Churchill Downs, Race 2 – Monday, May 29, 2023
By 2YO EdgeMan
CD2:052923 – Five furlongs on the dirt. A field of eight has been assembled for this event restricted to 2YO MSWs that have gone through public auction and sold or RNAed for $50,000 or less. One gal faces seven guys as they via for a total puse of $92,000. The majority (five) have had one competitive spin on the track and the other three will be cutting their teeth on racing for the first time. From the sire side, we’ve got a Street Sense, a More Than Ready and Munnings and looking at trainers, both Paul McEntee and John Ennis have submitted two youngsters to run. I’ve gotta be honest – this race does not light my fire, but hey, it still includes babies and you just never know. Since not too many of these excite me, I’m only going to cover two of them…
#5 – Kennel Club (6/1) – This FTS by the late More Than Ready sold for $30,000 as a yearling last fall at Keeneland. His mom is by Tale of the Cat and got her pic taken three times in 25 career tries and cashed in for $58,000. She has thrown two foals that earned north of $100K and another that won at first asking in July of his two-year-old year when he flashed an 82 EBSF at Los Al. Trainer Caio Caramori is looking for his first win at CD in the spring going back to 2018 after having started 2YO three previous times in MSW affairs, however he did score with one last fall at Keeneland. The guy has most recently been working at KEE having put four mediocre workouts there. Prior to that, back in March, he had two morning outings down in Ocala at The Classic Mile and one of those was a bullet, albeit only six worked there that day at three panels, when he breezed in 36 flat. Francisco Arrieta will be his reinsman.
#8 – Five o’Somewhere (5/2) – The morning line favorite has one race under his belt, but it was nothing to write home about when he finished a lackluster sixth place back on 5/11/23 here at CD. He is sired by Munnings and brought $30,000 as a Keeneland September yearling graduate (85/91). His dam is by Tiznow, but she was unraced as is her 3YO Street Sense filly and her 4YO Ghostzapper filly is winless in three outings. Kenneth Spraggins, who has part ownership in this gelding, shipped this guy back up to Chicago to work at Hawthorne Park on 5/21/23 where he rifled off a bullet going 47.0 for 4f (1/45).
Pick – #5 Kennel Club – Sometimes it’s more of a process of elimination as opposed to getting fired up about one. I do really like More Than Ready and the fact that he has a half sibling that won as a FTS at two sweetens the pot for me.
The condition book calls for a baby race at both CD and BEL next Thursday and Friday, so be on the look out for those, as well as the ‘Sum Up and Learnings’ piece for this one – all right here on the best racing site on the planet!
