Horses to Watch: El Capi impresses despite Aqueduct bias
In this biweekly series, racing analyst Keeler Johnson shares promising horses from his handicapping watch list, reviewing runners who have recently caught his eye and previewing horses scheduled to run back in the near future.
New to the Watch List
The track was muddy and speed-favoring at Aqueduct on Saturday. Seven of the 10 races were won by pacesetters, and not a single winner closed from farther than 1 1/2 lengths off the lead.
But even with this disclaimer in mind, El Capi was genuinely impressive in a seven-furlong maiden special weight for juveniles. The debuting son of Maclean’s Music rocketed to a 4 1/2-length lead through an opening quarter-mile in 22.03 seconds, widened his advantage to 5 1/2 lengths through half a mile in 44.73 seconds, surged to an eight-length lead through a stiff six furlongs in 1:08.77 and then cruised home to win easing up by 9 1/2 lengths in 1:21.99.
For the sake of comparison, 4-year-old Hoist the Gold set fractions of 22.41, 44.88, 1:09.04 and 1:21.31 on his way to winning the one-mile Cigar Mile (G2) on the same card in 1:34.28 seconds. El Capi’s performance was remarkably fast on the clock, and Daily Racing Form awarded him a flashy 99 Beyer Speed Figure. So even keeping the track bias in mind, El Capi is an exciting 2-year-old worth following.
Worth another try
Bentornato
Talented Florida-bred juvenile suffered his first defeat from five starts when stretching out over 1 1/16 miles for the FTBOA Florida Sire In Reality at Gulfstream Park, racing in third place at every call and beaten a length at the finish line.
The pace was decelerating around the far turn and down the homestretch, with the final three-sixteenths of a mile elapsing in 34.15 seconds, so my guess is that Bentornato failed to handle stretching out around two turns. Cutting back to sprint distances might help Bentornato rebound.
As mentioned previously, Saturday’s muddy track at Aqueduct played kindly toward speed. With this in mind, Sierra Leone ran a giant race in the Grade 2 Remsen at 1 1/8 miles. After dropping back to 10th place early on and trailing the field by more than a dozen lengths, Sierra Leone launched a tremendous last-to-first rally in the fourth quarter-mile, making up 8 1/2 lengths to lead at the eighth pole.
Unfortunately for Sierra Leone, pacesetter Dornoch had something left in the tank and battled back to win by a nose. But Sierra Leone ran a winning race in his own right and pulled 4 3/4 lengths clear of third-place finisher Drum Roll Please, so we’ll view his effort in a very positive light.
Settled in seventh place during the early stages of the Remsen, advanced to challenge in the homestretch and then flattened out to finish third by 4 3/4 lengths. It was a step in the right direction from this last-out maiden winner, who is eligible to improve with maturity for two-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox.
Off the Watch List
Moonlight
Ran reasonably well over the speed-favoring track in the Remsen, rallying from ninth place to finish fourth. But Moonlight was flattening out a bit in the homestretch and finished 7 1/4 lengths behind Sierra Leone, who closed from even farther back. Moonlight has now been beaten in back-to-back Kentucky Derby points races, so I’ll want to see him move forward before supporting him again.
Private Desire
Pressed the pace in the Remsen, then faded to finish last by a wide margin. Private Desire has finished out of the trifecta in two straight stakes, so I’ll drop him from my watch list.
Here is my complete, updated list of Horses to Watch.