Weekend Stakes Races: Sunshine Millions Day Brings Out the Best in SoCal and Florida
Santa Anita and Gulfstream Park come together this Saturday for their annual Sunshine Millions Day of Racing. The Sunshine Millions is a set of horse races determined to place Florida and SoCal racing into the hearts and minds of horseplayers all over the world.
It is what is says it is: races with six figure purses that only California or Florida bred ponies can enter. Cali and Flory (okay…that’s bad!) produce so much talent that the in the Sunshine Millions are usually quite competitive. Horseplayers had better hope so. The favorites in the two biggest races I’m looking at, the Sunshine Millions Turf and the Sunshine Millions Classic, are Soldier’s Dancer and The Usual QT. Those dudes are two tough equines. Of course, I’ll try to beat them.
Sunshine Millions Day: Turf and Classic
Gulfstream Park – Race 10
Sunshine Millions Turf
Race-time: 5:43 pm EST
$300,000
For Four Year Olds and Upward Bred in California or Florida and Registered with the CTBA or the FTBOA
1 1/8th miles on turf
Soldier’s Dancer should romp in the Turf, but I can’t bet him at 8 to 5 or lower in this. I’m going with Jet Propulsion who is switching barns to Martin Wolfson. Wolfson is 56% first after the claim, albeit with only 9 horses. He’s also 30% with his horses in the 46 to 90 days away category. The “French Superman”, Julien Leparoux, takes the call. I’ll roll the dice on Jet Propulsion in this. As I wrote above, Soldier’s Dancer should romp. The Grade III winner has won 7 out of 4 at this distance, has won his last 2, and is coming off of a layoff, which is a winning angle for him. The lone knock is a big one. Jockey Manuel R. Cruz is 0 for 18 at this meet. Duke of Mischief’s morning line in this is 8 to 1. Wow. Yes, the horse appears to be better on dirt than turf, but he beat Kiss The Kid and Mambo Meister in his last. Again, that race was on dirt and this is turf, but…he beat Kiss The Kid and Mambo Meister in his last. Save for Jet Propulsion and Soldier’s Dancer, two horses tower over the rest of this field. Duke of Mischief has a big shot in this.
- Jet Propulsion
- Soldier’s Dancer
- Duke of Mischief
Santa Anita – Race 8
Sunshine Millions Classic
Race-time: 6:38 pm EST
$500,000
For Four Year Olds and Upward Bred in California or Florida and Registered with the CTBA or the FTBOA
1 1/8 miles on all weather
This is a tough race to handicap only because the likely favorite, The Usual QT, has proven to be terrific on turf and not so terrific, actually downright mediocre, on an all weather surface. Why the connections of The Usual QT decided to enter him in this instead of the Sunshine Millions’ Turf is odd. Anyhow, I have to try to beat him, but with whom? How about Wicked Style who has been running at Churchill Downs and Keeneland? Wicked Style gets Rafael Bejarano, tests this off of a layoff, and has 3 victories, a second, and 2 thirds out of 8 lifetime races on the plastic. He’s my guy in the Sunshine Millions Classic…if he doesn’t go in the Sunshine Millions Turf. Wicked Style is cross-entered in the two biggest Sunshine Millions races. The Usual QT is just too good to leave out of the exacta. He could class his way to a victory in this. He’s won 6 straight races, all of them on turf, including the Grade I Hollywood Derby. Jeranimo likes Santa Anita’s Pro-Ride. His record of 2-2-2 out of 7 lifetime races attests to that. He’s never run this far, but his odds will be solid and he has that grinding style that could work in this work.
- Wicked Style
- The Usual QT
- Jeranimo
** If Wicked Style doesn’t go, then I’ll move the The Usual QT to the top spot and play him in an exacta over Jeranimo and Unusual Smoke. Both of those should provide value underneath The Usual QT.
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