Wednesday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: Little Mombo finally gets on turf

Saratoga | Race 9 | Post Time 5:44 p.m. (ET) TimeformUS PPs are now available on DRF.com. Go to PPs

I’m not too fond of the expected favorites in this allowance turf sprint. Anna Karenine (#4) could go favored by default with Chad Brown and Irad Ortiz in her corner. While she’s run pretty well in both recent turf sprints, I thought she had pretty good trips on those occasions and failed to capitalize. She had every chance to reel in gate-to-wire winner Lady Milagro two back, and last time saved ground stalking the leaders before getting run down by closers late. Perhaps the slight turnback will suit her, but I wouldn’t want to take a short price on her.

Gun Boat (#5) exits that same June 3 race, but I’m willing to be more forgiving of her effort, since it was her first start off a yearlong layoff. She ran off to the front end, as she usually does, and just got a bit tired in the last furlong. She figures to be fitter for this start, but she’s still a horse who has always shown that tendency to shorten stride at the very end of her races.

Cadencia (#3) has been climbing the class ladder this year for William Morey and makes sense after just missing at this level last time. That was going a mile, and the race got somewhat easier for her when a spill in upper stretch severely compromised her two main rivals. Nevertheless, she still did well to nearly survive an honest pace going a distance that may be too far for her. I like her cutting back, and she has the versatility to rally from just off the pace.

My top pick is a new face in this lineup. Little Mombo (#6) makes her turf debut here, but she’s certainly bred for this surface. Into Mischief is an underrated turf sire, getting an above average 14% winners among his turf sprint starters, according to the DRF Sire Report. The dam only raced on turf during her career, winning three times and even placing in a stakes. Her progeny haven’t gotten many chances on turf, but Little Mombo strikes me as a filly who should handle it. It may be no coincidence that her only victory on dirt came over a sloppy, sealed track at Churchill, which can sometimes suit turf horses better than harrowed dirt. Her connections might have been thinking along those lines a year ago, because she was entered for grass and rained off the turf last June. She possesses versatile speed and is always quick out of the gate, so she should be sharp enough for this 5 1/2 furlong distance.