Grade I Man O’ War Stakes and Grade I Hollywood Gold Cup

Race-day:  7/11/2009
Race-times:  Man O’ War at 4:12 pm est. and Hollywood Gold Cup at 7:30 pm est.

Even though it’s a huge day at Calder, the two biggest races of the day occur on the opposite end of the U.S.

On the east coast, at Belmont Park, is the Grade I Man O’ War Stakes.  Then, roughly 3 hrs and 18 minutes later the Grade I Hollywood Gold Cup will go off at Hollywood Park.

Let’s take a look at both races.

Belmont Park – Race 7

Grade I Man O’War Stakes
$500,000
For Three Year Olds and Up
1 3/8 miles on the inner turf

Gio Ponti is a deserving favorite but Bobby Frankel’s Midships, who has won three races in a row on the west coast, is lone speed.  I never bet against lone speed on the inner turf at Belmont.  I especially don’t when the horse with the lone speed is trained by Frankel.  Midships goes gate to wire in this.  The Neil Drysdale trained Marsh Side, who finished second to Gio Ponti in the Grade I Manhattan in his last, could provide some value underneath.  He’ll be closer to Midships than Gio Ponti and lost by only 1 ½ lengths to that rival in the Manhattan.  Gio Ponti is the horse to beat.  The pace isn’t on his side, but he could be tough based simply on class.

1. Midships
2. Marsh Side
3. Gio Ponti

Hollywood Park – Race 8

Grade I Hollywood Gold Cup
$700,000
For Three Year Olds and Upward
1 ¼ miles on cushion track

It’s going to be awfully tough to beat Parading, but I’m going to try with Life Is Sweet.  The 4 year old daughter of Storm Cat will be racing against males in this, but she had been running against the likes of Zenyatta.  She has a terrific record on all weather surfaces and could very well take it to the fellas in this.  I’ll tab her for the victory.  Parading is just awesome right now.  His Grade II victory on the turf in the Dixie Handicap came on the heels of a win on the Polytrack at Keeneland in the Grade III Ben Ali Stakes.  He’s versatile enough to lead or stalk and couldn’t be doing any better for trainer Shug McGaughey.  Bullsbay never fired in the Grade I Stephen Foster in his last but before that he had won two in a row including the Grade III Alysheba Stakes.  He’s classy and has a decent record on all weather surfaces.

1. Life Is Sweet
2. Parading
3. Bullsbay