It’s hard to poke a hole in the résumé of Si That Tiger, the Blaine Wright trainee who will be favored in Sunday’s $50,000 Muckleshoot Derby, a 1 1/16-mile stakes on the Longacres Mile undercard.
Si That Tiger is 3 for 3 this year with sprint stakes wins in the Auburn and Irish Day at the meet. As a 2-year-old, after losing badly in his debut, he improved rapidly to handily win two in a row, including the WTBOA Lads Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs.
According to Wright, Si That Tiger “wasn’t eligible for the next in line,” so he “had about seven weeks to try and get a 2-year-old ready for a route,” that being last year’s Gottstein Futurity. Si That Tiger wound up finishing fourth, beaten just 2 1/2 lengths, in the mile and 70-yard Gottstein, making distance the lone logical question as he routes for the second time in his career on Sunday.
“I think the horse, he’s mature, he rates good,” said Wright. “Last year, I was up against it. He’s not the most precocious work horse. I’m interested to find out if he’s up to the challenge.”
Si That Tiger’s stiffest competition in the Muckleshoot Derby should come from Bodi Zafa, who finished second in the Cinema Stakes on turf at Santa Anita on May 11. He earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 83 in the Cinema, second in this field only to the 86 Si That Tiger earned winning an allowance in his 3-year-old debut. It’s fair to question whether Bodi Zafa can replicate his Cinema effort on dirt, where he last earned a 44 Beyer while finishing a distant fifth to Si That Tiger in WTBOA Lads a year ago.
Candy Caballo, trained by Tom Wenzel, has finished second in the Irish Day and third in the Auburn. He will be rolling early and looks like the only other true contender in the eight-horse field.
◗ The Muckleshoot Derby’s sister race, the Washington Oaks, will rematch the top four finishers from the July 20 Kent Stakes, although not necessarily with the same order of finish. Saleen G T had a four-race winning streak snapped when third in the Kent but should go off favored from the inside post on Sunday for trainer Frank Lucarelli. She’ll be pressed by Precise Timing, Ima Margarita Girl, and possibly Race a Roany.
◗ As with Si That Tiger, the only question facing Aloha Breeze as she seeks to defend her title in the 1 1/16-mile Emerald Distaff is distance. On the one hand, she earned a career-best 78 Beyer winning this race by 11 lengths last year. On the other hand, she hasn’t routed since and actually lost one of her two stakes tries at Emerald this year to Attracted, who was injured and retired immediately following that race.
“Last year, I did a few things different with her just trying to prepare her to go a distance,” said Wenzel, who trains Aloha Breeze for George Todaro. “This filly is built a little more for speed and shorter distances.”
◗ Besides the Longacres Mile, the two other stakes on the card are the WTBOA Lads and WTBOA Lassies for 2-year-olds.
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