Two major Mile races are happening tomorrow. One on dirt, one on turf, one on the East Coast and one on the West Coast. The Met Mile and the Shoemaker Mile!
First up at Belmont:
10th (5:49)
Metropolitan H. (G1)
1 Mile | Open | 3 Year Olds And Up Stakes | Purse: $500,000
Prg. # PP Horse Jockey Trainer Wt. Claim $ Equip. Med. ML
1 1 Convocation Desormeaux K J Jerkens James A 114 L 10-1
2 2 Tizway Maragh R Bond Harold James 115 L 20-1
3 3 Musket Man Dominguez R A Ryan Derek S 117 L 5-1
4 4 Warrior's Reward Borel C H Wilkes Ian R 118 L 9-2
5 5 Kensei Prado E S Asmussen Steven M 116 L 20-1
6 6 You and I Forever Castellano J J Wolfson Martin D 116 L 10-1
7 7 Quality Road Velazquez J R Pletcher Todd A 124 L 4-5
8 8 Le Grand Cru Velasquez C Jerkens H Allen 115 L 15-1
On paper, Quality Road is far beyond this field. However, I think everbody except for maybe Tizway has a chance to upset him. The two that I think have a chance are Warrior's Reward who won the Carter and was closing like a train in the Churchill Sprint. He gets a temp. rider change, but the good news is his rider knows him pretty well. The other horse is Le Grand Cru, he won the Westchester last time out and could suprise people. Allen Jerkins is called the Giant Killer for a reason, and his son Jimmy is following in his footsteps. Convocation also has a chance to upset his former stablemate. Kensei's little brother just won the Preakness, Musket Man I just don't think he is really a great horse, You and I Forever is my dark horse with Convocation and Tizway could prove me wrong. With that being said, I've gotta go with Quality Road, with Warrior's Reward second and Le Grand Cru third.
A few hours later in Hollywood
9th (5:05)
Shoemaker Mile S. (G1)
1 Mile (Turf) | Open | 3 Year Olds And Up Stakes | Purse: $250,000
Post # Horse Jockey Weight Claim Price Equip. Med.
1 Mr Gruff Talamo J 124 L
2 Victor's Cry Nakatani C S 124 L
3 Gallant Son Smith M E 124 L
4 Global Hunter (ARG) Berrio O A 124 L
5 Golden Balls (IRE) Santiago Reyes C 124 L
6 Noble Court Baze T C 124 L
7 Blue Chagall (FR) Blanc B 124 L
8 Karelian Bejarano R 124 L
9 Tangled Tango Espinoza V 124 L
10 Compari Rosario J 124 L
Like the Met Mile, there is a heavy favorite in Compari. However, unlike the Met Mile this is not a one horse race. A horse who I think will win this race is Karelian. At 7, off almost a year layoff he almost won last year's Shadwell Mile (got outnosed by Court Vision), this year at 8 he's beaten Gio Ponti and turned the tables Court Vision. Turf courses in California tend to be on the firmer side thus kinder to front runners like Karelian. For this reason, I would not count him out to go gate to wire. Compari for second and Global Hunter for third.
So that's your Weekday Preview! Also running tomorrow: Dattt Echo (half to Mani Bhavan), KY Oaks runner up Evening Jewel, Dave's Pacemaker (personal favorite of mine, half to Zipped a Maria's Mon colt who lost his life to Potomac Fever a few years ago), Negligee and Ya Gotta Have Soul (half to Tale of Ekati) among others. I'll have a recap on Tuesday!
I hope everyone enjoys your Memorial Day Weekend, if you see a serviceman thank them for their service. Stay safe everyone!
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