Hammersly's preview: Comebackers abound on card

A couple potential Ellis graduates

Trainer Ron Ellis continues his superb meet and has a couple runners who may be primed to grab their diplomas on the card.

Surfer Moon (race 3) showed little in his first two starts of the meet, but he dropped in for $30,000 April 4 and was a much-improved second.

Apparently, a light went on for the 3-year-old gelded son of Malibu Moon as he moved back up to the $50,000 level and was a solid second again. He splits the difference here ($40,000) for his first route. Being by the same sire as last year’s Grade 1 Kentucky Derby winner Orb, he should have no trouble with the mile.

Ellis may have an even better chance to get his picture taken about 20 minutes later in race 4 with Shapely. The daughter of top-class runner and sire Empire Maker rallied nicely for second in her turf sprint debut March 22. She moved to dirt and a route for the first time May 1, went right to the lead, took pressure, and stayed on well for third behind the regally bred Bob Baffert filly Front Range. Front Range was to run against winners Saturday, so check how she fared to get a better idea about this gal.

She stays on dirt and routing (one mile) and has now shown ample versatility.

Déjà vu all over again?

No fewer than five of the seven runners in the inaugural Mizdirection Stakes (race 7) on the hill ran into each other in the Grade 3 Las Cienegas Stakes down the hill April 12. That day, Biorhythm and Sky High Gal absolutely sizzled early, looking one another in the eye through dizzying splits.

Well, that didn’t work so well for those two, but it was music to the ears of Tribal Spy and Llandudno. While Sky High Gal and Biorhythm tired a bit from their early toils (finished third and fourth, respectively), Tribal Sky got a dream trip sitting just in behind. She took over from those two gals and had enough to get just to the line a head before the hard-charging Llandudno. Could that race shape play out again?

It’s quite possible. Tribal Sky has ample speed of her own, however. She was just behind those two, so she’s no deep closer. But while Biorhythm is surely one dimensional (she’s all speed), Sky High Gal isn’t necessarily so. She’s mighty fast, yes, but three of her four career wins have come from just off the pace, so there’s no reason she has to go eyeball to eyeball with Biorhythm.

That being said, if she doesn’t, does that give Biorhythm a pass up front and make her that much tougher? Does that mean Tribal Sky has to use more speed to stay close early? Does that mean Llandudno can’t afford to sit well back as she did in the Las Cienegas? Tune in for an intriguing match-up.

Trying to get back on track

Race 9 is an intriguing optional claimer at 1 1/8 miles on turf for distaffers. A couple combatants are using this in the hopes of a bounce-back to try to get back into stakes ranks. Bee Brave won her debut in England in 2012. She wasn’t seen again for 17 months when she turned up here Jan. 18. She stormed home to whip N1X foes and looked destined for stakes ranks. However, she was then just an OK fourth at this level Feb. 16 and a decent fourth (as the favorite) in the American Beauty Stakes on March 29. She’s been freshened by Simon Callaghan, who drops her in an attempt to get her back on track.

Moulin de Mougin ran second to Bee Brave in that Jan. 18 N1X heat, came right back to win and clear that condition Feb. 9, and was a good third against this caliber April 4. That led to an experiment – they tried her on dirt April 20 in the Santa Lucia Well, not only did she not really flourish on dirt, but there was a monster in there – two-time champion Beholder, her stablemate coincidentally, ran off and hid. Mandella moves her back to turf and down in class looking for a rebound.

Spot play

Race 2
POLYTECHNICIEN (#6, 4-1) was once a nice horse in France, but things didn’t go so well once he came to the U.S., as after a few not-so-hot stakes tries, he moved in for a tag. Still, there wasn’t much sign of life – until recently. Claimed for $32,000 by Doug O’Neill, he came back going from a sprint to a route with a much-improved run, finishing second after opening up a big lead. He moved back up in price to the $32,000 level May 4, and he showed that spark was no fluke as he bided his time and powered past his rivals to win easily. Now O’Neill gives you a big thumbs-up as he more than doubles this guy in value. It looks as though this old boy (8-year-old) has a new lease on life.