Stablemate, half-sisters square off in maiden sprint
?q=100)
Among humans, the relationship between two half-siblings can be complicated.
No such hangups exist among racehorses. But that doesn’t make it any easier for the humans who train them in tandem to pit them against each other, as will be the case when half-sisters Empirical and Fine by Me square off in a $23,000 maiden special weight for fillies and mares ages 3 and up that goes as Sunday’s sixth race at Emerald Downs.
“We did not want to run them together, but looking for another [similar race] in the condition book, it’d be another three weeks before that race comes back,” trainer Kay Cooper said. “By leaving one out, that puts almost six weeks in between races, which is too long. Hopefully, one wins and then goes right. Both are training well. I hate to run 3-year-olds against older, but I totally understand that with the lack of some divisions, we’re forced to.”
There are arguments to back either half-sister, whose shared a dam in Magic Lily. Empirical has only raced once, finishing a close second in a $25,000 maiden race restricted to 3-year-olds, and has the best last-out Beyer Speed Figure in the field, a 56. Fine by Me, a 4-year-old filly, finished third in her 2-year-old debut, was forced out of action for nearly a year with an injury, and then came back to finish a game second against older horses for the first time at this same condition. Both of her races came over six furlongs, which is the distance on Sunday, while Empirical only went five furlongs.
“Our rider, Francisco Monroy, I told him he had his pick and he looked at me and said, ‘Which one?’ ” explained Cooper, adding that the jockey chose Fine by Me. “It was very hard for him to decide. The better horse is going to have the luckier or cleaner trip because both of them are sitting on good races.”
In the eight-horse field, Company Girl looks like the only toss. The 3-year-old Guard Your Spot appears to be about even with Cooper’s pair, while Cape Blossom and Curlin’s Song are both inconsistent 4-year-olds who could triumph in this spot on a good day.
That leaves two unraced fillies, the 4-year-old Gracie’s Choice and 3-year-old Get Real Baby. Both have been training relatively well, but more so Get Real Baby, who has turned in a pair of near-bullet four-furlong works since the beginning of June in 46 seconds and change.
“You’ve got to worry about that one,” said Cooper of Get Real Baby, who is by 2020 Kentucky Derby winner and champion 3-year-old Authentic and gets the services of a top jockey in Manuel Americano. “[Trainer] Vince [Gibson] leads them over there ready to win. They’ve got the confidence in that horse that it’s gonna be a good one also. You don’t know if they’re going to go for the lead.”
◗ Sunday will see the running of the final three races in the weekend-long Indian Relay series at Emerald Downs, where 21 teams of riders from seven Indian nations across four states and two provinces compete in two-mile relay races. Each race involves four riders per team and purses total $84,000. Wagering is not permitted on the relays.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.