Sun City rematches several from Glendale

PHOENIX – While the bright lights of the meet shine on Turf Paradise’s marquee event Saturday, the Phoenix Gold Cup, a couple of inscrutable grass stakes, the $30,000 Turf Paradise Handicap and the $30,000 Sun City Handicap, lend support to the card.

The Sun City, for fillies and mares at a mile, goes as race 4 and drew a field of 12. The Turf Paradise Handicap, at 1 1/16 miles, goes as race 7 and also lured 12.

Familiar foes butt heads in the Sun City, with many having just competed in the Glendale on this course Jan. 14. That race was won by Peppy Miller, with Peach Time and French Alps finishing in a dead heat for second. All three return in the Sun City.

Peppy Miller sat well back in the Glendale and finished strongly to post the 12-1 upset. She also won the Sun City last year.

Peach Time may have deserved a better fate in the Glendale. She had significant traffic issues in the lane before finishing on even terms with French Alps, who had stalked the pace and taken the lead in midstretch before Peppy Miller shot past.

Ronda Rocks was the 5-2 favorite in the Glendale on the strength of first-place finishes in her prior four starts, including the Queen of the Green here Nov. 26 (though she was disqualified to second). In the Glendale, she stalked the pace and loomed a big threat while rallying wide into the lane but faded to ninth.

Complimentary is also back from the Glendale, where she stalked the pace and finished eighth after a wide trip.

Other threats are Hip Ninety Three, a stakes winner on this course who was very wide and in traffic when seventh in the Glendale, and Detail, who was very wide when fifth. She came right back to win an optional claimer here Feb. 1.

Identifying the one to beat in the Turf Paradise Handicap isn’t difficult. Ten Carat Rock, owned and trained by Troy Smith, comes here riding high, having won four straight.

The streak started on dirt at Finger Lakes in New York last September, when Smith claimed him for $5,000. He won another dirt route there Oct. 19 before coming here to easily win an optional claimer on grass Dec. 12 at 20-1. He dove into deeper waters in the Cotton Fitzsimmons Mile on this course Jan. 14 and showed that his prior win was no fluke. Sent off at 17-1, he pressed the pace, took over turning for home, and beat Southern California invader Power Ped by a head. Dave Lopez, aboard for his last three races, rides Ten Carat Rock on Saturday.

His rivals include Infinite Magic, who makes his first start here after knocking heads with some tough rivals in Southern California; Ride Hard Kowboy, Charlie Again, and Aventador, the top three finishers in the Walter R. Cluer on this course Nov. 26; and Red Zeus, third, only a length behind Ten Carat Rock, in the Fitzsimmons Mile.