Flood Zone tries to rebound in Maxfield after lackluster effort in Dubai; $1.4 million Derby City Six carryover
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Winter and spring are the time for dreaming. Maybe that eye-catching maiden win, the gutty allowance score, revealed a 3-year-old with raw material that might be sculpted into a Derby horse.
Summer’s the time to get real. And a race like Sunday’s Maxfield Stakes, carded for seven furlongs and worth $250,000, suits those 3-year-olds who didn’t really stay two turns or hit their ceiling in graded stakes-level competition – horses like Flood Zone and Captain Cook, both of whom traversed the New York spur of the Triple Crown trail earlier this year.
Captain Cook won the Withers in February with a 94 Beyer Speed Figure that stamped him at least as a player for the Wood Memorial, New York’s major Derby prep. Captain Cook did make the Wood, finished a fading fourth, lost late ground again when third in the 1 1/8-mile Peter Pan on May 10, and shortly thereafter moved from Belmont Park to Churchill Downs.
Trainer Rick Dutrow cuts Captain Cook back to his first long sprint since Captain Cook won his first start for him in late December in a seven-furlong Aqueduct maiden race by more than nine lengths.
Irad Ortiz Jr. rides Captain Cook, who drew post 2, a potentially tricky spot in a 13-runner field for a horse who, at this distance, probably wants to stalk the pace.
Flood Zone has a better post, 8, and a better chance to win the Maxfield than Captain Cook. Privately purchased by Wathnan Racing after a second-start maiden win, Flood Zone in his first race for trainer Brad Cox won the Gotham, a one-turn Aqueduct mile, by more than three lengths on March 1. He looked good doing it and the race yielded a strong 98 Beyer, but who knows if higher-level competition, a longer 1 3/16-mile distance, both, or neither led to Flood Zone’s distant seventh April 5 in the U.A.E. Derby in Dubai.
“I thought he’d run a lot better than he did. Really, he just didn’t run at all,” Cox said.
Flood Zone took his long trip so well that he began breezing again at Churchill on May 2, and has drilled steadily since.
“He’s been working pretty good,” Cox said in an understatement.
Recent workout video of Flood Zone shows a colt hitting the wire with good energy and really turning on the jets going out around the clubhouse turn and onto the backstretch.
Flood Zone ought to get a favorable setup behind a strong pace, with his stablemate Verifire a probable front-running factor. Verifire has two easy wins to start his career, though Cox questions the quality of the horses he’s beaten.
Verifire is one of eight horses in the field with a TimeformUS early pace figure above 100. All that speed should help Retribution, who notched a solid debut sprint win at Fair Grounds, went evenly in a first-level Keeneland allowance in April, then stepped forward with an eye-catching closing victory last month in the six-furlong Chick Lang at Pimlico.
“He’s developing both physically and mentally, he looks fantastic, and he’s training really, really well,” trainer Cherie DeVaux said. “I’m interested to see how he handles a little more distance. It’s something I wanted to do for him after Keeneland.”
The Keeneland meet is in April, when Derby dreams begin fading. No one then dreamed of winning the Maxfield. But this is a $250,000 race and it’s time to get real.
Anchorage Overnight Stakes
Pin Up Betty is a poster child for the “horses for courses” angle. The 4-year-old filly has three wins from five starts on the Churchill grass course and has gone 0 for 9 over all other surfaces. She won the Mint Julep on June 1 at Churchill and should be favored Sunday in the $175,000 Anchorage Overnight Stakes.
The Anchorage, carded for older fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles on turf, drew a competitive enough field of nine. Great value at 5-1 when she captured the Mint Julep, Pin Up Betty is listed at a far less attractive 8-5 on the morning line.
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Luis Saez rode Pin Up Betty in the Mint Julep for the first time since she finished an even fourth last fall at Keeneland in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup, and Saez in a post-Mint Julep interview said his mount moved far more fluidly at Churchill than Keeneland. Sunday’s added half-furlong won’t trouble a filly with a 4-2-1-0 record at 1 1/8 miles.
Nonetheless, digging a little deeper could pay off in the Anchorage. Charlene’s Dream led and held well for second in the Mint Julep but won’t shake clear of stretchout sprinter Generous Lover, and a strong pace could open the door for at least a minor surprise.
Duvet Day had too much ground to close when racing from 11th in the Mint Julep, her first race after a winter break, and notched a course-and-distance win last fall in the Cardinal. And Sparkle Blue should be sitting on something much better than she showed last out over a wet Pimlico course she failed to handle.
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