Weekend Warrior for Saturday, Dec. 10: Picks for Pulpit, Wait a While, Starlet

It’s all about 2-year-olds when it comes to Saturday’s stakes action. Los Alamitos Race Course offers a Grade 1 stakes doubleheader consisting of the Los Alamitos CashCall Futurity and the Starlet, each worth $300,000. And it is Juvenile Showcase Day at Gulfstream Park, where all 11 races, including six stakes, are for 2-year-olds.

Pulpit Stakes

Four horses in this race – Santi Knows Best, Master Plan, Lemonist, and Pure Synergy – come into this off two-turn maiden special weight victories on turf at Gulfstream Park West. Lemonist’s win was arguably the best of the four as his win margin of slightly more than nine lengths was by far the biggest, and his Beyer Speed Figure of 75 was narrowly the highest.

But like the three other last-out maiden winners noted here, Lemonist beat a field so weak that it no doubt assisted in making him look better than he might really be. In fact, the only one of these four whom I’m even mildly interested in is Master Plan, and that is because I liked the field he faced in his debut at Saratoga two starts back, when he finished fourth after a four-wide run around the far turn.

Concomitant is my play off two good efforts against straight maidens on turf at Belmont Park. Concomitant wasn’t going to beat barnmate Ticonderoga in his debut early in the Belmont fall meet. Ticonderoga was the 1-2 favorite in that race off a near miss in his debut to Good Samaritan, who went on to win the Summer Stakes and was arguably best when third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.

And sure enough, Ticonderoga scored decisively and subsequently finished second in the Bourbon Stakes and an excellent fourth in the Juvenile Turf. But Concomitant finished a willing third in an effort he could improve on.

Concomitant did just that in his most recent start. He showed much-improved early speed and held on determinedly after perhaps prematurely opening a big lead in upper stretch. Moreover, Concomitant’s maiden win came on yielding turf, a point worth noting if the showery south Florida forecast pans out and impacts the Gulfstream turf course.

Wait a While Stakes

On paper, Create a Dream absolutely towers over this field. She was fourth in her U.S. debut two starts back in the Miss Grillo after stumbling at the start, finishing behind New Money Honey and Coastal, who came back to finish one-two in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. And she followed up with a victory in the Chelsey Flower, in which she earned an 82 Beyer that is the best in this field.

However, Create a Dream drew post 14, an absolutely awful post going a mile on turf at Gulfstream with a short run to the first turn. That alone is an invitation to try to beat her.

I’m going with Lady Alexandra, Create a Dream’s uncoupled barnmate. Lady Alexandra won an off-the-turf sprint at Belmont in her only start, and while she was forced to work late after opening a big midstretch lead, it should be noted that she galloped out in front. The thing is, Lady Alexandra is clearly turf meant. She is by More Than Ready, was entered to run on turf in that Belmont race, and has worked steadily since then on the grass at Palm Meadows, and I anticipate a big step forward from her on turf Saturday.

Starlet Stakes

This race is the perfect test case of the age-old handicapping conundrum of what to do with bad trips in very slow races. American Gal had a nightmarish trip when third last time in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. She broke slowly, was eight or nine wide into the first turn, was five wide midway on the first turn, made a wide backstretch move, and was four wide on the far turn.

But the Juvenile Fillies was a painfully slow race with a winning Beyer of only 78. If that race were reasonably fast, would American Gal have finished far up the track, giving her effort a very different look? And to American Gal specifically, while she ran reasonably fast in winning her first two starts sprinting, who is to say she can do the same routing?

Berned is my pick. Berned was a gaining second in the Tempted most recently to Miss Sky Warrior, who came back to win the Demoiselle, and that after being stuck in traffic in upper stretch.