Quality field for Karl Boyes Memorial

Balandeen, Bucchero, and Cautious Giant have all faced stiff company throughout their careers. They will get some class relief but still must contend with each other in the $100,000 Karl Boyes Memorial, the feature Monday night at Presque Isle Downs.

Balandeen is the tepid 9-2 morning-line choice for the 5 1/2-furlong Boyes Memorial after picking up his first stakes win in his first trip to Presque Isle, winning the Tom Ridge Stakes over En Hanse on May 22. That was the colt’s sixth consecutive start against stakes company, a run that began when he was second to McCraken in last fall’s Street Sense Stakes at Churchill Downs. Along the way, the Chris Hartman trainee also has run behind Gunnevera and Hence.

The Indiana-bred Bucchero has won or placed in six stakes, all but one at Indiana Grand. He recently came off a five-month winter break to win a six-furlong allowance there by a neck May 23. The horse is a stakes performer on both dirt and turf, but Monday marks his first try on an all-weather track.

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Cautious Giant last year finished third in the Grade 2 Palos Verdes, beaten two lengths by Kobe’s Back and Salutos Amigos, and third in the Grade 2 Kona Gold, 1 1/2 lengths behind Wild Dude. The gelding dropped into an optional-claiming event earlier this year, finished second by a head to graded-stakes winner Calculator, and was picked up for $62,500 by owner Ron Paolucci.

In his first start for the Jeff Radosevich barn, Cautious Giant finished eighth when stretched out in distance in the Grade 2 Charles Town Classic, but he rebounded somewhat to finish second in an allowance race last month at Thistledown.

The Boyes Memorial attracted the winners of its two most recent renewals, but both have question marks. Dazzled Saint won this race in 2015 off a nearly 10-month layoff but finished 11th last year. He has made just two starts since, running off the board in an optional-claiming race last August and again going unplaced in a claiming race in June at Presque Isle.

Defending race winner Stormofthecentury has not started since November, when he was fifth in a turf sprint at Churchill Downs.

The field also includes stakes winners Choctaw Chuck and Less Than Perfect and the stakes-placed runners Rapid Dan and Copperplate. Rapid Dan comes in off a solid second by a neck to Stevis Man in an allowance in which Copperplate was fourth and Choctaw Chuck fifth; Stevis Man has landed on the also-eligible list for the Boyes Memorial.