Dom the Bomb drops in as heavy favorite for Sun Power Stakes

STICKNEY, Ill. – There are five horses, including one 800-pound gorilla, entered in the Sun Power Stakes on Saturday at Hawthorne Race Course.

Dom the Bomb aired in his career debut on Polytrack at Arlington, but this is not just a synthetic-surface specialist. Second time out, Dom the Bomb set a torrid pace and held admirably to finish fourth in a salty first-level dirt allowance race at Keeneland. Anything close to that performance and Dom the Bomb will crush his sparse rivals in the Sun Power, a six-furlong dash for Illinois-bred 2-year-olds.

The short Sun Power field can be traced to the general unsoundness of the Illinois racing industry. In these unsettled times, breeders in the state have pulled back considerably, and Illinois foal crops have shrunk drastically in the last decade.

That’s bad news in a broad sense and particularly so for bettors seeking any semblance of value in the Sun Power. Dom the Bomb, trained by Larry Rivelli, is priced at 7-5 on Hawthorne’s morning line, but odds are he gets bet more heavily than that and goes off well below even money. Swimming against the tide can prove profitable in such instances, but it’s hard to see Dom the Bomb as vulnerable. His outside draw is perfect for a pace horse; he turns back from 6 1/2 furlongs to six; and Dom the Bomb’s three-workout pattern since his Keeneland race includes an encouraging six-furlong drill in 1:14 over the local surface Nov. 8.

Chadwick might be competitive if his two-turn turf form translates to a dirt sprint, but he’s by English Channel, and there’s not a great chance Chadwick proves as adept at six furlongs on dirt as he has at a mile on grass. Fort Dixie looks like a poor man’s Chadwick; Armando’s Star got an easy lead winning a soft maiden last out; and it’s not inconceivable that second-time starter My Man Richie could give Rivelli a sweep of the exacta.

Timeaday heads Showtime Deb

Timeaday’s price won’t be as short as Dom the Bomb’s, but like Dom the Bomb, she’s likely to be more heavily favored than her morning line – 5-2 in this case – in the Showtime Deb, the female counterpart to the Sun Power.

Timeaday, trained by Fairmount Park-based John Cox, debuted at Fairmount with a blowout maiden win Sept. 1. At Hawthorne, she has started in two open first-level allowance races, finishing third when facing males two starts ago, then winning by six lengths earlier this month when matched against her own sex.

Timeaday has speed but a relaxed way of going, and she can get an ideal trip tracking the frontrunners from an inside post under leading rider Manny Esquivel. Anything close to 5-2 odds would be highly attractive – and highly unlikely.

There are eight others in the field, including two from trainer Tom Swearingen – Rock My Dreams and A Little Unique. The former is the 5-1 third choice yet was beaten six lengths by Timeaday last out.

The second choice on the line is Razamajazil, a winner of her only start, an Illinois-bred maiden race here Oct. 23. Razamajazil was all out to hold on for a narrow win after setting the pace that day, and drawn on the rail inside other frontrunners, she would need a significant forward move to run her record to 2 for 2.

Formulator fact: Trainer Larry Rivelli is 5-2-1-0 with a $2.36 ROI over the past five years with 2-year-old Illinois-bred dirt-sprint stakes starters at Hawthorne.