The Louisville – Grade III

1 1/2 Miles Turf Graded Stake Purse $250.00 Four-Year-Olds And Upward. At CD

The Louisville brings together a strong field of marathon specialists headed by Mb Stables’ King Z which will be challenged by The Sidley Stud’s Whipped which just finished third to King Z. Right behind those two come Nakamura Stables’ Hackett and Night Rider Stables’ Dont Ever Try It which just finished within a nose of each other in a triple digit SRF race. And the field continues on just about as deep as you can get, including last year’s BC Mile winner High Voltage’s Moonligtonthewabash. Here’s the field:

Horse                                  Owner                               Odds  SRF

King Z                                 Mb Stables                        *3-1        99

Whipped                             The Sidley Stud                  7-2        97

Hackett                                 Nakamura Stables            4-1      101

Dont Ever Try It                  Night Rider Stables            4-1      100

Gold Vault                          The Sidley Stud                  5-1        98

Moonligtonthewabash        High Voltage                     6-1        94

Stylish Dime                       Maxmillion Farm               15-1        93

Giacomo                             First Flight Stable             20-1        94

1  Dont Ever Try It                   Night Rider Stables             100

Dont Ever Try It just missed a spectacular upset in the Grade III Pan American at GP as Hackett and Boss Spearman were battling to the wire, Dont Ever Try It came flying down the lane from last and missed by a nose at odds of 111-1. He scored a strong 100 SRF in defeat. This was only his fourth try on turf, and he has won two of the other three. It looks like we may see a lot more of him on turf from now on.

2  Hackett                       Nakamura Stables                101

Hackett and Dont Ever Try It just finished in a crowded photo in which Hackett dead heated with Boss Spearman and Dont Ever Try It was beaten third by a nose in the Grade III Pan American at GP, a fast race that earned Hackett a SRF 101. He’s probably the most consistent horse in this race having brought home a check in every race he’s ever been in save his first.

3   Stylish Dime                          Maxmillion Farm                93

Stylish Dime was claimed last out by Maxmillion Farm for $25.00 from First Flight Stable. Coz only had the horse for three races after claiming him for $25.00, so he has the profit of a win and a fourth minus entry fees for the fun of having him. The horse seems in over his head, but Max is a very clever player, so it will be fun to see who does best with these claims.

4   Whipped                        The Sidley Stud                    97

One of the greatest $1.00 buys in the Smokey Stover dispersal, Whipped just finished third behind King Z in the Grade II Elkhorn at KEE beaten a length and he figures to be closest to that one when this bunch reaches the finish line. It’s not just that race, he won the Grade II Diarmida at GP the race before registering an eye popping 102 SRF in the process. A little inconsistent, but he doesn’t look whipped to me.

5   Giacomo             First Flight Stable                        94

Giacomo doesn’t have much of a stakes history and has only one race at 1 1/2 miles, so he’s certainly light on experience His only 1 1/2 mile was an allowance race at HOU and he ran a nice closing third, but that’s a far cry below this level of racing. He comes here off a nice win in a NY Bred allowance race at AQU, so it’s under the best of conditions that he tries this level.

6   King Z                Mb Stables         99

The class of the field, King Z comes here off an “upset” win in the Grade II Elkhorn at KEE where the old timer showed some of his old style battling from the opening of the gates to the finish line to score by a half-length. His win in the Grade I Pattison Canadian International wasn’t impressive enough to get him decent odds in the BC Turf, and then, of course, he ran to his odds. Followed that up with two Graded beaten favourite performances before turning things around in the Elkhorn. So, he looks to have returned to form enough to take a Grade III at his favourite distance.

7   Moonligtonthewabash                High Voltage                   94

Big time: Moonligtonthewabash won the BC Mile! Every owner’s dream to win a BC race. He came back the following month and ran third in the 6 1/2 furlong Grade II Hernandez Stakes, then was up the track in the 1 1/8 mile Grade I Pegasus World Cup Turf and one mile Grade II Kilroe Mile. The only thing those races seemed to have in common was they were on turf and he lost in them. Now he tries yet another distance to see if he can find himself again.

8   Gold Vault                 The Sidley Stud                        98

In the money six in a row, Gold Vault has been a little off since winning the Grade II Sycamore and scoring a 102 SRF. He was a closing fourth in the 1 1/4 mile Grade III San Marcos Stakes at SA, so he was forgiven due to the shortness and made the favourite in the longer Grade III San Luis Rey Stakes also at SA yet came up short again. Now there’s a worry that this is systemic.

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES