Aloha Breeze bids for stakes sweep in Washington Oaks
The biggest draw on the Longacres Mile Day undercard will be the attempt by Aloha Breeze to sweep the trio of stakes on the schedule for 3-year-old fillies at Emerald Downs in 2023.
As is the case with a few of her opponents, Aloha Breeze will be making her first career start at mile or longer when she tackles the $50,000 Washington Oaks over 1 1/16 miles. There are certainly no guarantees given the added real estate, though it has to help Aloha Breeze’s chances that most of her foes have viewed her at the finish line only from quite a distance.
Aloha Breeze is a daughter of The Factor and from a dam who was 3 for 3 on the track and exclusively a sprinter during her brief career. Second dam Worstcasescenario was chiefly a sprinter who never raced two turns on dirt. Stacie’s Halo, the third dam of Aloha Breeze, was 1 for 2 going long on dirt.
The Tom Wenzel trainee has five wins from six Emerald Downs starts to date and has been an easy winner every time out in 2023. The closest thing to a threat is invading Carmel by the Sea, trained locally by Blaine Wright. That filly boasts a number of two-turn races on her dance card, although her lone win from 10 starts happened in narrow fashion against turf maidens.
“I’ve had Carmel for a few days,” Wright said. “She seems to be very level-headed [with a] good disposition.”
Nobody in the Oaks field aside from that pair has a last-out Beyer Speed Figure of 60 or greater while Aloha Breeze has posted figures of 75-71-71 in her three starts this year. She is sure to be the most popular single on the card.
Most of the runners in the $50,000 Muckleshoot Derby over 1 1/16 miles have at least some experience around two turns. The top local hope is Lloyds Logic, who won the 2022 Gottstein Futurity over the same distance.
Lloyds Logic, also trained by Wenzel, is a son of The Factor, best known as a sprinter but also was the winner of the Grade 2 Rebel over 1 1/16 miles in 2011. The female side of Lloyds Logic’s pedigree affords considerable distance influence, suggesting that his win in the Gottstein Futurity last September at the Derby distance was no fluke.
California invader Prince Abu Dhabi boasts superior Beyer Speed Figures and finished third July 8 in the Los Alamitos Derby to top 3-year-olds Reincarnate and Skinner. Prince Abu Dhabi, also trained by Wright, recently shipped to Emerald after having worked five furlongs at Golden Gate last Monday.
“He handled the dirt just fine,” Wright said. “We changed the style because there was no speed in the race, and I thought he ran absolutely terrific.”
The conditioner also will send out Langston Road in the Muckleshoot Derby and admits that his runner “is up against it, but his best races are routes and there aren’t many options available.”
The third stakes on the Mile undercard is the Emerald Distaff, which is still another $50,000 event over 1 1/16 miles. The Distaff has drawn both prior stakes winners in the older filly and mare division at the meeting, Blazingbellablu and Our Lyla Grace, who just three weeks ago notched her first career stakes win.
Blazingbellablu is from the barn of Charles Essex and is a stakes winner both sprinting and routing. The daughter of Grazen boasts a unique stalking style in that she prefers to be just a few lengths off the pace no matter how many others are in front of her or behind her.
Our Lyla Grace, still another trained by Wenzel, finished fourth in this race last year at long odds and has since recorded three wins from five starts. The daughter of Cinco Charlie has tried distances of one mile or more on two occasions, with fourth place having been her best showing among them.
Tiz a Macho Girl took the Washington Oaks a year ago and recently moved to the Wenzel barn. She had a tour of the grounds in the Washington Legislators Stakes on July 23 and a line through the turf races is advised before recognizing competitive Beyer Speed Figures when going long on dirt.
The all-stakes pick four on Mile Day in 2022 returned a stunning $67,847.05 for 50 cents, and three of those four winners are back in the mix this year.
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