2012 Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic Part 2

Many expect her to be the pie in the sky bet for this race and it goes without saying that she will need to put in a career-best performance in order to walk away from this one with all of the plaudits. 

She has been working well since she moved to Santa Anita and you’ll find that her most recent work, where she fired a bullet from a 65 horse sample, to be a very interesting development. Out of her 16 career races, she has won 10 (albeit in the Pacific Northwest) and finished second in the other 6 races. She will add value to exotics if she is there on the run-in and her stalking style might be what really helps her out. 

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Joe Talamo has really been the jockey to watch so far during this Santa Anita meet. He gets Include Me Out in this one, who lines up for Jay Em Ess Stable. This filly has been moving forward nicely over the past two races and has only been on track twice since mid-June. She took the Clement Hirsch over a talented group of fillies and mares back during the Del mar meeting with Talamo up but was a tame third when posting the same 101 figure in another Grade 1 race just a month and a half later. 

During the entirety of 2012 she hasn’t finished off the board in six efforts and managed to put together four wins from that sample. 

Love and Pride gets John Velazquez for this one and she lit things up in her first run at the great race place by shipping over from Saratoga to capture the Grade 1 Zenyatta Stakes on opening weekend. From a speed figure standpoint she looks especially solid and was able to post a three-length margin of victory in that race - which sets her up nicely for this coming race. Expect a similar pace scenario to that one, though she should cope well with the added distance here. 

Her 8/1 price tag looks pretty solid and she deserves respect - expect Royal Delta to get bet pretty hard in this race - which might make the pari-mutuel option on Love And Pride to be a smarter play for those seeking value. 

Grace Hall is emerging as the genuine wiseguy play in the 2012 Ladies Classic and it should be noted that Dutrow has been hitting at 30% with all of his shippers this year. While she does head over from a relatively week race in the Indiana Oaks at Hoosier Park, many of her earlier victories this year stand her in pretty good stead for this one. Her price is high, with many thinking that the 10/1 in the morning line will not hold and she might be looking at a more realistic price of 14/1 once they head into the gate this Friday. 

VERDICT: Royal Delta gets the class edge but she has shown herself to be inconsistent in the past, particularly after shipping long distance. She is, on paper, very much the best horse here, but a few more diverse fillies may be able to stake the real claim here. Look for upstarts like Awesome Feather, My Miss Aurelia and Love And Pride to be the real upstarts here.