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Criticism Set for Victory in New York Stakes - 06-20-09
June 20 - Going into today's $250,000 New York Stakes (Gr 2) at Belmont Park in New York, Darley Stable's talented homebred runner Criticism is the favorite in the 1 1/4 mile race and for good reason, since the five-year-old mare has won four out of her last six races and seems to be getting better with age.
Since joining the stable of respected trainer Tom Albertrani last year, Criticism has more than lived up to her expectations. The mare came to Albertrani from Europe, where she started off her career and soon proved that she was made of tough graded stakes fiber. Now she is running up a storm in the U.S.
'She's an absolute pleasure to have in the barn,' said Albertrani. 'Amazingly she hasn't run a bad race since she's been here.' And while the trainer is confident that Criticism will pull off a win today in the New York Stakes, the one factor he is thinking about is Belmont Park's soft course, as a result of heavy rain.
'Having run on plenty of soft courses when she was in France, I don't think it will make that much of a difference to her,' said Albertrani. 'I don't think the ground will be an issue today.' Of course, Criticism's only loss in her last five trips was in the $150,000 Orchid Stakes (Gr 3) at Gulfstream Park earlier this year.
In that race - which was run on soft ground following rain - the mare could only manage a third place. According to her trainer, however, he isn't sure that it was the soft ground necessarily that prevented her from winning the Orchid so much as the fact he considered it to be a 'strangely run race' from start to finish.
It should be mentioned though that in both of her previous outings, Criticism proved victorious on firm tracks. The first was in April in the $100,000 La Prevoyante Stakes (Gr 2) at Florida's Calder Racecourse, and her most recent was in the $150,000 Sheepshead Bay Stakes (Gr 2) at Belmont Park last month.
Assuming the soft ground today does not impede the talented mare, she'll also have to overcome the likes of Dynaforce, who won the $600,000 Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes (Gr 1) here at Belmont last September, as well as her stablemate Dress Rehearsal, Belle Allure, Colina Verde and Backseat Rhythm.
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Digiturf - Train and race your own horses |
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| | 2009/11/20 11:35:18 AM |
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