Show Card, Thirsty in Vegas return to stakes with excuses

Excuses are cheap at the racetrack, priced at roughly a dime per dozen.

But horses occasionally do have legitimate reasons for running below expectations, including key entrants in separate stakes races Monday at Del Mar.

Although 3-year-old filly Show Card bombed when she tried two turns last out, she will give route racing another try Monday. Show Card is the speed of the $100,000 Tranquility Lake Stakes, a filly-mare dirt mile, race 3. Yes, Show Card had an alibi for her route misfire.

The 2-year-old filly Thirsty in Vegas was never going to beat her Steve Knapp-trained stablemate In the Air Tonight when they met last month in the CTBA Stakes. However, there was a reason why Thirsty in Vegas tired at the furlong pole in the race dominated by her stablemate.

Thirsty in Vegas and In the Air Tonight meet again Monday in the $125,000 Generous Portion Stakes, race 5, a six-furlong stakes for juvenile fillies bred in California. If the alibi for Thirsty in Vegas is legit, she could post an upset. Or maybe In in the Air Tonight will blow past her again.

The first stakes on Monday is the Tranquility Lake in which Bob Baffert-trained Show Card is the likely pacesetter and likely favorite over Super Shine, a Group 2 winner in Argentina; stakes winner Ascendancy; and outsiders Yuki, Grace Period, and Liberal Lady.

Show Card, runaway sprint winner two and three starts back, finished last by nearly 20 lengths when Baffert stretched her out in the Grade 2 Summertime Oaks in June at Santa Anita. She fell apart mentally in the pre-race.

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“I tried her [long] once before, and she lost it in the paddock,” Baffert said. “I want to try her long one more time. She’s got a lot of speed.”

If she maintains her composure before the race, Show Card and jockey Juan Hernandez should wire the Tranquility Lake at a short price. Through Friday, 17 of 35 dirt miles this summer were won by the pacesetter.

Super Shine is the class of the Tranquility Lake, having won three Group 2 races in Argentina and missing by a neck in the Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes in her U.S. debut in April at Santa Anita. She subsequently finished fourth and third in races won by Adare Manor and Sweet Azteca. Phil D’Amato trains Super Shine, whose rider is Hector Berrios.

The second stakes Monday is the Generous Portion (race 5) in which Knapp-trained In the Air Tonight bids for a sweep of the summer stakes series for California-bred 2-year-old fillies after she crushed the CTBA by more than five lengths. The win was no surprise to Knapp or jockey Tiago Pereira, even though she was racing for the first time since winning her debut by a nose in April.

“Tiago worked her every time, and we could see she was improving like crazy,” Knapp said. In the Air Tonight “trained beautifully [since] and should run another big race.”

Pereira is back aboard the Stay Thirsty filly, who drew the rail and will rally from behind.

The price play in the Generous Portion is her stablemate Thirsty in Vegas, who dueled on a fast pace in the CTBA and weakened to third. She had an excuse.

“She missed some time because one of her legs got infected,” Knapp said. “I think that affected her performance going into that race, and that’s why she got tired at the end. She won’t get tired this time.”

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The challenge for Thirsty in Vegas and jockey Tyler Baze is to put away pace rivals on her outside, including Thirsty Mama, Cayucos, and Hot Girl Walk. That won’t be easy, though inside speed has been effective most of summer.

Thirsty Mama finished a clear second in the CTBA, while Cayucos and Hot Girl Walk move up in class following decisive wins as odds-on favorites in maiden races.

Whoever starts favored in the Generous Portion has recent history on her side. Favorites won the stakes seven times in the past 12 years.

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