Question marks for Carameaway, Miss Da Point in Jack Betta Be Rite
The series of Friday stakes at Finger Lakes continues this week with the $50,000 Jack Betta Be Rite, a 1 1/16-mile race for New York-bred fillies and mares.
The string of stakes concludes next Friday with the $50,000 Leon Reed Memorial. The biggest stakes of the Finger Lakes season, the $200,000-estimated New York Breeders’ Futurity, will be held Oct. 17.
The Jack Betta Be Rite is a tricky race. The two most accomplished runners are Carameaway and Miss Da Point, both of whom have earned more than $400,000. Each has questions to answer in this race.
Carameaway finished a badly beaten ninth in her most recent start, the $100,000 Saratoga Dew for statebreds at Saratoga on Aug. 17. She raced in contention for six furlongs of that 1 1/8-mile race before tiring badly as the 7-5 favorite.
Trainer Mitchell Friedman has worked her four times since – including a half-mile bullet at Belmont Park last Sunday – and it is quite possible she will bounce back with a more representative effort.
Miss Da Point in her last two starts has finished third in the $100,000 Union Avenue at Saratoga and the $100,000 Dancin Renee at Belmont, both New York-bred sprint stakes, after dropping farther back than usual. She should show improved speed at this longer distance.
Miss Da Point, trained by John Toscano Jr., won going a one-turn mile at Aqueduct in April but hasn’t won around two turns since January 2014.
A field of eight was entered for the Jack Betta Be Rite, but Smilingsundae raced Wednesday at Belmont and is expected to scratch.
Jack Betta Be Rite, race 8
Key contenders
Carameaway (Last 3 Beyers: 31-85-65)
◗ Her last race was too bad to be true. I’m going to disregard it. She’s the horse to beat here.
Miss Da Point (Last 3 Beyers: 77-82-62)
◗ She has a lot of class but is a bit suspect around two turns. She is likely to face early pressure here from Atlantic’s Smile and Alwaysinstilettos.
Alwaysinstilettos (Last 3 Beyers: 75-74-75)
◗ She loves Finger Lakes, where she has a 12-6-5-0 record for trainer M. Anthony Ferraro.
◗ Won an open, no-conditions allowance race at Finger Lakes on Aug. 29. She put away Dark Desire on the lead, then held off fellow Jack Betta Be Rite entrant Smitten By Gold by a neck. Dark Desire came back to win a statebred allowance locally.
Atlantic’s Smile (Last 3 Beyers: 50-77-75)
◗ A sprinter stretching out, she might make the lead over Miss Da Point for trainer Charlton Baker. It’s questionable, however, whether she wants to go this far.