Race 6: #1 Red Ensign (4-1)
#1 Red Ensign (4-1) could make it back-to-back with a potentially sweet set-up in this race positioned behind a trio of front-runners. He put in a respectable effort two back in his debut when he had a wide trip against tougher competition. He didn’t take a step forward on speed figures in start number two, but he did appreciate the easier competition when breaking his maiden after stalking the pace. I like that he’s paired up Beyer tops of 51 in his two races, suggesting that he could take a step forward in start number three. #3 Classy Image, #5 I’ma Souperman, and #7 Crafty Oaks all possess a fair amount of speed and I imagine Kimura will have Red Ensign positioned right behind them and save every inch of ground. Speaking of, it’s encouraging that Kazushi shows up to ride here when he seemingly had other options.
Race 10: #1 Cefalo (8-1)
The two main speeds in the nightcap are longshots drawn towards the outside in posts #8 and #9. The rest of this field typically wants to come from well out of it and that includes the two likely favorites #3 Kitten’s Romance and #5 Wicked Mercury. I tried to find a runner who might be able to stalk the pace and get the first run on the closers and eventually settled on #1 Cefalo (8-1). She needs to find a bit more in the speed figure department, but I’m hoping she can negate that problem with the right trip. She’s exiting the same race as the two favorites when she had an interesting trip. Cefalo broke well from the rail and was right behind a fast pace in the opening quarter, but then she fell back to nearly last before re-rallying in the stretch to split the field. Strange trip that day but the victory two was solid when she stalked the pace and was able to run by the leaders in the stretch against slightly easier competition. She’s getting a big jockey upgrade to Kimura and it’s interesting that he teams up with this trainer for the first time.
