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Y42 Steward’s Cup Recap: All-Weather Sprints Edition
Original article written by Jack Meyer posted 8 years 0 weeks agoI will be writing a series of articles recapping the Steward’s Cup Year 42 beginning with the All-Weather races ran on Monday. It was a fast track at Artificial Arena heading into Monday’s action where many older horses would give it one more go giving way to the younger generation of up and comers that were trying to make a name for themselves. The excitement was real and the emotions were high, so let’s get started with the babies in the All-Weather Sprint division.
The Steward’s Cup Synthetic Filly Dash saw a field of nine young ladies head to the post with rivalries to settle, dreams to be made and dashed, and 200K on the line for the winner. Council Tax broke swiftly from the gate sprinting out to as much as a 2 ¾ length lead at the top of the stretch before holding off the late charging Walnut Belle and outgunning fellow speedball Speedy Tractor. The top three finishers were no strangers to one another having faced each other several times leading up to the race, Walnut Belle was coming in undefeated, while Council Tax was hell bent on making sure her road to the lead wasn’t hindered like it was in her most recent defeat. In the end Council Tax wore down the other speed while just outlasting the late charging Walnut Belle to capture her 5th win in 7 career starts.
The Steward’s Cup Synthetic Dash was very different than the Filly Dash, the overwhelming favorite in the race All Too Real scared away the majority of his rivals after posting Speed Figures of 80 or higher in 4 of his first 6 races heading into the Steward’s Cup. Owner Eugene Ferguson’s Steward bred purchase didn’t disappoint as he decimated the field on his way to a 4 ¾ length victory in stunning fashion clocking in with as astounding 94 Speed Figure to end his Freshman year. The 2YO son of Game Point Sire All Too Hard is a sure fire top 3 candidate for 2YO All-Weather Simmy Award and will be a force to be reckoned with next year.
The Steward’s Cup Synthetic Speed is the next race on the card of four to cover, Regina Moore’s Paradise Street ended her illustrious career with a bang running down the game About Noon in the stretch to score the 1 ¼ length victory. Paradise Street ended her career with 9 wins in 27 starts with nearly 850K in earnings, I think the fact that just 4 filly and mares showed up to challenge her shows the respect she had within the All-Weather ranks among her peers and also is the likely cause of that low 74 Speed Figure since she may not have given it her all once she had About Noon in her sights and knew she had the race in the bag.
The 4th and final race to cover in this edition is the Steward’s Cup Synthetic Sprint, the race drew 9 horses to the post for the 750K event. The young filly Cara Stamm received the majority of the betting making her the odds on favorite to beat the boys in her first try, but the ten time winning powerhouse Peridex was the close second choice once the betting windows closed. The speedy At the Gallows End would get the lead the way he wanted from the start outgunning the swift Formidable Rabbit and the feisty Aznavour, he was all out as the wire came edging Aznavour by a head and holding off the deep closing Cara Stamm under the wire. It was At the Gallows End’s 15th win in 30 career starts pushing his earnings over 1 million dollars, he now retires to stud duty making way for those other youngsters waiting in the wings.
That will wrap up the first edition of the Steward’s Cup Recap for Year 42, the next segment will feature the All-Weather Milers as they etched their hoof prints in the SIM history books.
Jack Meyer