Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Kasaqui short price in Ahrens
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – It’s 90-some degrees in late September, and Arlington, starved for horses all season, has a 13-race Saturday card overflowing with runners.
The entry box this week was as hot as the weather, and with 140 horses entered in 13 races, the 2017 meet that ends Saturday is going out with a bang.
Two $65,000 overnight stakes races went like the rest of the program: There are 10 in the Les Ahrens Memorial and 14 in the Steve Morgan Memorial. Both races are carded for one mile on turf.
The Ahrens Memorial, named for the Chicago jockey and trainer who died unexpectedly this year, drew an excellent field for the class level, with Kasaqui installed as the 6-5 morning-line favorite.
Trainer Ignacio Correas has been pointing Kasaqui to this spot for several weeks, but bettors should keep in mind that the Ahrens Memorial is a stepping-stone to richer races this fall in Kentucky. Kasaqui finished second in the 2016 Arlington Million, and though he found less success this year, finishing ninth, he was beaten only 3 1/4 lengths after a lessthan-ideal trip.
Kasaqui turns back in distance from 1 1/4 miles and 1 3/16 miles but ran his best race this year in winning the Grade 2 Wise Dan over 1 1/16 miles.
The one-mile trip would seem short for Applicator, who was running in turf marathons earlier this summer, but trainer Michael Yanakov cut Applicator back to one mile, and the gelding won the $270,000 Tourist Mile on Sept. 6 at Kentucky Downs. It’s hard to know quite what to make of a race that was run at a dawdling pace over a wet European-style course.
Oak Brook beat Kasaqui by a head July 8 in the Arlington Handicap and beat him again when setting the pace and holding sixth in the Million. But Oak Brook, wearing front bandages for the first time this year, looked over the top when he was run down late as the odds-on favorite Sept. 4 in an Illinois-bred allowance race.
There’s no good reason to see Oak Brook coming back on, and the horse who just beat him, Christian C, is going in the right direction and will offer a better price Saturday.
But the pick to post a mild upset is Cammack, who got bogged down along the fence last out at Kentucky Downs in a $25,000 starter-allowance race of high-end-allowance quality. Cammack loves the Arlington course, has won three of four starts at one mile, and could fall into an ideal trip at a price.
Rematch in Morgan Memorial
Lovely Loyree has won seven of her 18 starts and finished worse than third only twice. She clearly enjoys racing, but eating might give the mare even more pleasure.
Trainer Michele Boyce has struggled all season to get Lovely Loyree down to fighting weight, and Lovely Loyree will have to be fit following a layoff of more than three months to win the Steve Morgan Memorial.
Morgan, a longtime Chicago steward, died unexpectedly this summer.
Lovely Loyree has raced only once this year, winning the Mike Spellman Memorial on June 17 over a very wet course that she had little trouble handling. She has always run well fresh and had her best season last year at age 5, but there are plenty of other options in the Morgan Memorial.
Among them is 5-2 morningline favorite Prado’s Sweet Ride, who floundered over the same wet course that Lovely Loyree dealt with in the Spellman Memorial.
Prado’s Sweet Ride came back with a second-place finish in the Grade 3 Modesty Handicap, and after mulling his options for a couple weeks, trainer Chris Block tried her in the Grade 1 Beverly D. Prado’s Sweet Ride could only finish 10th, but she was beaten just five lengths at a distance probably farther than her best. Hot, dry weather has really firmed up the Arlington course, and that is a plus for Prado’s Sweet Ride.
Daddy’s Boo, a winner in 14 of her 23 races, will set the pace from the rail, but she seems vulnerable in a race this deep, and the one to consider beyond the two favorites is Shelbysmile. Shelbysmile hasn’t started since she was eased in the homestretch May 27 in the Grade 2 Nassau at Woodbine, but the 4-year-old filly, trained by Brendan Walsh, has run three races – two last year and one in April – that would put her in the mix.