Yonkers: Monday 1/26 Analysis
Matt Rose's analysis of the Monday 1/26 card at Yonkers Raceway.
Matt RoseJan 23, 2015
Matt Rose's analysis of the Monday 1/26 card at Yonkers Raceway.
Garnet Barnsdale's analysis of the Monday 1/26 card at Woodbine Harness.
City Zip has quietly fashioned a workmanlike stud career, flying somewhat under the radar in the star-studded firmament of central Kentucky’s stallion lineup while consistently turning out hard-knocking runners who produce on the track. However, the sire broke through with a supernova of a weekend at the 2014 Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita Park, where Dayatthespa scored a front-running victory in the Filly and Mare Turf and Work All Week confirmed his class by winning the Sprint. Both parlayed those victories into Eclipse Awards in their respective divisions, garnering some long-deserved recognition for City Zip, who has stood at Lane’s End in Versailles, Ky., for the past decade.
The Breeders’ Cup may have dropped its overly ambitious World Thoroughbred Championships moniker, but according to the results of the Eclipse Award ceremony on Jan. 17, the Breeders’ Cup meeting does a pretty good job of determining American championships. This year, six of the nine individual equine Eclipse Award winners for flat racing captured Breeders’ Cup races on Oct. 31 or Nov. 1.
Joy Boy, a winner of two of his last three outs, will start as one of the top contenders in Sunday’s eighth race at Oaklawn Park, a third-level optional $62,500 claiming race at a mile.
Take Charge Brandi, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2014, is scheduled to work Sunday at Oaklawn, said her trainer, D. Wayne Lukas. She is preparing for her 3-year-old debut, which is to come in the $100,000 Martha Washington at a mile at Oaklawn on Jan. 31.
The pedigrees of the 3-year-old fillies in the eighth race here at Gulfstream Park on Sunday, a 6 1/2-furlong maiden race, don’t get much richer.
Perchance earned a 94 Beyer Speed Figure in a one-length victory in a six-furlong, first-level allowance here at Gulfstream Park on Thursday and is a possibility for the Grade 2 Davona Dale on Feb. 21, according to her connections.
Any chance of Little Mike returning to action here at Gulfstream Park this winter ended earlier this month when owner-trainer Carlo Vaccarezza sent the four-time Grade 1 winner back to the farm in Ocala.
The Bill Mott-trained America, who won the Affectionately Stakes on New Year’s Day, was sent to south Florida, where she will get a brief freshening. As a result, she will not contest next Saturday’s $100,000 Ladies Stakes.