LAST YEAR'S WINNER - MAGNUM FORCE

• Trainer: Ger Lyons
• Jockey: Colin Keane
• Owner: Abdulla Alkhalifa
• US Tote Win: $27.00
• BETTING STATS
• 2018-2024
• Favourites: 2/7 (28.6%) | Level stake loss -38.6%
• Odds-on Favs: 1/1 (100%) | Level stake profit +80%
• Median winning price: 4.3-1

By Barry Faulkner

This division has been contested seven times since its inception 2018. Although well supported by trainers from our side of the Atlantic, it wasn’t until 2022 that one from over her took the winner’s share of the purse, with Mischief Magic doing the business. Big Evs led a 1-2-3 for the raiders in 2023 and Magnum Force made it European hat-trick when successful last year, with Arizona Blaze completing a lucrative Irish exacta. Runners from this side of the pond have filled seven of the nine Trifecta slots in the last three years.

Last year’s Champion was the first to go off at a double figure price. However, five of the seven winners were in the top two in the betting, with a couple of favourites obliging. They were Four Wheel Drive (2019) and Golden Pal (2020) who were both trained by Wesley Ward, who has not had a runner in the last two years out west.

Run record and class clues

The only one of the winners of this division to arrive via a ‘Win-and-you’re-in’ race for this division was Four Wheel Drive who took the Futurity at Belmont on his way to success in the second edition of this race. The last two winners came via the Flying Childers at the Doncaster St Leger meeting, with Big Evs winning that in 2023 and Magnum Force finishing 3rd last year, with his sole win from his four starts before the big day coming in a Cork Maiden. Fillies have not been out of place in this division, running competitively on a number of occasions, with Twilight Gleaming winning in 2021.

Run style, draw and going

Although Mischief Magic and Magnum Force closed from way off the pace, the other five scorers were on, or close to the front, with the first four winners leading ‘from flag fall to that’s all’. With this year’s race again being in California, it will be contested over five furlongs, with the shorter stretch run at Del Mar also being a potential issue. It is worth noting that only two of the seven winners of this division have broken from the outside half of the starting gate.

Guidelines

• Although closers have won two of the last three runnings, start with the early speed types

• Pay close attention to the European invaders

• Don’t discount a fast filly

• Despite last year’s first two delivering a 200-1 exacta, the betting is usually a good guide