Are You Kidding Me, Florida Won ship in for Presque Isle Mile
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
A pair of multiple graded stakes winners in Canada will try to transfer their good turf and Polytrack form to Tapeta in Sunday’s $200,000 Presque Isle Mile.
Are You Kidding Me, who is a neck shy of owning a three-race winning streak in Grade 2 stakes at Woodbine, and Florida Won, the winner of the Grade 3 Ontario Derby to close out his 3-year-old campaign and the Grade 3 Seagram Cup a month ago, are the co-highweights at 124 pounds in a full field of 12. Both horses are proven performers on Polytrack but have never raced on Tapeta.
The field also includes Decisive Moment, winless in eight starts since upsetting last year’s Mile at 10-1; Midnight Cello, freshened since winning his synthetic-surface debut with a career-best 105 Beyer Speed Figure in the Grade 3 Hanshin Cup at Arlington on July 18; and the intriguing Abraham, who makes his first start off a $50,000 claim at Saratoga by high-percentage trainer Joe Sharp.
◗ Trainer Ron Potts, who has won two of the last three runnings of the Mark McDermott Stakes for 2-year-old Pennsylvania-breds, will send out the coupled entry of last-out maiden winners Balk and Total Futbol in the six-furlong sprint. The nine-horse field also includes Know Clouds, a 6 1/4-length winner locally in his career debut for trainer Graham Motion on Aug. 11.
◗ Sunday’s card also marks the start of a 10 percent increase in overnight purses at Presque Isle. It’s the second 10 percent boost within the last two condition books. Maiden special weight races, which began the meet with a $27,000 purse, are now worth $33,000. A second-level allowance, formerly $29,000, is now valued at $34,000.
PRESQUE ISLE MILE (RACE 5)
KEY CONTENDERS
Are You Kidding Me (Last 3 Beyers: 93-95-96)
◗ This 5-year-old has been facing the classiest horses of anyone in this field, winning the Grade 2 Eclipse on Polytrack and the Grade 2 Nijinsky on turf before just missing in a three-horse photo in the Grade 2 Sky Classic on turf.
◗ Coming back in 21 days is a question mark, however, as his races are usually spaced farther apart. The last time he returned within three weeks, he was fifth in last year’s King Edward Stakes.
Florida Won (Last 3 Beyers: 98-101-82)
◗ He’s in sharp form and owns two wins and a second in three starts on synthetic surfaces, all at the Grade 3 level. He has never won carrying more than 118 pounds and will tote 124 here.
Midnight Cello (Last 3 Beyers: 105-82-89)
◗ He relished the switch to Polytrack at Arlington, dominating the Grade 3 Hanshin Cup by 5 1/2 lengths.
◗ He has had just two workouts in the seven weeks since that breakthrough win, so it’s fair to question whether that huge effort took too much out of him.
Decisive Moment (Last 3 Beyers: 76-75-70)
◗ He adds blinkers in quest of his first victory since winning this race by a head last year. He has raced well in his few opportunities on synthetic, including a second in the Grade 3 Spiral at Turfway Park in 2011.
Abraham (Last 3 Beyers: 90-NA-84)
◗ He has never raced on a synthetic surface in his 16-race career, but his sire, Distorted Humor, has produced offspring who win at 23 percent in synthetic routes.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: Note that over the past five years, trainer Sharp is 14 for 49 (29 percent) with a $2.19 return on investment the first time off the claim with horses back within 30 days.