Timeform American racing preview & tips
Timeform's US Racing expert Jake Price is back with his tips for tonight's action Stateside.
Best bets for US Racing
2pts win Ruby Nell at 7/4 or better - Santa Anita race 9 (01:00)
1pt win Glamora at 11/2 (min 9/2) - Santa Anita race 5 (23:00)
Today is Memorial Day Holiday in the US and with three graded stakes on the Santa Anita card it’s something well worth looking at.
RUBY NELL cost her owners $1.2 million and is well on her way to paying off that sum with six wins to date. She can claim her first top level success in the Gamely Stakes carded as race nine.
Only fourth on her only try over the nine furlongs distance in last year's Del Mar Oaks, she has since taken her form to new levels with two graded stakes victories. The most recent came in the Grade 2 Buena Vista over one mile at this track last out having made the running.
One of her notable efforts came two back when third in the Grade 2 Pegasus Fillies & Mares Turf at Gulfstream. Sat just behind the pace she ended up beaten less than two lengths at the finish, but it was the way she saw out the extra sixteenth that day which suggests this distance should suit.
This doesn’t look a strong race for the grade and it’s also one which lacks early pace. Though Ruby Nell is no need-the-lead type, it would be no surprise to see her go forward once again.
Elsewhere on the card, a half-brother to the outstanding Flightline is due to debut in a maiden special weight on dirt. He’s been working bullets prior to this, but so have some other newcomers, so it appeals as a race to watch rather than get involved in.
However, there is a similar race on turf over six-and-a-half furlongs carded as race five which looks a good opportunity for GLAMORA to make a winning US debut for Phil D’Amato.
This is a race for fillies and mares between the ages of three and five and, as a runner at the younger end of the scale, Glamora gets chunks of weight from her older rivals, whilst it doesn’t look the deepest contest on paper.
The daughter of Zoffany ran four times when trained in Ireland by Ms Sheila Lavery, hitting the board in her final two. Her latest run was last August in a valuable sales contest when beaten just over a length in fourth in a twenty-strong field.
D’Amato does well with his European shippers and I’m willing to think she’ll be fit enough to do herself justice in this spot.
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