has a duo set for this big purse and this one has been very successful at the lower level races.  Has five wins from fourteen starts but has been competing at the Alw level, so this is a big step up in class, but I think you have to keep an eye on her as she is always around when they hand out checks.  A repeat of her last out effort should make her a threat.

She looks like a heck of a claim, being nabbed out of a $20.000 race at HAW back in the early spring.  She was fourth in an overnight stakes at BEL and then just missed when third in the Monrovia (GII) on the down-hill course at SA, in her most recent.  Both of those were on the sod and she comes back to the main track, but she was doing well on it prior to being haltered so….

Second half of the Mb Stables entry and she looks tough to me.  She won the BC Distaff (GI) last season and hasn’t found the winner’s circuit since, but you know my feelings on the BC Bounce (if it exists) and she has been close in a number of races – in fact, she’s been beaten a length in every start since.  Today, I think she get’s back on top. 

She’s been close in a trio of graded stakes in her last three starts, a fifth in the Hurricane Bertie (GIII), a near miss when third only a length back in the Derby City (GI) and a tiring fifth last out in the Bed O Roses (GIII).  She’s another that certainly warrants some serious consideration as you make your way to place a wager. 

Only a maiden win on her record but she sold for $250.000 prior to this race off of a string of good efforts, many of those vs. graded foes.  She ws only a length back at KEE when third in the Vinery Madison (GI) and was the runner-up in a ON-bred stakes at WO in her most recent.  Can the new connections get right after it here?

Tagged out of a $25.000 claimer and they proved smart and she won right back taking an Alw race at WO by a nose.  That was at the abbreviated five furlong distance and she closed well to take that, so the distance seems to fit and she looks like a horse that may be on the improve.

COZMAN    3  /  6         Willie’s Green Card    6 / 3 / 1         

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES