Hanshin Cup J

AMERICAN GRADED STAKES PREVIEWS

SPOTSGONE (Bright Launch) will face seven foes in hopes of defending his
title in the $100,000 Hanshin Cup H. (G3) at Arlington Park on Saturday. The
Jinks Fires trainee has kept good company since annexing this race last
season, winning the Essex H. and Sea O Erin Mile H. along the
way, and his affinity for this oval sways us in his corner. The five-year-old,
who has never been worse than second in three local tries, has very good early
speed and could sit the perfect ground-saving trip under Earlie Fires in this
spot. Expect good value on the Kentucky-bred.

CORAGIL CAT (Forest Wildcat) has registered five solid tries in 2008 for
Gregory Geier, capped by a daylight win in the Timeless Native S. in his most
recent effort. The improving four-year-old boasts a pair of wins over this
surface and should get a ton of speed to run at in the lane, so we expect a big
late showing from the colt to get into the top three. A fast enough early tempo
could lead jockey Diego Sanchez all the way to the winner’s circle atop the dark
bay.

STONEHOUSE (Chester House) has earned the top two BRIS Speed numbers in his
last pair for Spanky Broussard, and sports a 3-1-1-1 mark over this surface. The
four-year-old bay was clearly second best in the Milwaukee Avenue H. most
recently and could improve his second off the mini-break under James Graham. The
rail draw may force Graham’s hand in the early stages, but as long as the
Illinois-bred doesn’t duel early, he should have enough in the lane to
challenge.

STEVE’S DOUBLE (Stephen Got Even) ran off a trio of impressive scores in
succession for Ronny Werner last fall, topped by a score in the Perryville S.
(G3) over Keeneland’s Polytrack in October. The gelded four-year-old was fourth
in his yearly debut in the Louisiana H. and distanced in the Richter Scale
Sprint H. (G2) most recently, but the surface and the one-mile trip
in here should move him up to contend late. Ramsey Zimmerman has the call.

It seemed as though the hard-knocking, seven-year-old FORT PRADO (El Prado
[Ire]) was transitioned to a turf sprinter over the past year for Chris Block,
but the gray will make his second consecutive start at one mile or longer in this spot. The 16-time victor was fourth in this race last year in his
lone synthetic start to date, and a similar finish is expected beneath Eddie Razo Jr.

We’re not sure what to do with LOVANGO (Capote), who scorched home by eight
lengths in his lone synthetic effort to date. Conditioned by Hugh Robertson, the
bay colt has posted triple digit BRIS Speed numbers in three of his last four
tries, including a 108 over this surface, so he’s more than logical for those
inclined to spread in this race. The speedy four-year-old could get into some
trouble if he tries to contest the early lead, and we feel that it’s worth a
shot to try and beat him at short odds.

THRONG (Silver Deputy) was unplaced in this contest in 2007 for Todd Pletcher
but has improved considerably since that showing, bagging a pair of stakes wins
and finishing second in the Timeless Native most recently. The five-year-old
bay likes to be in the thick of it early, but in this contest that may prove to
be his undoing due to the amount of early zip signed on for this fray. At an
expected low price, we don’t like the Kentucky-bred. MORADA KEY (Carson City) has the profile of a late-running sprinter and would
surprise us with a win for Robert Holthus. The dark bay has talent and almost
always fires a shot in the lane, so he may be good to include in the vertical
exotics at a square price.