Friday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: Cara’s Time can conquer older rivals in Union Avenue
Saratoga | Race 8 | Post Time 5:10 p.m. (ET)
The top two finishers from the Dancin Renee will have a rematch in Friday’s Union Avenue for New York-bred female sprinters. Kant Hurry Love (#7) got the job done that day, leading from gate to wire while making her first start in blinkers. She was aggressively ridden to the front from an inside draw under Trevor McCarthy, turned away a pace rival, and held off late challenges. Now she looks to make it two in a row in her second start off a layoff. While this field doesn’t appear to be as tough as the Dancin Renee due to the absence of Sterling Silver, she still has to beat the rival who was closest to her at the wire last time.
Leeloo (#4) got a much more passive ride than the winner in the Dancin Renee, as she was reserved in a stalking position early, and was allowed to lose some position in upper stretch when staying inside of a tiring rival before altering course. That slight loss of momentum probably cost her in the end, as she was finishing best of all across the wire. This mare has been in strong form for Ignacio Correas over the past year, and she has run some of her best races on the NYRA circuit. She looks like a legitimate threat to turn the tables.
I’m most interested in a new, younger challenger. Cara’s Time (#5) has to prove she’s up to the task of conquering these two seasoned older rivals, but the 3-year-old filly is stepping up in the best form of her career. She also will have a significant weight advantage and get nine pounds from Kant Hurry Love and five pounds from Leeloo. Turning on the weight adjustment in TimeformUS, her last-out speed figure of 113 is the highest in this field. She earned that speed figure finishing third in a very tough open-company allowance race earlier in the meet. She dueled through a very fast opening quarter with a rival who ultimately faded to last, but she battled on gamely to finish third, only beaten by a pair of very promising rivals. We have already seen a horse return from that race to win, as sixth-place Tricky Temper won a New York-bred allowance race last Friday, overcoming a rail bias in doing so. Cara’s Time appears to have improved since returning from a freshening this summer. I think she can get in front of Kant Hurry Love early and lead this field all the way.