J Spieth, Teflon Don, World Surprise prime contenders for Sir Howard Stakes
LIKE the native-bred three-year-old fillies on Saturday, the colts and geldings will begin their Road to the Triple Crown in today’s 29th running of the $1.2-million Sir Howard Stakes, a non-winners of two event over six furlongs (1,200m).
A small field of six runners will compete, and by all indications the winner should come from the trio of J Spieth, Teflon Don, and World Surprise. Of the remaining three runners Allegiance and King’s Crown might be over their heads while Playfair is likely the one who could spring the surprise.
The Restricted Allowance II contest is positioned as the eighth event on the nine-race card with a post time of 4:35 pm, but the first race is at noon.
J Spieth, a grey colt bred by Spieth, Alice, and Trixie, made a successful debut at the races on March 2. After walking out of the starting gates J Spieth recovered to beat rivals by 7¼ lengths in a time of 1:37.4, going seven and a half furlongs (1,500m).
With scope for improvement and if he leaves the starting gates in good order J Spieth is going to take a lot of beating here, plus he has worked well for this race.
J Spieth galloped three furlongs (600m) in a smooth 35.4 seconds on Monday. He appears to have classic potential and could make it two in a row here.
Teflon Don was also impressive on his debut. The Casual Trick: The Lady Scored offspring destroyed rivals over the straight (1,000m) on February 10, winning by eight lengths in a time of 1:01.2. Teflon Don worked five and a half furlongs (1,100m) in 1:09.3, with the last five furlongs (1,000m) coming in 1:03.1, last Sunday.
World Surprise (Sunshine N Shadow—Eighteen Karat) makes his seasonal debut here. World Surprise was a winner on his debut on December 23, 2023, over five furlongs straight, when he won by 8¼ lengths in 1:00.2. He also put in a good exercise gallop coming into this race, having gone 1:09.3 for five and a half furlongs with five furlongs done in 1:03.0 alongside Firecracker on Monday.
World Surprise is expected to make a brave bid here.
Ones to watch:
Race 1) Heroine/Amad Ali/Never On A Sunday
Race 2) Stein/Donalmighty/Big Argument
Race 3) Great Trick/Storm A Come/Anchorman
Race 4) Cataba/Magical Mood/Show Girl
Race 5) Power from Above/KD Strong/Eazy Peazy
Race 6) Irish Wish/Affair/Bold Shadow
Race 7) Tuts/Readmylips/Veliki Vicki
Race 8) Teflon Don/J Spieth/World Surprise
Race 9) Volatility/Champion Bubbler/The Good Witch
