Opening Day Recap / January 6 Selections

Thursday's Sele

1:24      2-Gulfstream                6f         Claiming                                  3 – Miss Aristocrat                   6/1                   

Miss Aristocrat looks to have been badly mismanaged through her career.  She won a first level allowance as a 2-year-old, then was sent into stakes company.  A well-beaten 4^th in a state-bred stakes she, ran 3^rd-2^nd-4^th in three open stakes at Tampa.  Finally back in allowance (AOC) company she a well-beaten 4^th.  Drop in for a tag?  NO!  Right into stakes, and how about turf to boot!  Then back to an AOC sprint, and right back into a two-turn stakes.  WOW.  Off a layoff she ran a good third in AOC company sprinting, but was brought back in less than 3 weeks and performed badly twice.  Claimed out of her last for $16K she runs for $6K today – with the $9K share of the purse the connections look to break even on big drop-down here.

1:52      3-Gulfstream                6f         Maiden Special                        1/1a – Pletcher entry                 4/1                   

It’s an automatic selection when Pletcher runs a first time 3-year-old; either first time as a 3-year-old, or simply a debut runner.  Here we get two for the price of one, though with Johnny V named on both, one will run.  My preference would be R King of the Road who appears to be working a bit more quickly, and on the surface appears to be a little closer to race-condition.  However if Todd sends out Travelin Man then he’s the selection.  He too has been working well for his debut.  They both go for the same owner, so it would appear that Pletcher has his pick of who appears to be most ready.

2:22      4-Gulfstream                6f         Claiming                                  8 – New Member                       3/1               

Appears to be the speed of the race, and that alone makes him dangerous.  However, it is interesting to note that New Member has only visited Gulfstream once, and that was last winter.  He came here off an extended break and went wire-to-wire at this EXACT distance to record a career-high Beyer speed figure.  Is it deja-vu all over again?

2:52      5-Gulfstream OFF Turf   8f         Claiming                                  8 – The Great McGee                12/1                 

With rain in the forecast, the move to the main would greatly benefit McGee.  He has run two of his best efforts on the main track – winning at Woodbine going 7 furlongs in an off-the-turf event, and twice finishing 2^nd over the wet track at Delaware.  Could surprise in a field that will be made up of mostly turf horses moving to the main track.

3:52      7-Gulfstream OFF Turf    8f         Allowance                                13(AE) – Dad’s Crazy                5/2               

Lightly raced, she improved in her first three tries, all on turf, but had not broken her maiden when entered in the 2009 Grade 3 Miss Grillo, on the Belmont grass.  Rained off to the main Dad’s Crazy broke her maiden in the off going, beating subsequent  BC Juv Filly Turf winner Tapitsfly.  She was off for nearly a year, when returned last October, again on the turf.  Dueled to the stretch and understandably faded late;  came back at a mile on the Churchill turf, but again, it was rained off.  She responded with a wire-to-wire win while dueling through the entire 8 furlongs!  Two off-the-turf wins, and BOTH at a one-turn mile (though she was DQ’d from the CD win).  Now she appears for Todd Pletcher, and if this comes off the grass she will have her ideal set-up.

4:23      8-Gulfstream                8f         AOC                                         3 – Poni Colada                        3/1           

TODAY’S BEST!

This race could almost pass for a listed stakes with several quality runners in here.  Santana Six was a promising 3-year-old in 2009 and several others are stakes winners or stakes placed.  Also in the field is Apriority, who joined the David Fawkes’ Calder shedrow from California and immediately responded to moving to the main track with a dominant maiden win; followed by an even better allowance win – which came at the expense a visually impressive next-out winner.  With Apriority stretching out, Santana Six wanting the lead, and the rail horse being a confirmed front-runner, there should be plenty of pace to set up the late run of Poni Colada.  Even better, is that he goes for Todd Pletcher;  EVEN better, he’s won at this one-turn mile more than once, and has a splendid 11/5-3-0 record at the 8 furlong distance.  He will be flying late under go-to rider Johnny V and looks hard to deny.