Litfin at Large: Mile Stakes Races Provide Intrigue

Nothing blends speed and stamina like a top-class mile, and the three biggest races June 3 are at that distance. 

Sharing top billing Saturday at Santa Anita Park are a pair of $400,000 events, the Shoemaker Mile Stakes (G1T) on turf, and the Beholder Mile (G1) on the main track. The Beholder, formerly run as the Vanity Mile, has been renamed for the three-time champion mare.

At Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course, the $500,000 Penn Mile (G2T) brings together 3-year-old milers, and anchors a program bolstered by six other stakes. The Penn Mile could produce starters for the Belmont Derby Invitational (G1T) at Belmont Park on July 8.

The key local prep for the Belmont Derby is the $200,000 Pennine Ridge (G3T), a nine-furlong race that headlines Saturday's card on Long Island.

Shoemaker Mile (SA, race 7, 4:05 PT): It's always entertaining to watch a race with a short run to the first turn where two main contenders have early speed and are drawn inside. That is the situation here with Heart to Heart (#1) and What a View (#2), a couple of accomplished 6-year-old veterans who do their best running on or near the front-end.

Heart to Heart has won better than 50% of his turf starts (11 for 21), but has been out of the money as the favorite in both previous attempts at Santa Anita, the 2014 Mathis Brothers Mile Stakes (G2T) and last year's Shoemaker.

What a View has a stellar 6-3-0 record from 10 outings over the local course, and it would be even better had he not been nipped in photo finishes by Bal a Bali   (#3) and Bolo (#7) earlier this year.

Bal a Bali has run only once since nailing What a View in the Frank Kilroe Mile (G1T), finishing fifth in the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (G1T) four weeks ago. That was the Brazilian import's first start outside California since coming to the U.S., and he may rebound back on his home grounds, while cutting back from 1 1/8 miles on rain-softened turf he may have disliked.

Farhaan (#4) recently beat Bolo on the square in the one-mile Thunder Road (G3T), running four successively faster quarter-mile splits. The late-blooming 8-year-old seems in line for a favorable pace setup.

A - 3, 4

B - 1, 2, 7

Beholder Mile (SA, race 8, 4:37 PT): Although last year's champion 3-year-old filly, Songbird, will be flown cross-country to make her seasonal debut in the Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1) next week at Belmont, this race attracted the three other top-class mares on the Southern California circuit: Vale Dori (#1), Stellar Wind (#2) and Finest City (#4).

Stellar Wind was second to Beholder in this race last year, but then beat the shoo-in Hall Of Famer in the Clement L. Hirsch (G1) and the Zenyatta (G1), before a disastrous start en route to a fourth-place finish behind her nemesis in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1).

Stellar Wind launched her 5-year-old campaign with a win in the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) over Terra Promessa, who subsequently won the Allaire DuPont Distaff Stakes (G3) by better than seven lengths, and she only figures to move forward off that effort.

Eight furlongs can be a no man's land of sorts, pitting sprinters trying to stretch out against routers cutting back, and that is an interesting sub-plot here for the rematch between Vale Dori and Finest City, who first locked horns in the Santa Margarita (G1) at 1 1/8 miles. 

That distance was probably just a bit too far for Finest City, last year's champion female sprinter, who followed up with a sharp try finishing second in the Humana Distaff (G1) at seven furlongs.

Vale Dori garnered her first grade 1 score when she turned back Finest City in the Santa Margarita, and while she then stretched her current winning streak to six by taking the Adoration (G3), she had to work harder than expected to prevail by a half-length over Skye Diamonds, who was running in $40,000 claiming races last summer.

A - 2

B - 1

C - 4

Penn Mile (Pen, race 9, 7:45 ET): There is no shortage of early speed in this race, which is a newly minted grade 2 race for its fifth running thanks to the exploits of past winners Bobby's Kitten (2014), who won the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) later in the year; Force the Pass (2015), who came right back to win the Belmont Derby; and last year's heroine Catch a Glimpse, the multiple graded stakes-winning filly who beat the boys, and then won the Belmont Oaks Invitational (G1T) a few weeks later.

It remains to be seen whether this renewal can measure up to those lofty standards, as the only graded stakes winner in the lineup is Big Score (#7), who edged Holiday Stone (#6) in the Transylvania Stakes Presented by Keeneland Select (G3T).

By the luck of the draw, the three primary speed horses: Time to Travel (#3), Cistron (#4) and Mo Maverick (#5), drew alongside one another toward the inside. 

Time to Travel, second in the Sir Barton Stakes on the Preakness undercard, has only run on dirt thus far, but the son of Hard Spun   is bred to handle grass, and his trainer, Michael Matz, does very well with first-time turf runners.

A contested pace could help Big Score, and it could also work to the advantage of Frostmourne (#8), who had a good conditioning race first out this season when second in Aqueduct Racetrack's Woodhaven Stakes to Secretary At War. The latter runs in the Pennine Ridge two hours earlier, which may provide some clues.

A - 7, 8

B - 3, 4

C - 4, 6

Pennine Ridge (Bel, race 9, 5:45 ET): It is difficult to provide any sort of track profile information, as so far there has only been one race at the meet going nine furlongs on the inner turf.

A short run to the first turn may provoke a sense of urgency among Oscar Performance (#6) and Secretary At War (#8), who seem likeliest to try for the lead.

In two starts at age 3, Oscar Performance has struggled to find the form he displayed winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Stakes (G1T), as well as the Pilgrim Stakes (G3T) over this course; it hasn't helped that he was tardy from the gate when off the board as the favorite in both the Transylvania and the American Turf (G2T). I'm using him only protectively.

Secretary At War is a lightly raced and improving War Front   colt in the capable hands of Jimmy Jerkens. He refused to let Frostmourne get by in the Woodhaven, which was his first start against winners, and could give Oscar Performance all kinds of problems if the latter fails to break alertly yet again.

Should a duel develop, waiting in the wings will be the trio of Makarios (#4), Ticonderoga (#7) and Good Samaritan (#9).

Makarious is listed at 10-1 on the morning line, which seems generous considering he has been victorious at 1 1/8 miles and 1 3/16 miles, whereas none of the others have any experience whatsoever beyond 1 1/16 miles.

Ticonderoga was edged for third by Makarious in the Transylvania, after bumping at the start with Oscar Performance, and then bobbling while switching leads in the stretch, as if not entirely confident about the "good" conditions underfoot.

Good Samaritan, the 8-5 morning-line favorite, made up all kinds of ground for third through a wide journey in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. He may find the added real estate suitable, after returning with a late run for second in the American Turf off a six-month absence.

A - 7, 9

B - 8

C - 4, 6