Best Pal

TRACK BANDIT PREVIEWS

AZUL LEON (Lion Heart) looks like a prohibitive favorite over his nine rivals
in Sunday’s $150,000 Best Pal S. (G2). A four-length winner of the Hollywood
Juvenile Championship S. (G3), the Doug O’Neill-trained colt will attempt to
extend his perfect mark to three-for-three, but we’ll try to beat him with KELLY
LEAK (Runaway Groom).

A visually impressive debut winner at Hollywood Park on June 5, Kelly Leak
rallied from just off the pace to win going away by 1 1/4 lengths, registering a
91 Speed and 96 Late Pace number for the effort, and should appreciate the
stretch out to 6 1/2 furlongs off that five-furlong event. The Florida-bred colt
appears to be training superbly at Del Mar for Michael Machowsky, recording a
pair of recent six-furlong drills over the Polytrack, and jockey Victor Espinoza
will be able to dictate his trip from post 10. We’ll look for him to keep
improving with another strong showing from off the pace on Sunday.

CAPTAIN STEEL (Hennessy) is a dangerous wire-to-wire threat. Trained by Jeff
Mullins, the chestnut colt rolled to a 7 1/4-length maiden special weight
victory last out in his second lifetime start and shows a sharp five-furlong
drill over the Polytrack in preparation for this outing. The rail draw will
force hand — Clinton Potts will be sending him from the start — and Captain
Steel might not stop on the front end.

Azul Leon didn’t finish very fast last time (87 Speed rating) and beat a very
questionable group in the Hollywood Juvenile Championship. He still looked good
doing it and remains eligible to keep improving for O’Neill, but we feel the bay
colt will be an underlay at short odds. We’ll let him prove us wrong.

CORONET OF A BARON (Pure Prize) exits a maiden special weight win over the
Polytrack at Arlington Park, but he got away with an easy early lead last time
and will have to change tactics here. The Darley colorbearer does appear to be
training well for this start, so dismiss him from the top three at your own
risk.

S. S. STONE (Birdstone) rallied late for a sharp score last time in his
career bow, and the uncoupled O’Neill runner will pick up the services of
Garrett Gomez here. The gray colt looks capable of making impact in the stretch
run, so consider for the bottom of the exotics.

FU PEG HE RAT (Fusaichi Pegasus) closed boldly to break his maiden earlier in
the meet, and his affinity for the track is an advantage. However, he didn’t
beat the strongest company and registered only an 84 Speed rating, so we’ll give
him a race against winners. CHARLIE’S MOMENT (Indian Charlie) got up to win
by a nose last time at long odds, but he may not be able to duplicate that
performance at this level.

MIGUEL’S MASCOT (Marino Marini) steps up off a maiden win over
California-breds and will have to tote 123 pounds. TURBO CALL (Nineeleven) could
find this class hike too difficult. Maiden FIERY REBEL (Smoke Glacken) doesn’t
look good enough to challenge.