OUR EXPERTS PICKS THE BWI TURF CUP

Caribou Club
Caribou Club won the 2019 BWI Turf Cup at Laurel Park. Photo by Laurie Asseo.
  • userThe Biz
  • dateJuly 24, 2021

Saturday’s racing slate in the Mid-Atlantic is topped by the Grade 3, $200,000 Baltimore-Washington International Turf Cup, whose predecessor races include, directly, the Colonial Turf Cup and spiritually the Washington, DC International.

This year’s BWI Turf Cup is, after scratches, down to just four runners, but that group includes the Maryland-bred graded winner Field Pass, plus Talk Or Listen and Ramsey Solution. The Turf Cup is the fourth of four stakes on the day and goes as race eight.

We asked a couple of our experts for their picks:

BALD EAGLE DERBY: 1 ½ MILES (TURF), $100,000, 3YO

A lightly accomplished group of six is slated to line up in this lengthy contest, with French-bred Wootton Asset, a Grade 3-placed runner, the morning line favorite. The race looks to come down to three of these, with recent Sussex Stakes show horse Indian Lake and maiden winner Experienced the most likely contenders to upset the chalk. The only stakes winner in the group, Shackled Love (12-1), took the March 13 Private Terms at Laurel Park.

Ted BlackNick HahnJohn PiassekGary QuillDerby Bill Watson
First#5 Wootton Asset (8-5)#5 Wootton Asset (8-5)#6 Experienced (5-2)#6 Experienced (5-2)#6 Experienced (5-2)
Second#2 Indian Lake (2-1)#6 Experienced (5-2)#5 Wootton Asset (8-5)#5 Wootton Asset (8-5)#4 Shackled Love (12-1)
Third#4 Shackled Love (12-1)#2 Indian Lake (2-1)#2 Indian Lake (2-1)#2 Indian Lake (2-1)#2 Indian Lake (2-1)

SENSIBLE LADY TURF DASH: 5 FURLONGS (TURF), $100,000, FILLIES AND MARES 3YO AND UP

It’s a wide-open seven-horse field in this five-furlong sprint, with So Gracious the 3-1 morning line choice. The Brittany Russell trainee was third last out in allowance company and will be looking for her first stakes win. Other contenders include last-out maiden breaker What a Trick (4-1), last-out Jameela runner-up Dendrobia (6-1), and Flyingontheground (9-2), who closed 2020 with an allowance win and makes her second start of the season.

Ted BlackNick HahnJohn PiassekGary QuillDerby Bill Watson
First#3 Dendrobia (6-1)#4 So Gracious (3-1)#5 Golden Can (7-2)#6 Can the Queen (5-1)#2 What a Trick (4-1)
Second#5 Golden Can (7-2)#5 Golden Can (7-2)#4 So Gracious (3-1)#5 Golden Can (7-2)#1 Flyingontheground (9-2)
Third#6 Can the Queen (5-1)#2 What a Trick (4-1)#6 Can the Queen (5-1)#4 So Gracious (3-1)#4 So Gracious (3-1)

BIG DREYFUS STAKES: 1 1/8 MILES (TURF), $100,000, FILLIES AND MARES 3YO AND UP

If trainer Chad Brown ships a runner to Pimlico for a turf stake, you have to figure that’ll be a live horse, and that’s certainly the case with Counterparty Risk (6-5), the morning line favorite who’s a Grade 3 winner and last out was a good third in the Grade 3 Eatontown. Other contenders include the Grade 3-placed No Mo Lady for Mike Trombetta and Sister Hanan, a shipper for Ben Colebrook.

Ted BlackNick HahnJohn PiassekGary QuillDerby Bill Watson
First#2 Counterparty Risk (6-5)#2 Counterparty Risk (6-5)#6 Sister Hanan (3-1)#1 Sailingintothewind (6-1)#5 No Mo Lady (3-1)
Second#6 Sister Hanan (3-1)#5 No Mo Lady (3-1)#2 Counterparty Risk (6-5)#5 No Mo Lady (3-1)#2 Counterparty Risk (6-5)
Third#1 Sailingintothewind (6-1)#6 Sister Hanan (3-1)#1 Sailingintothewind (6-1)#2 Counterparty Risk (6-5)#3 Tightly Twisted (8-1)

GRADE 3 BWI TURF CUP: $200,000, 3YO AND UP

He’s a shipper, true, but favored Field Pass (8-5) nevertheless should feel at home; the Lemon Drop Kid colt is a Maryland-bred. It’ll be just his second start in his home state, and while he’s winless in three tries this year, the Michael Maker trainee won five times, including three in graded company, in 2020. It’s a solid group he’ll face, though, including Grade 2 winner Pixelate, who won the PG County over the strip last out, Grade 2 Dinner Party runner-up Talk Or Listen, and the improving Ramsey Solution.

Ted BlackNick HahnJohn PiassekGary QuillDerby Bill Watson
First#4 Pixelate (2-1)#4 Pixelate (2-1)#1 Field Pass (8-5)#5 English Bee (10-1)#5 English Bee (10-1)
Second#1 Field Pass (8-5)#1 Field Pass (8-5)#6 Ramsey Solution (5-2)#1 Field Pass (8-5)#4 Pixelate (2-1)
Third#6 Ramsey Solution (5-2)#2 Posterity (30-1)#3 Talk Or Listen (8-1)#4 Pixelate (2-1)#1 Field Pass (8-5)

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