Bench Points a Real Good Deal?

At Del Mar, late this afternoon is the Real Good Deal Stakes race going 7 furlongs. The purse is for $100K and there is a real nice 3YO gelding in the field. With only 8 races under his belt, Bench Points has shown that he will be one of the top sprinters on the West Coast. Right now he is solid G3 sprinter winning the Laz Barrera Memorial (G3) at Hollywood Park by a nose and posting an impressive 96 Beyer. After that his connections ran him in the G1 Triple Bend and Smiling Tiger was a power house that day. Again, Bench Points posted a respectable Beyer of 95. So out of 8 races he has won 5, the two loses were at the G1 level and the other was the G2 San Felipe were he ran a distant 3rd. He is one to definitely put into your virtual stable.

For today’s race, I see no reason he will not repeat against this field, he is well rested, good workouts at Del Mar and Bejarano stays in the irons. Unfortunately, a wicked good horse but lousy odds, and one who looks for value and the upset factor. I really had to stretch to find one that might bring a good race at Bench Points. I see only one horse that getting the best trip, not bouncing from last outing, could make trouble and steal this purse. That would be Warren’s Knockout. He has won 3 of 8, including the Grey Memorial Stakes (71K), has posted Beyer’s in the 90’s at this distance. Has raced against some tough horses and held his own, like Prayer For Relief (won WVA Derby G2), Cloud Man and Burns. The issue with Warren’s Knockout is that he is coming back somewhat quickly from his last win and has a tendency to bounce off good efforts. That makes him the classic dark horse.

A lot will depend on the race shape for there is little front end speed in this group. Chiloquin should be the one to take them out, but don’t see enough in him to go wire to wire. The rest will press and not sure if any will take the lead if offered. Bench Points and Warren’s Knockout are both closers, along with Lucky Mr. K 9 (who is dangerous in his own right). If both can stay clear of trouble, and find the lane home it could turn into a fun duel to watch. But in the end, Bench Points should be the Real Good Deal. A win/place wager on Warren’s Knockout at 6-1 or better.

Creative Cause is our new Best Pal

We all know that Bob Baffert is a great trainer, and has a marvelous stable of 2YO’s. Even though, I believed Brigand would continue to show us another Baffert winner, I was happy for Mike Harrington to bring us a great looking horse in Creative Cause. He is everything his first race showed, and Bejarano set him up perfectly. Well done to the connections and we can expect great things from this 2YO going forward. (The race replay is below). Race analysis at HANA

In looking at the rest of the field, my choice, I’ll Have Another went off at a nice price of 6-1 and raced well. Took the lead and really didn’t relent to the better horse till near the end. I expect we will see big things of him too. The big surprise was Mighty Monsoon (Bombs Away choice). He got off to a terrible start, lagged the field and down the stretch kicked into gear. Not sure if a better start would have helped him in catching Creative Cause, but he was flying at the end. Look for him to show up in routes and grass events.

Brigand and Galex were disappointments. Both pressed early and seemed to vanish on the turn for home and Night Tide showed nothing. I mentioned in the analysis a concern about Night Tide grittiness and he showed again no fire. Not sure how I see him going forward. I do expect to see Brigand come back and do well, thinking this might have been a race regression from last out effort. He’ll be back.

Enjoy the race replay and see you later in the week.