Excessive aims for repeat in Cyclones Handicap
The 5-year-old gelding Excessive will try to win the $65,000 Cyclones Handicap for Iowa-breds for the second year in a row on Saturday at Prairie Meadows, but standing between him and a repeat victory is a 4-year-old colt named Net Gain.
Those two are among seven entrants in the Cyclones, carded at 1 1/16 miles as race 8 at 4:12 p.m. Central. Net Gain is the 121-pound highweight, giving one pound to Excessive despite having only beaten Iowa-bred allowance foes in his only start outside of age-restricted competition.
Net Gain, by Include, was a pricey 2-year-old buy, fetching $325,000 at auction, and was a useful 3-year-old last season for trainer Bill Mott, displaying ability on turf, dirt, and synthetic surfaces while racing in five states and Canada. He wound up at Prairie Meadows for one start last summer and won the $80,000 Iowa Breeders’ Derby by more than six lengths, his only race against Iowa-breds before June 2. Net Gain resides in the Prairie Meadows barn of Clinton Stuart this year, and he made a bold, decisive move in his allowance-race comeback, suggesting he’ll be a handful Saturday.
Excessive is in good form this year, with a win and a close second in open allowance competition, but his victory a year ago in the Cyclones probably was pace-aided, with Excessive slipping loose on the lead through moderate fractions. Forced to contest a stronger pace in the Ralph Hayes Stakes for Iowa-breds in August, he faded to sixth. If Excessive manages to shake loose Saturday, he could carry his speed long enough to beat Net Gain, but the presence of two stretch-out sprinters, plus the front-running Colonel Ted, makes that a dicey bet.
It’s hard to know what to expect from Whisper to Curlin. The 5-year-old convincingly won the 2014 Iowa Breeders’ Derby but didn’t race between August 2014 and May 20, when he faded to finish a well-beaten fourth behind Excessive. He should improve off the comeback race, but so should Net Gain.