‘Dream’ one to beat in Chicago

Trainer Brad Cox won two stakes Wednesday night at Canterbury (should’ve won a third; T D Dance lost as much the best). Saturday at Churchill, he has entrants in five stakes races on the Stephen Foster card. But make room for Arlington, too, where Cox trains the most likely winner of the Grade 3, $100,000 Chicago Stakes, Dreamalildreamofu.

Dreamalildreamofu has the outside post in an 11-horse field, but should get a good, clear stalking trip in this sevenfurlong Polytrack sprint with a long run until the first turn. Dreamalildreamofu tries the Arlington surface for the first time but has handled everything she’s run over – dry and wet dirt, turf, and the Tapeta synthetic surface at Turfway, where she won the Latonia Stakes in March.

The more pressing question might concern distance: Dreamalildreamofu has raced nine times, all going two turns. She’s showed speed in her route races, but this sprint trip is an unknown variable.

“We’re trying to make her a graded stakes winner, and this looks like a good place to do it,” said Cox, the Eclipse-winning trainer of 2020. “Hopefully she likes the surface and hopefully she’ll take to the shortening up. She works well enough, you’d think she can do it.”

The Chicago entries are a hodgepodge: route horses shortening up, shorter sprinters trying longer, and horses unproven on synthetics. The 11 entrants made their most recent start at seven different venues. The form comes at you in confusing vectors; it’s not easy finding horses to support or eliminate. Dreamalildreamofu does enter off two strong showings this season. Last out, she was second at Pimlico to the good filly Spice Is Nice, who tries her luck Saturday at Churchill in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis.

Ambassador Luna might make the lead but looks suspect at anything longer than six furlongs. W W Fitzy and She Can’t Sing can stick close to the pace and are the only two entrants with wins over Arlington’s

main track. Amazima’s form lines catch the eye. A decent turf miler, Amazima was cut back to 5 1/2 furlong by trainer Brendan Walsh in her most recent race, rallying for third in a high-end Keeneland turf dash. She’s never tried a synthetic surface, but seven furlongs might suit her, and the race could shape her way, even if Dreamalildreamofu stands between Amazima and a Chicago victory.

Hanshin Cup

Blue Sky Kowboy is the pick to post an upset in the $100,000 Hanshin Cup, a one-turn Polytrack mile that could unfold at a rapid tempo. It had better if Blue Sky Kowboy is to have any chance. He runs late and probably prefers a longer trip, but the way Blue Sky Kowboy ran on Arlington’s tricky synthetic surface last summer suggests he’s not without a chance.

Blue Sky Kowboy always has struggled to unleash his late kick in time to actually win races, but last Sept. 12, in his second start of the summer, he jumped right into the bridle and carried jockey Chris Emigh to a six-length score in a high-level Illinois-bred allowance race. A fast Hanshin pace seems likely, and Blue Sky Kowboy will be the right price to take a win flyer.

Leading trainer Larry Rivelli entered Richiesinthehouse and Bizzee Channel. Bizzee Channel just won June 19 and only would be considered for a start, Rivelli said, should something keep Richiesintheouse from starting. Richiesinthehouse dueled and faded to sixth in the 2019 Hanshin, but Rivelli said the confirmed front-runner is doing better now than he was two summers ago.

“We’re at home and he warrants a shot. He’ll be in front, I know that,” Rivelli said.

But Richiesinthehouse will have to work to outrun raildrawn Betwithbothands to make a clear lead, and Background can chime in with some middle pace. That could set things up for a price horse like Blue Sky Kowboy or veteran turf campaigner Captivating Moon.