San Carlos Stakes – Grade II
7 Furlongs Dirt Stake Purse $200.000 Open 4 Year Olds And Up.
1st Russian Dictator Gdp Inc Espinoza V
I think we found out today which side the random number generator is on…….LOL.
On the serious note though there wasn’t much to go on here as this six year old that had never won a stakes race in 26 attempts and was taking on arguably one of the best horses racing at HRP at the moment took this grade two. This horse however was as fit as a flea after an open allowance scamper at GP and made it two from two for the season with a game all the way win. He got the lead fairly easily on a slow opening quarter which i think was the key and was well clear at the furlong pole before being ridden out to the line to hold on by a half length. I am not sure where this puts him in the sprinter ranks but maybe now he has worked out how to win a stakes race he will go on from here.
2nd Ginger Clean The Sidley Stud Baze T C
This horse is a fast improving sprinter and very nearly followed up his Palos Verdes win here. He just let the winner slip away coming into the stretch and that was his undoing as he closed hard but ran out of dirt. I am sure with a bit more IQ the next AI may be sharper and i expect him to go on to better things.
3rd Hard Discretion TwinTowersRacing Moran D
Closed really hard to run third just a half off the winner with the fastest closing splits of the race. His racing style seems to be his biggest enemy as deep closer’s aren’t treated well by the new race engine but he is getting better with each run and should eventually break through.
4th Splash Mountain John Henry Bridgmohan S X
This great horse hasn’t run this trip since 2018 which can be the only explanation as to why he ended up fourth today. The silly thing is though he was faster to the six furlong pole in the nine furlong Pegasus World Cup last time so whilst he is clearly not a sprinter it is also clear he was more than capable of running this sort of winning time. In the end though he just whacked away at the one pace, beaten by a horse that was a long way inferior to him before the off. Reasons for the defeat, well the seven furlongs is the obvious one, then the false pace out of the gate whilst he was trying to find his position but lets just hope this isn’t the start of a decline.
Categories: STAKES ARTICLES
