Jaipur

TRACK BANDIT PREVIEWS

Ten runners are set to contest Sunday’s $100,000 Jaipur S. (G3) over six
grassy furlongs, and FIRST DEFENCE (Unbridled’s Song) is clearly the one to
beat. He knocked heads against much tougher last time out, finishing fifth
behind Divine Park (Chester House) and Commentator (Distorted Humor) in the Met
Mile (G1), and posted an excellent second to Hard Spun in last year’s King’s
Bishop S. (G1). The Juddmonte Farms’ homebred should relish the turf with his
pedigree, and the cutback in distance figures to benefit him. First Defence
opened his 2008 campaign with a solid allowance/optional claiming win on the
Kentucky Derby (G1) undercard, and the Bobby Frankel-trained four-year-old ran a
big race in the Met Mile before weakening, earning 119 BRIS E1 and 129 E2 Pace
ratings. We feel he could easily prove too good for these rivals.

EMIRATES TO DUBAI (Storm Cat) owns the best chance for an upset. The
Godolphin colorbearer will enter on the upswing, closing boldly to earn his
first stakes win in the Red Wing Dream S. last out over course and distance, and
the chestnut five-year-old comes off a career-best 98 BRIS Speed rating. We
won’t be surprised to see those Speed numbers keep increasing as Emirates to
Dubai continues to assert himself as the stakes level for Saeed bin Suroor.

MOHEGAN SKY (Straight Man) runs well over this turf course, recording a
7-2-3-0 mark, and the Linda Rice-conditioned mare opened her five-year-old
campaign with two sharp performances, winning the Music Prince S. prior to a
runner-up effort in the Dynamic Lisa S. Alan Garcia has been a good fit (he picked up
the mount this year), and there’s a lot to like about the gray mare’s present form.
We’ll use her in the top three.

SALUTE THE COUNT (Count the Time) merits respect for Richard Dutrow,
finishing a respectable second in the Aegon Turf Sprint (G3) most recently, but
he also appears most comfortable at five or 5 1/2 furlongs. We won’t count out
his chances of stretching out successfully, but the eight-year-old gelding is
still looking for his first win from five starts this year. We’ll consider him
for the bottom of the exotics only.

FRISCO STAR (More Than Ready) returned from a two-year long layoff two starts
back, and the Reynaldo Abreu trainee exits a decent fourth behind Emirates to
Dubai. The five-year-old made his turf debut last time and could have a solid
future sprinting on the green, but we’re not convinced that he’s fast enough to
challenge here. However, he does own plenty of early zip, and we won’t be
shocked to see him hold on for a minor share.

TRUE TO TRADITION (Rahy), a $25,000 claimer last summer going 1 1/16 miles
over the turf at Belmont, has improved significantly this year for Scott Lake,
but the six-year-old will be stepping up in class here off his last two outings
at Pimlico and Atlantic City. He’s drawn an outside post and owns no experience
at six furlongs. We’ll let him beat us.

SILVER TIMBER (Prime Timber) could be a pace factor, but the gray’s recent
form isn’t good enough for us to recommend his chances. HOLLYWOOD LEFT (Wheaton)
is unraced since February and will be making his first appearance outside of
Florida while making his 31st start on Sunday. The Pat Reynolds charge owns some
potential down the road, but we’ll give him a race here from the extreme outside
post.

METRO METEOR (City Zip) steps up off a couple of efforts versus New York-bred
rivals. The gelding owns an admirable 10-5-1-2 record over Belmont’s turf, but
the one-run closer could easily find this company too difficult. PORT ROYAL
(Giant’s Causeway) has dropped his last four starts, including two unplaced
finishes, versus non-winners of two other than rivals, and he likely needs a
softer spot to be effective.