Long Branch Stakes ($100.000 Purse)
WO- For Fillies and Mares Four Years Old and Upward
Five and a Half Furlongs on the Dirt
April 16, 2022

A new stake has been born north of the border, as WO adds the inaugural Long Branch Stakes to the virtual calendar. It’ll be an ungraded event for older females, sending them a short five and a half furlongs around the main track. We’ll have quality runners going to post, but none of them are what you would call a headliner, at least not right now, anyway. One of them will be able to say they were the first winner of this race, and maybe that can propel them into bigger and better. Normally, I would talk about the history a little bit, but as there is none to speak ok, let’s get right to the field!

#1- Juilliard (Mo Mentum Farm, ridden by P Husbands)- This filly has made several starts at WO, many of which have been in ON-bred stakes. Recently, she took a detour to California, but will be glad to be back on a surface that she knows well. Three of her four wins have been on the grass, however, and this is not the same type of condition that she is most accustomed too. Been working regularly on the grass lately, too, so, hopefully she won’t be confused on race day.

#2- Mycrazyxgirlfriend (Mb Stables, ridden by G Boulanger)- With career earnings approaching $300.000, she can thank a handful of second place performances in graded or ungraded stakes with a high purse for that but not necessarily wins. She gets close and gets her picture taken with the winner, but so far in terms of wins, there is just a $75.000 ungraded stake on her resume. This will be the fifth straight race that she starts from post position #2. Maybe not a good omen for a horse that likes to finish second in races like this.

#3- Battle Abbey (The Sidley Stud, ridden by S R Bahen)- Here is another horse that is running well, but only has one small ungraded win to her credit. Overall, she has four victories, but since July of last year, you could say that she has been in a bit of a slump. Didn’t run well three weeks ago in the Henson Handicap. She’s still been running decently of late, but I have to think the trainer wants more out of her than he is getting.

#4- Silk Of Serena (Chubby Racing, ridden by E J Wilson)- Picked up in private sales for just $2.000 after one race, Silk Of Serena has been a great find for Chubby Racing. She has won just over $100.000 now for her career, with wins in five of eleven starts. She’s also hit the board in all but one of them. Two races ago, though happening in mid-December, she ran second in Grade 3 Sugar Swirl. Will need to be better than her last race though, when she was third of three in the Minaret, and beaten by four lengths.

#5- Sexy Angelina (Night Rider Stables, ridden by J Stein)- She’s made two starts this year, each coming at SA, and won one of them. The race she did not win was a stake, the $100.000 Spring Fever where she was barely caught at the wire by Uzume, and there is no shame in losing to that one. I like that she is still lightly raced, having made only eight starts, so it is possible that she is just beginning to find her best stride right now for her career. Part of me likes her a lot, then there is part of me that doesn’t like the way she finished off the Spring Fever.

#6- Creepy Lass (Night Rider Stables, ridden by K Kimura)- Like her stablemate, Creepy Lass is lightly raced so far, having only made six starts. She was claimed from D J C Racing Stables for $16.000 last April, but would not race again to August. Night Rider did not give her an easy race, either, thrusting her into the $500.000 WO Oaks, where she was immediately humbled by the field. The trainer didn’t like that, but held her for seven months before putting her in a $20.000 claimer. Now, a month later, she is in a stake. Does the trainer like her or not? We shall see.

Prediction: 5-2-1-4

— NS

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded