Game On Dude, Wasted Tears top draws for Lone Star Million
Day
The reigning winners of the prestigious Santa Anita H. (Grade 1) and Hollywood
Gold Cup (Grade 1) will meet for a second time this season in another relatively
unusual location. Game On Dude, hero of the Big ‘Cap, and
Awesome Gem, the eight-year-old gelding who last visited the
winner’s circle following the Gold Cup more than 10 months ago, finished second
and sixth, respectively, in the Charles Town Classic (Grade 3) in West Virginia on
April 16. On Monday, they square off in Texas over 1 1/16 miles in the $300,000
Lone Star Park H. (Grade 3).
The Lone Star Park Handicap is one of six stakes on a special Memorial Day
program dubbed Lone Star Million Day, with stakes purses totaling $1 million.
The Lone Star Park and the $200,000 Ouija Board H. (Grade 3), the only other graded
event on the card, book-end the day’s stakes action.
In a division lacking a clear leader, Game On Dude has at least fared
consistently in his two stakes appearances this year for trainer Bob Baffert.
After winning a controversial running of the Big ‘Cap by a nose, the
four-year-old earned runner-up honors by a head in the Charles Town Classic, a
three-turn race contested in sloppy going. In his last visit to Lone Star a year
ago, Game On Dude drew off to win the Lone Star Derby (Grade 3) by 4 1/2 lengths and
later finished a solid fourth in the Belmont S. (Grade 1).
Despite finishing a half-length fourth in the Alysheba S. (Grade 3) following the
Charles Town Classic, age might be starting to catch up with Awesome Gem, who
has finished unplaced in five of six starts since his Gold Cup upset. Perhaps
the most serious threat to Game On Dude will come from Thiskyhasnolimit, the Steve Asmussen pupil who gutted out a half-length victory in the
Texas Mile (Grade 3) last month. The four-year-old rebounded from a pair of
lackluster efforts at Santa Anita over the winter to finish second in the
Razorback H. (Grade 3) before taking the Texas Mile for his fourth career stakes win.
Flat Out, who took the Smarty Jones S. at Oaklawn in January 2009,
has missed the better part of the last two years due to injury. He breaks from
the rail in the Lone Star Park ‘Cap having not raced since a two-length
allowance score at Fair Grounds on December 5. The outsider in the field is
Lydia’s Last Step, who took the Premiere S. for Texas-breds on
Lone Star’s opening night card April 14.
The Ouija Board, at one mile on the turf, marks the season debut of the
talented Wasted Tears, who racked up seven straight wins over 2009-10,
including the last two editions of the Ouija Board. The speedy mare took her
show on the road from coast to coast last year, landing the Honey Fox S. (Grade 3) at
Gulfstream, the Jenny Wiley S. (Grade 2) at Keeneland, and the John C. Mabee S. (Grade 2)
at Del Mar. Her streak came to an end when fifth in the First Lady S. (Grade 1) in
October, but she bounced back with a fine second in the Matriarch S. (Grade 1) at
Hollywood Park in November.
Hoping to spring the upset in the Ouija Board are Sheer Beauty
and Slide On Bye, one-two in the recent Irving Distaff, and
multiple stakes veteran Category Seven.
The $200,000 Lone Star Derby, which was downgraded from a Grade 3 for this
year’s edition, has been moved to the turf and will be run at 1 1/16 miles. The
race has still attracted several with graded stakes credentials, including
Lexington S. (Grade 3) hero Derby Kitten, a nondescript 13th last out
in the Kentucky Derby (Grade 1). Another exiting a race from Derby weekend at Churchill Downs is Close
Ally, second in the
American Turf S. (Grade 2) on the Oaks undercard.
Baffert will saddle Uncle Sam, who has been mentioned as a Belmont S.
candidate for his Hall of Fame conditioner. Uncle Sam, a last-out second in the
Alydar S. at Hollywood, would be making his turf debut should he start in the
Lone Star Derby, as would Dreaminofthewin, a distant third
against older foes in the Texas Mile most recently. Other potential contenders
include the stakes-winning Aces N Kings and Thirtyfirstreet.
Several graded stakes winners will square off in the $150,000 Dallas Turf Cup
for older horses at 1 1/16 miles. Grade 2 veteran Expansion sprung
a 32-1 upset taking the Fair Grounds H. (Grade 3) in February, and just failed to
repeat when a nose second in the Mervin H. Muniz Jr. Memorial H. (Grade 2), but beat
only one of 12 rivals to the wire in the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (Grade 1)
earlier this month.
Dean’s Kitten, last year’s Lane’s End S. (Grade 2) hero, enters off
back-to-back seconds in the Ben Ali S. (Grade 3) and Tejano Run S. on Polytrack,
while John B. Connally Turf H. (Grade 3) Schramsberg most recently finished a distant second
after a wide trip in the Sunland Park H.
The other two stakes on the card are the $75,000 Cinemine S. for
three-year-old fillies at seven furlongs, and the $75,000 Valid Expectations S.
for older fillies and mares at six furlongs.