November 7, 2024
TORONTO — By Matthew Lomon
The Art of Resilience
The 2024 campaign hasn’t exactly gone to plan for multiple graded stakes winner Master Piece (CHI), but the 8-year-old Chilean-bred can paint his season in a different light with a successful defense of his Red Smith (G2) crown on Saturday afternoon at Aqueduct.
Returning to the site of his lone 2024 victory (Grade 2 Fort Marcy; 6: 1-0-2 record), Master Piece finds himself on comfortable grounds for the $300,000 Red Smith.
That familiarity may bode well for the Jose Lezcano mount’s chances to repeat, and oddsmakers seem to agree.
Master Piece (5-2) enters the 1 3/8-mile contest as the second choice behind 2-1 favorite Integration.
Star on any Surface
Following in the footsteps of Canadian Olympic legend Clara Hughes, who won multiple medals in both speed skating and cycling, Deterministic has won graded stakes on both the dirt (Grade 3 Gotham) and turf (Grade 3 Virginia Derby).
The 3-year-old colt’s quest for a second graded turf championship continues this Saturday in the $200,000 Hill Prince (G3T) at Aqueduct.
Squaring off against a cast of six other competitors, including Cugino (5-2) and Royal Majesty (GB) (7-2), Deterministic will attempt to stay in the form that’s yielded strong results over his past four starts (1-2-1).
Trained by turf specialist Christophe Clement, Deterministic enters at 2-1.
Ours for the Taking
While Cash Equity (FR) versus Gigante sounds like a teaser for The Penguin, it’s really the set-up for an exciting clash between two accomplished starters in this Saturday’s $300,000 River City (G3T) at Churchill Downs.
The former, and 5-2 opening line favorite Cash Equity, returns for his third career dash at Churchill Downs following consecutive seconds in mid-summer claiming battles.
The latter, despite banking over $1 million across 16 starts (6-1-1 line headlined by Grade 2 Secretariat score), enters at 12-1.
But if The Penguin has taught us anything, it’s not to underestimate a Gigante.
Cash Equity and Gigante will line up next to each other, leaving from post nine and 10, respectively.
Fall Classic
What do Paramount Prince (7-2), War Bomber (IRE) (6-1), Dresden Row (8-1), and Artie’s Storm (10-1) all have in common?
If you guessed, ‘they’re all multiple graded stakes winners competing in Saturday afternoon’s $175,000 Autumn Stakes (G2) at Woodbine,’ you’d be correct.
If you also guessed, ‘none of them are the opening line favorite in the Autumn,’ you’d get points too.
As it turns out, Forever Souper, a multiple stakes winner who has never competed at the graded ranks, is the 1 1/8-mile affair’s leading choice at 3-1.
So, what does this all mean for horseplayers? This year’s edition of the Autumn is can’t-miss TV.
Game Within the Game
After executing the game plan perfectly last time out in the Waya (G3T), La Mehana (FR) and rider Kendrick Carmouche have their sights set on a repeat performance in Sunday’s $300,000 Long Island (G3T).
Staying within the friendly confines of Aqueduct, La Mehana and Carmouche may need to tweak their strategy against a much larger field of competitors (11 compared to six in the Waya).
In four starts since coming over from France (1-0-2), the Christophe Clement charge has never competed in a field with more than six competitors.
It will be interesting to see how the approach changes this time around, but if the Waya was any indication of what La Mehana is capable of then the 5-year-old mare should remain a top contender.