The last G1 at Belmont until the Fall, plus Hollywood's big summer race and the second biggest race at Delaware are all on Saturday! Lets take a look at the fields:
Delaware Park - July 9, 2011 
Race 9 - 4:51 PM Daily Double (Races 9-10) / Exacta / Trifecta (50-cent min.) Superfecta (10-cent min.) / Pick 3 (Races 9-10-11, 50-cent min.)
STAKES | Delaware Oaks (Grade II) |
Purse $300,000. For Fillies Three Years Old. By subscription of $200 each, which shall accompany the nomination, $1,000 to enter and $1,500 to start. $300,000 Guaranteed, of which $180,000 to the winner, $60,000 to second, $33,000 to third, $18,000 to fourth and $9,000 to fifth. Weight 122 Lbs. Non-Winners of $90,000 at a mile or over in 2011 allowed 2 Lbs., $60,000 at a mile or over in 2011, 4 Lbs., $45,000 at a mile or over in 2011, 6 Lbs. (Maiden, claiming and starter races not considered in estimating allowances). Horses that finished first, second or third in the Go For Wand Stakes automatically earned a free nomination to the Delaware Oaks. Trophy to the winning owner, trainer and jockey. Closed with 33 nominations on June 25, 2011. One And One Sixteenth Miles. |
P# | PP | Horse | | A/S | Med | Jockey | Wgt | Trainer | M/L |
|---|
1 | 1 | Strike the Moon (KY) |
| 3/F | LA | J Pimentel | 116 | M J Trombetta | 5/1 | 2 | 2 | Daring Reality (KY) |
| 3/F | LA | O Castillo | 116 | C A Lynch | 15/1 | 3 | 3 | Dance Quietly (VA) |
| 3/F | LA | G Saez | 116 | T A Pletcher | 12/1 | 4 | 4 | All for Thee (KY) |
| 3/F | L | J Rose | 118 | A W Dutrow | 9/5 | 5 | 5 | Snow Fall (KY) |
| 3/F | LA | A Castellano, Jr. | 116 | M Stidham | 10/1 | 6 | 6 | Soundwave (KY) |
| 3/F | LA | J Rocco, Jr. | 116 | B Tagg | 10/1 | 7 | 7 | St. John's River (KY) |
| 3/F | L | Jose Lezcano | 116 | A Leggio, Jr. | 7/5
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With Rosie Napravnik being injured on Weds, St. John's River gets a jockey change. Regardless of who rides her, she is still the filly to beat. Runner up in the Kentucky Oaks, she closing the fastest of all on the winner Plum Pretty. Strike the Moon's sire has had some good luck at this track lately. Malibu Moon had DelCap winner from last year Life at Ten, plus his daughter Moon Catcher won the race back in 2007 with another daughter Malibu Prayer finishing second in 2009. All for Thee and Dancing Reality come out of the prep, the Go For Wand. That race last year produced G1 winners No Such Word and more then likely this year's DelCap favorite Havre de Grace who was runner up in this race last year. Speaking of Grace, her sire's half sister Dance Quietly is in here. She was third to Snowfall (who is also in this race) in the off the turf Pike Creek. Soundwave has hit the board in both of her starts this year for her new trainer and is coming off a 3rd place finish in the Miss Royal. |
I gotta go with St. John's River in here. She is the class of the field and even with a last minute jockey change, it shouldn't be a problem. Dance Quietly for second and All for Thee for third.
Belmont Park - July 9, 2011
Race 9 - 5:17 PM Exacta, Trifecta, Super (.10), Daily Double Wagers
STAKES | Man O' War S. (Grade 1) |
Purse $600,000. For Three Year Olds And Upward. One And Three Eighth Miles. (Inner turf) |
P# | PP | Horse |
| A/S | Med | Jockey | Wgt | Trainer | M/L |
|---|
1 | 1 | Mission Approved (NY) |
| 7/H | L | J L Espinoza | 123 | N Chatterpaul | 5/1 | 2 | 2 | Bearpath (KY) |
| 5/G | L | F Lenclud | 116 | I R Wilkes | 8/1 | 3 | 3 | Boisterous (KY) |
| 4/C | L | J R Velazquez | 116 | C R McGaughey III | 6/1 | 4 | 4 | Al Khali (KY) |
| 5/R | L | A Garcia | 118 | W I Mott | 8/1 | 5 | 5 | Gio Ponti (KY) |
| 6/H | L | R A Dominguez | 120 | C Clement | 2/1 | 6 | 6 | Nownownow (KY) |
| 6/H | L | E S Prado | 116 | P L Biancone | 15/1 | 7 | 7 | Cape Blanco (IRE) |
| 4/C | L1 | J P Spencer | 120 | A P O'Brien | 5/2 |
This race is a bit of a crossroads for Gio Ponti. I think he has to win this race in order to stay in training. His last two starts where very poor (however, the Dubai race was mainly rider error). Bearpath was beaten at the wire by Keertana in his last race the Louisville Handicap. Nownownow is a Breeders' Cup winner, but he has only won once since that race and that was on a synthetic surface (he's cross entered into a stakes at Monmouth). Al Khali is trying to give his sire his second US male G1 winner, but can be a bit inconsistant. Mission Approved is a former claimer who gave Gio a scare in this race last year, he came back this year to turn the tables on the three time Eclipse winner in the Manhattan. Boisterous could be a bit of a dark horse in this race as he won his past two races. Cape Blanco is making his US debut, and is coming off a 6th place finish at Royal Ascot.
So who am I going with? If he gets his way again, Mission Approved is going to be heard to run down. Boisterous to finish second and Gio Ponti or Cape Blanco for third.
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Last, but not least!
Race 8 - 4:37 PM
STAKES
Hollywood Gold Cup H. (Grade I)
Purse $500,000. For Three Year Olds And Upward. One And One Fourth Miles. (All Weather Track)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer
1 Twirling Candy (KY) J Rosario 122 J W Sadler
2 Miss Match (ARG) J Talamo 110 N D Drysdale
3 Setsuko (KY) V Espinoza 115 R E Mandella
4 Game On Dude (KY) C Sutherland 118 B Baffert
5 Awesome Gem (KY) D R Flores 116 C Dollase
6 Soul Candy (CA) G K Gomez 114 P Gallagher
7 First Dude (FL) M Garcia 116 B Baffert
8 Dark Cove (KY) R Bejarano115 K G McPeek
For the second time in three years, a filly is taking on the boys in this race. Life is Sweet was third in this race in 09, but that was really in an effort to avoid her much more accomplished stablemate Zenyatta. LIS did go onto the Ladies Classic however that year. Several jockeys are reunited, the big ones being Sutherland with Game on Dude and Flores with Awesome Gem. The Gemster is coming off a good second in the Cornhusker, and reunites with his man David in attempt to defend their HGC title. Game on Dude gets his leading lady Chantal back after being riden by David in the Charles Town Classic and Martin Garcia in the Lone Star Handicap. Twirling Candy and Setsuko renew their rivalry in this race after finishing 1-2 in the Californian. Dark Cove is a bit of an unknown in this race, he was third on the grass at Colonial and his sire's foals are probley better on the dirt. Soul Candy (who dispite his name is not by Candy Ride), is coming off a fourth behind Twirling Candy and Setsuko. Miss Match is the filly in this race. She's not really at an advantage in this race, because her lone start at this distance in the US was a second to last place finish in the Delaware Handicap last year. However, she seems to have found a home on the synthetic and is coming off a 3rd place finish to Blind Luck. Last, but not least Todd Pa... I mean First Dude. Finally is on a little bit of a win streak and is coming off a win in the Alysheba which he won by a nose.
So who wins this year's HGC. I gotta go with Awesome Gem, Setsuko for second and Miss Match for third. I'm just not entirely convinced that Twirling Candy can go this far, First Dude and Game on Dude liking synthetic is an unknown, and IMO Soul Candy and Dark Cove are a bit overmatched in this race.
There are several other stakes races going on this weekend like the Affirmed (which features Coil, but there is just something about Runflatout that intruges me), the Summitt of Speed (go May Day Rose! No Big Drama :(), are also tomorrow.
More importantly though, I hope that all horses have safe trips and come home sound!
