Juvenile racing on the turf made its yearly debut, with a pair of impressive victories by Ready to Act and Sea Queen. On the dirt, Big Sugar Soda made a nice impression and looks bound for a stakes race.
Race 1: Maiden Special Weight
5-1/2 furlongs for 2yos
Financial Mogul was the favorite at just over 2-1, but the Richard Violette Jr.-trainee failed to kick on after tracking the early pace and wound up fourth as Big Sugar Soda won by 8 1/4 lengths. Trained by Steve Asmussen and ridden to victory by Javier Castellano, Big Sugar Soda was very quick out of the gate and sprinted clear through fractions of :22.07 and :45.30, then kept on rolling through a final three-sixteenths in :18.29 to win in powerful fashion. This is definitely a colt to watch! Pecorino, from the barn of Todd Pletcher, closed from fifth after three furlongs to secure second place, but was never a match for the winner. Grand Arrival broke slowly and raced wide throughout, but did finish up with a nice rally to be third. The D. Wayne Lukas-trainee Strong Mandate made a brief middle move before tiring to finish fifth, but has the breeding to suggest he could be a nice one in the future.
Race 2: Maiden Special Weight
5-1/2 furlongs on turf for 2yo fillies
The first juvenile turf race of the meet was won by Chad Brown's Ready to Act, who unleashed a determined stretch rally to make up a 2 1/2-length deficit in the final furlong and win by a half-length. The final time was a solid 1:04.08. Being by More Than Ready out of Mizzen Mast, she certainly appears to have a bright future on the turf, and is on my early watch list for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (gr. I). Ruslana set a quick pace of :22.98 and :46.27, kicked clear in the stretch, and was just nabbed in the final sixteenth by the winner. Super Sky broke in the air and trailed by eight lengths early on before rallying well to finish third, just three lengths behind the winner. Cello, a D. Wayne Lukas-trainee ridden by Joel Rosario, was five lengths behind at every call en route to an even sixth-place finish. A daughter of English Channel out of the well-bred A.P. Indy mare Indy Pick, I'm very excited about Cello's future and look forward to her next start!
Race 5: Maiden Special Weight
8-1/2 furlongs for 2yo fillies
Trainer Christophe Clement always deserves respect when running a horse on the turf, and bettors who remembered that were rewarded when Clement's Sea Queen romped to victory in her debut performance at odds of 4.40-1. A daughter of Lemon Drop Kid, Sea Queen raced up close in fourth, and then third, through fractions of :23.58 and :48.52, then blitzed her third quarter in about :23.20 seconds to seize command of the lead. From there, the race was virtually over, as Sea Queen blazed the fourth quarter in :24 flat and the final sixteenths in :06.11 to win by a length in 1:41.93. Kitten Kaboodle ran in seventh early, made a nice run along the rail to reach contention, steadied briefly at the top of the stretch, and then rallied well late to finish second in a promising effort. Candy Kitty, the favorite for trainer Todd Pletcher and jockey John Velazquez, tracked the pace throughout but lacked a sufficient stretch kick and wound up third.
-Keelerman
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