The Wild Applause
Not many will remember Wild Applause or the family she hailed from. It was one of the best grass pedigrees I can recall and she herself could be referred to as a lawn mower at times. Those were the old homebred days and Rokeby Stable, The Mellon family and Mack Miller were as good as it got.
It is only fitting there is a NYRA race named for Wild Applause and in her day, she’d likely trounce this field. That was then, this is now.
Gala Brand hasn’t started since a flop in the Breeders’ Cup. She was good enough to win her debut and good enough to beat the boys at Saratoga in the With Anticipation. She’ll need some pace to help her rally count but if she gets it I think she is ready to fire a big shot fresh.
Curlin’s Girl has some early speed and has Kendrick Carmouche up who loves to use early speed. I think she can press or push the pace, but I don’t believe she is good enough to prevail in here.
Vino Rouge has had two grass starts. Neither tells me she can win this.
Macanga is a little scary. She won her only start on the improve for new trainer Rick Dutrow. When Rick gets them good, they generally stay good. I think she sets the pace in here and if nobody softens her up or they let her go slow enough it could be bye-bye.
Tina Ballerina obviously improved a ton on the lawn. She’s a turf horse for sure but I don’t think she is as good as at least a few of these.
Awesome Czech comes in off the bench. It took her a few starts to hit her best when she started out at two and I think that could very well be the case again.
Grayosh has improved in each race except for the one where she clipped heels and lost her rider. She sits close and gets the jump on any deeper closers. She is a contender.
Chantilly Road is fresh off breaking her maiden. She should be part of the pace> I don’t think she is quite this god, not yet anyway.
Oversubscribed is a contender and might even be favored or a co-favorite. Both starts were very good and any additional improvement which is likely puts her smack in this when it counts.
I lean to Gala Brand in here. Yes, she will have to fire fresh and make up ground going just a mile, but she is classy and has fired fresh before. If she is not up to the task neither Oversubscribed or Macanga would surprise me in the least but 4-1 or so on a filly as good as I think Gala Brand is feels right to me. We’ll find out soon enough.