Amani beat a field of ten Group 1 runners by 25 lengths in Chile and makes her first start off the dirt in today's $300,000 Clement Hirsch (Grade I).
An eclectic group of eight older females collide over 1 1/16-miles on Del Mar’s main track in the $300,000 Clement Hirsch (Grade I) with the winner earning an automatic berth into the Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic (Grade I) in November.
Since breaking her maiden here last summer, 2-to-1 favorite Include Me Out has won half of her eight starts including a trio of graded stakes events. The 4-year-old daughter of Inlcude saw her three-race winning streak snapped when she was defeated as the odds-on favorite in the Vanity (Grade I) at Hollywood Park on June 16.
Amani debuts in the U.S.in her first start as a 4-year-old as the 5-to-2 second choice after winning 10-of-11 starts in her native Chile. The daughter of Morning Raider made it a habit of disposing of her Chilean rivals emphatically, notching a quartet of Group 1 wins by a combined 42 ½-lengths. Yes, 42!
Back to two-turns for the first time since getting beat at odds-on in this race last year, Switch is the 7-to-2 third choice after snapping an eight-race losing streak in her last with a convincing 1 ¾-length win over seven furlongs in the A Gleam (Grade II) at Hollywood Park. Martin Garcia is aboard the runner-up in the last two Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprints (Grade I) for the first time.
In her first start off the turf, Star Billing is live at 12-to-1 with stakes dynamo Rafael Bejarano in the irons. The daughter of Dynaformer capped her 3-year-old campaign by winning the Matriarch (Grade I) at Hollywood Park, but was a massive disappoint in her first start of 2012 when she finished last in a field of eight as the 8-to-5 favorite in the ungraded Redondo Beach.
We’re off to the races!
Pick 4 -
Leg 1 – Race 7 (ALL) – An all-burger to start the sequence with some potentially nice juveniles. No. 2 Capo Bastone should go favored off hype, but we’ll hope for some of the chaos that can always happen when you have nine first-time starters.
Leg 2 – Race 8 (1,4,7) – Convinced that No. 3 Switch has lost a step and is better sprinting, we’ll go with No. 1 Include Me Out, No. 4 Amani and No. 7 Star Billing.
Leg 3 – Race 9 (1,2,3) – No. 2 Keep Me Posted is back on his preferred surface after making his first local start on the main track.
No. 1 Big Son of a Gun was claimed back by Vladimir Cerin out of a nice win and No. 3 Depth could be the late-running sprinter type that does well going long on turf.
Leg 4 – Race 10 (2,6,8,9,11) – Five bottom-level maiden female claimers with No. 2 Warren’s Passion, No. 6 Addendum, No. 8 Salon Blonde, No. 9 Nicole’s Mark and No. 11 California Roll.
Recap – (ALL) w (1,4,7) w (1,2,3) w (2,6,8,9,11) – Total cost of ticket = $202.50
Yesterday’s Result – (+$211,70)
Total for current Del Mar meet – (+$477.95)
Total from 12/26/10 – 7/15/12 – (-$1,571.15)
Pick 5 –
Leg 1 – Race 1 (4) – A speed brigade on the front with each of the other six runners wanting the lead should set things up perfectly for No. 4 Miss Reditore from off the pace. Even without the favorable pace scenario, she’s earned top Beyers in her last two races resulting in runner-up finishes in turf sprints.
Leg 2 – Race 2 (1,4,5,7) – No. 4 Low Gear Power drops back into an open claimer after becoming a new animal since moving to the barn of Jeff Mullins. He too gets a favorable pace scenario up front to set up his closing kick.
In search of value, we’ll add the trio of No. 1 Colonel Mustard, No. 5 Morganouska and No. 7 Lamm.
Leg 3 – Race 3 (1,2,3,4,7,8) – Six deep with Cal-bred allowance maiden using No. 1 Torreys K T M, No. 2 Winninrulz, No. 3 Fighting Hussar, No. 4 The Humancomplaint, No. 7 Stretch and No. 8 Mark’s Cat.
Leg 4 – Race 4 (5,6,7) – The majority of this field has little experience/success going two turns on turf so No. 6 Bonita Star will take some beating for potent connections off the layoff.
If she’s rusty, No. 5 Entabeni could notch her first win over the layout after five underneath finishes from eight races or No. 7 Buzznalawng could upset trying two turns and turf for the first time in her fourth career start.
Leg 5 – Race 5 (3,7,8) – No. 7 Dirty Swagg did no running in the Hollywood Juvy (Grade III) when breaking from the rail, but he did make up ground in his debut and should be tough her with a better break.
No. 3 Rolling Fog is a debuting Baffert with Bejarano aboard (enough said) and No. 8 Modern has caught the eye in a pair of local spins ahead of his debut.
Recap – (4) w (1,4,5,7) w (1,2,3,4,7,8) w (5,6,7) w (3,7,8) – Total cost of ticket = $108
Yesterday’s Result – (+$1,313)
Total for current Del Mar meet – (+$16,806.45)
Total from 7/20/11 – 7/15/12 – (+$1,874.55)
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Good luck!
