Stakes-quality field for Thursday allowance feature

DEL MAR, Calif. – The missing elements from an otherwise appealing allowance feature Thursday at Del Mar are graded designation and cash.

“It looks like it could be a Grade 3,” trainer Vladimir Cerin said, “for no money.”

A deep field with five stakes winners sprints for a $59,000 purse, including the sharp Silent Bird and the graded stakes winners Guns Loaded and Prospect Park. Why run in an allowance? Because from early November to late December, Southern California lacks a sprint stakes, a gap previously filled by the Grade 3 Vernon Underwood at Hollywood Park.

The $100,000 Damascus Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Sprint were run Nov. 4 and 5 at Santa Anita; the next dirt-sprint stakes in Southern California is the Grade 3 Midnight Lute on Dec. 31 at Santa Anita.

Silent Bird is the shared thread. He won the Damascus, is expected to target the Midnight Lute, and will start as one of the favorites Thursday after winning three straight. But he faces a tough rival in the Cerin-trained Conquest Cobra, a runner-up last out in a fast-paced route stakes. He benefits from a reduction in distance.

“He might be better at seven-eighths,” Cerin said. “It depends on the pace and how much pressure there is.”

Even if he is pressured by the blinkers-on Anytime Anyplace, fast fractions are nothing new for Conquest Cobra. He won a highly rated seven-furlong allowance last summer at Del Mar after pressing a 44.66-second half-mile.

Can he reproduce that effort? “He’s as good now as he was in summer, yes,” Cerin said.

Guns Loaded is the most accomplished entrant, having won back-to-back turf sprints last winter and spring at Santa Anita. He was ineligible for the Thursday allowance until the conditions of the non-winners-three-other-than were revised.

The race originally was restricted to horses who have “not won $60,000 since March 1.” Guns Loaded, whose eight wins include multiple allowances and stakes, earned $60,000 in winning a stakes April 2. The conditions were tweaked to “not won $60,000 since May 1,” allowing Guns Loaded to be eligible.

Others in the featured seventh race include the stakes winner Iron Rob, the only 3-year-old; Prospect Park, a Grade 3 route winner who finished fifth in his comeback; the stakes winner El Huerfano; Clever Royal; and Anytime Anyplace.

KEY CONTENDERS

Conquest Cobra, by Pioneerof the Nile
Last 3 Beyers: 101-80-103

◗ In addition to a pace advantage over his main rivals, the front-runner has the highest dirt-sprint Beyer Speed Figure in the field, a 103 earned racing seven furlongs at Del Mar last summer.

Silent Bird, by Summer Bird
Last 3 Beyers: 94-94-87

◗ His victory last out in the seven-furlong Damascus was more impressive visually than the number. A late runner trained by Mark Glatt, Silent Bird has never started at Del Mar, but he posted two fast works over the surface in late summer.

Guns Loaded, by D’wildcat
Last 3 Beyers: 99-63-89

◗ Trained by Doug O’Neill, he has won on turf, synthetic, and “fast” dirt. The allowance is his first start in two months.

Prospect Park, by Tapit
Last 3 Beyers: 86-95-89

◗ He won the Grade 3 La Jolla, a turf route for 3-year-olds, in 2015. His fifth-place comeback in the Damascus was his first start in nearly nine months.