For the Week Of: 06/26/2023 through 07/02/2023
By 2YO EdgeMan
ELP1:062923 – Following a weather delay, D. Wayne Lukas watched his colt – #2 Market Street – easily splash to victory. He and rider Gabriel Saez broke very quickly and secured an early advantage of two plus lengths while setting fractions of 22.63 and 46.07. He opened up even further in the last furlong to score by 3 ¾ lengths, before stopping the timer in 58.81 for the five furlongs over the extremely sloppy going. This guy earned a respectable 78 E-Speed Fig and paid $22.54 as the longest shot on the board. Our pick – #4 Ozone – broke very slow and was last leaving the gate before being hustled up to the second position by the turn, but had nothing left in the tank and struggled late, checking in fourth. Learnings – Looking back, I can’t honestly say that I feel like I missed anything. Lukas had saddled a winner in one of ‘our races’ here at ELP earlier this meet with a FTS, but I didn’t see enough here to like this one a whole lot. I would suggest watching for two horses next time out – first, #5 Can Group, made a big run down the lane to come from well back to miss finishing second by less than a length. Also, #4 Ozone, surrendered several lengths coming out of the gate and spent quite a bit of energy to get back into the race, but then tired. He was not going to win this race, but he clearly showed ability until the late stages – I think that he’s worth a look next out, although will likely be at short odds.
ELP5:063023 – The powerful connections of Winchell and Asmussen somehow snuck this winner off at odds of 15/1 as – #10 Copper Em – wins pretty easily. Florent Geroux got her away from the gate smartly and she slipped off to a fairly short lead into and throughout the turn, but when the running started at the top of the stretch, she was not going to be denied, even with very little coaxing from her passenger. This FTS filly, by 1CS Copper Bullet, turned in swift fractions of 22.31 and 44.83, before hanging a nice final clocking of 56.87 (EBSF = 77) over the five furlongs listed in good condition. The $2W mutual was a very generous $33.88. Our pick – #5 Playback – was disappointing. She seemed to try to get into the thick of it early in the race, running tightly between horses, but then she’d had enough by about the quarter pole, fading to finish in the second half of the pack. Your winner, however, is still in the pot at the Game of Silks, not yet minted. Learnings – I got a little awestruck with Blue Prize’s first foal to race.
BEL1:063023 – This race was cancelled due to poor air quality.
ELP4:070123 – Last week belonged to Luis Saez, this one squarely went to Mr. Steve Asmussen. His charge – #2 Edified – was much the best in this one after a patient and heady ride from Joel Rosario. Off a half a step slow, Edified raced up to be second, then third around the turn, before displaying a fantastic turn of foot at the quarter pole quickly earning the lead. His final winning margin was an easy 3 ½ lengths and final time was a snappy 1:10.97 for the six furlong event (76 EBSF). He delivered a handsome $21.70 to his $2W backers. Our pick – #10 Normandy Hero – broke nicely and secured the lead before completely running out of steam at the ¼ pole after fractions of 22.70 and 45.89. Learnings – Gotta be transparent – this one stung. And at odds of 9/1? UGHHH! Clearly the Asmussen barn has been hot and the winning colt is by Tapit out of a mare who won first out and he’s got a half sibling who also won first out. There was lots to like here and I got way too caught up with the Omaha Beach colt and flat missed this one.
This concludes racing for the Spring Meet at Churchill Downs which obviously finished up it’s last six weeks or so at Ellis Park. Hopefully I don’t need to remind you that Saratoga opens on Thursday, July 13, but we’ll try to find quality race or two to cover for you until then. We’ll also try to put together another special ‘one off’ piece to prep for Saratoga – we hope that you liked the one that we did on First-Time Starters vs Non-Firsters last week. Thank you for your readership and interest in what we do. Enjoy the 4th and certainly be safe, my talented Edgies.
