Litfin's preview: Allowance feature has horses for turf, dirt
Allowance feature goes both ways
The nominal feature on the meet’s final Thursday is race 7, a $77,000 optional claimer with preliminary allowance conditions for 3-year-olds that is scheduled for a mile on the Widener turf.
Eight entered for grass, including the Darley Stable entry of Baratti and Sublime, both of whom are also entered Friday in a race at 1 ¼ miles.
Among that octet, no fewer than five come off wins on ground rated” good “or “yielding:” - Bigger Picture, Defining Product, Energy Spirit, Roman Approval, and Sublime.
Seeing as Sublime and Roman Approval both went wire to wire in September, it’s possible they could hook up early. Then again, Sublime could be withheld in favor of Friday’s longer race, where he would shake out as the controlling speed.
In the likely event of a surface switch, seven entered for the main track only. In that case, Encryption winds up a clear favorite after two runner-up finishes earlier at the meet, the latest earning a career-best 97 Beyer Figure behind Three Alarm Fire, who is eyeing next weekend’s Grade 3 Discovery at Aqueduct.
Three other turf races in jeopardy
With a storm system expected to linger in the Northeast into early Thursday, three other races scheduled for turf, the first, fourth, and ninth, will very likely wind up on the main track.
The 1 1/16-mile opener and the six-furlong nightcap would remain at the same distances; race 4 would shorten from 1 3/8 miles to 1 1/8 miles.
Nicely-bred maidens
There are some fancy pants pedigrees in race 3, a one-maiden maiden special-weight for 2-year-old fillies.
Four of the eight are first-time starters, and they break from the innermost post positions: Hold Me Down, Fast Retailing, Genre, and My Sweet Girl.
Most notably, Fast Retailing is a half-sister to Power Broker, winner of the Grade 1 FrontRunner Stakes as a 2-year-old in 2012.
Genre is a half-sister to three winners, topped by Parc Monceau, an earner of $148,000.
My Sweet Girl is a half-sister to Caroline Thomas, a Grade 2 winner on turf who was nosed out in last weekend’s Dowager Stakes at Keeneland.
Horse to watch
SEEKING
Trainer: Bill Mott
Last race: Oct. 19, 5th
Finish: 3rd by 2 3/4
Beyer: 69
Racing without Lasix, this first-time starter lagged toward the rear through the opening stages, circled very wide gathering momentum approaching the stretch, and finished with good energy going 1 1/16 miles on turf.