JEFF SIEGEL’S NATIONAL PRIME PLAYS
Sunday, June 30, 2024
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Churchill Downs – Fourth Race – Post: 2:14 ET
Prime Play: 4-So There She Was
Forecast: She’s the only maiden in the seven runner Debutante Stakes field but California shipper So There She Was displayed sufficient ability in her Santa Anita debut to earn a trip to Kentucky and rate top billing in this listed six furlong affair for juvenile fillies. A fast-finishing second in that highly rated four and one-half furlong main track dash, the D. O’Neill-trained filly appeared a bit green and lacked focus during the early stages but after figuring things out took hold to rally from nine length back to be beaten less than three while providing strong evidence that she should very much appreciate the extra three-sixteenths of a mile of today’s trip. A sharp recent half mile gate breeze in :47.3hg (14th fastest of 106, best of a team) indicates a forward move is quite likely so at 7/2 on the morning line the daughter of Munnings should be lucrative in the win pool and in the various rolling exotics.
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Belmont at the Big A – Eighth Race – Post: 4:42 ET
Prime Play: 7-Cupid’s Heart
Forecast: Cupid’s Heart has been away since last fall but is ideally drawn outside in a race without much speed to win off the bench in his seven furlong first level allowance dash for fillies and mares. She has a history of firing fresh, shows a steady and consistent series of drills to have her fit and ready, numbers that are fast enough to win, and hails from a barn that has excellent stats with layoff runners. “Win Rider” J. Castellano picks up the mount, so with much in her favor the five-year-old B. Levine-trained mare seems quite solid at 7/2 on the morning line.
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Los Alamitos – Eighth Race – Post 4:30 PT
Prime Play: 3-A. Z. Wildcat
Forecast: A. Z. Wildcat, a $200,00 Keeneland September yearling purchase last year, makes her debut in this five furlong maiden special weight dash for juvenile fillies and has looked the part in morning drills for trainer J. Sadler. There are no graded stakes winners appearing in the first four generations of her pedigree but the daughter of Munnings, a strong, sizeable, athletic-appearing filly, commanded a hefty final bid through the ring due to the physical specimen that she is. After a series of sharp, breezing drills that should have her fit and ready, ‘Wildcat very likely will be hard to outrun. She’s listed as the 2-1 morning line favorite and deservedly so.
