NY Stallion Series- Thunder Rumble ($125.000 Purse)
AQU- For Three Year Olds and Upward Foaled in NY
Seven Furlongs on the Dirt
November 19, 2017

The NY Stallion Series takes the stage again this weekend, for the ninth time overall. The most successful past winner of the race is a name that is certainly no stranger to success in this part of the country, as it was an autogen named New York Yankees that earned over $1,900.000 in his career. He had a strong career in his own right, and also hit one of the park with his foal, Bronx Bomber. Other past winners have not had as glamourous of a career. D J C Racing Stables is the only trainer to win the race twice, doing so with the Nynl Stables-bred Tremblay in 2013, as well as his own homebred Awesome Ruler in 2015. He’ll be hoping the odd numbered year trend holds up. Our field of eight is an interesting blend, so let’s take a look.

#1- Sinister Raceport (Chili King Stables, ridden by E Cancel)- An unusual entry, giving that he is winless in eight career starts. Maidens winning stakes like this can be common with two year olds, but this is more of a gamble. It’s not as if he has a long string of seconds coming into this race either. On top of that, he is switching over to the main track after primarily running on the turf lately. Difficult assignment for sure, but you can never count anyone out that starts on the rail in this game.

#2- Whatever Man (John Henry, ridden by D Davis)- We go from the maiden to a winner of over $800.000 in his career. While this five year old gelding has won the same amount of races this year as Sinister Raceport, he’s been second five out of seven times, and three of those saw him be just a headbob away from a win. A little more luck, could have seen a three race winning streak. He has won eight times in his career, and has even run in the BC Dirt Mile back in 2015. There’s nothing wrong with him, other then his luck. No excuses today, and he is my pick.

#3- Inevitability (Mb Stables, ridden by I Ortiz Jr)- The trainer has been exceptionally patient with this one, running him very lightly this year. It has worked out, with two wins in four career starts. His last, effort, albeit at FL, was a good looking performance where he wired the field and put together a 96 SRF. Inevitability does not have to jump out to the front though, as his other win saw him come from off the pace. He’s ready to take on this company, but he has never faced anywhere near this crowd before.

#4- Idol Knowledge (Nakamura Stables, ridden by M Franco)- This Knowledge Geek colt ran under the NY-bred condition a lot as a two year old, and won the seven furlong Bongard at BEL last October. He was briefly put on the TC trail, but ran even worse then Night Terra in the Grade 2 Holy Bull, and that was the end of that. After running third in the $100.000 Battaglia at TP, it was down to allowances, where he has been ever since. That effort in the Bongard is still the last time he has seen the winner’s circle. His form has been solid of late, and he should be able to be in the mix here.

#5- Sweetly Driven (D J C Racing Stables, ridden by J Alvarado)- Looking for his third win the stake, the trainer brings us this colt that hopes to get back to the some of the good consistent form that he showed earlier in his career. Early starts showed promise, but his attempts to run in similar NY-bred stakes, the $125.000 Lee and the $100.000 Morrissey saw him defeat only one rival in each. He was dropped into an allowance, which he won, so he comes back to redeem himself here. The trainer can also take heart in knowing there is only a 20% chance of rain here, as both of those NY-bred stakes were on off tracks.

#6- Sorry Sister (Sccj Stables, ridden by A A Gallardo)- While Sorry Sister has only won one race this year, he’s pretty similar to Whatever Man in the way his year has gone. He has been fast and close to the front. No one else has put together the consecutive triple digit SRF’s, and brings that streak into this race, and Sorry Sister has done that under similar racing conditions. His last race, last month was a bit of a heartbreaker as he did all he could, but barely missed out to a fellow Z Jinxed One foal. Definitely one of the favorites.

#7- Long River (Canadian Racing, ridden by C H Velasquez)- The veteran six year old will make the 33rd start of his career, and has spent the last fourteen months trying to pick up that elusive tenth win of this career. He’s had a string of seconditis since winning the 2016 Governors Cup at RP. So he too is like Whatever Man and Sorry Sister in that they could have a more impressive resume with just a little more luck or good breaks. I am personally putting him behind those two though as I feel they are more tested at this exact distance while Long River has been running over a mile most of his recent career.

#8- Rodeo (Allinthegate, ridden by J R Velazquez)- We round out the field with this Levi Strauss gelding that has managed to win two races in six starts this year. Most recently, he took a liking to this seven furlong distance at BEL, winning an open allowance. His stake career has seen two victories, though coming in $30.000 ungraded stakes at TUP. He was once seen at the Grade 1 Kings Bishop at SAR, but other then that, Rodeo has been raced at the ungraded level. I do like the way he looked in that open allowance, and an effort like that again could get it done here today as well.

Prediction: 2-6-7-8

— NS

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded