Straight Fire Could Be Just That on Sunday at Del Mar

Straight Fire Could Be Just That on Sunday at Del Mar by Jordan Sigmon: Over the past two years, trainer Keith Desormeaux has had his fair share of success with juveniles in Texas Red, Swipe, Exaggerator, and La Grange; in Sunday’s 8th race at Del Mar he brings in another talented young horse with Straight Fire.

Owned in partnership by Jungle Racing, KMN Racing, LNJ Foxwoods, J. Davenport, and A. Molasky, Straight Fire is by the GII winning freshman sire Dominus out of the winning A. P. Indy mare Tricky Indy. The bay colt come into the race with ten works at San Luis Ray, the last three of which all in swift times. Speedy works are not necessarily typical of Desormeaux runners so you have to think this bodes well for him.

When speaking with a representative from Jungle Racing they said that Desormeaux has told them that Straight Fire, “has done everything easily and has some serious skills.” Another thing that bodes well for this colt is the precocity that both his sire and his dam displayed. Though Dominus only made one start as a two-year-old it was a very good second and he came back to break his maiden in the first start of his three-year-old season. Tricky Indy did not debut until April of her three-year-old season but she took her first two starts easily while displaying plenty of talent. Straight Fire is listed at 4-1 on the morning line though he’ll likely go off around half of that.

The favorite for this race is Chasing Aces at 5/2 on the morning line for Peter Miller. The bay son of Flatter finished 2nd in a very live maiden race at Santa Anita on the 25th of June in his first start. The winner, Silver Assault came back to finish 3rd in the Santa Anita Juvenile after completely missing the break, and fourth place finisher Klimt returned to blow away a very good group in his second start. 3rd place finisher Law Abidin Citizen is also entered in this race. Since his debut, Chasing Aces has had two works at San Luis Ray, his last one a bullet four-furlong drill in 47 flat. Trainer Peter Miller is very good with two-year-old horses so you have to expect this one to come out running.

The second choice at 3/1 is the aforementioned Law Abidin Citizen for Mark Glatt. The dark bay son of Twirling Candy ran pretty evenly throughout the race in his debut to finish 3rd beaten 2 ½ lengths. In his only move since the race, he went four furlongs in 48 3/5 at Santa Anita. Both his sire and his damsire were precocious runners, winning at varying distances and possessing plenty of speed. Law Abidin Citizen looks like a horse that should run very well in his second start.

A bit of a longshot play, mainly for use in the exotics is Lucky Bode at 20/1 on the morning line for Art Sherman. The bay son of Bodemeister has been working steadily at Los Alamitos and should run well, though maybe not well enough for a win. Art Sherman says the colt likely needs a start and will probably be a route horse down the road.

Del Mar MSW Post Positions and Odds
Race 8 8:33 p.m.
1 Law Abidin Citizen 3-1 Smith/Glatt
2 Lucky Bode 20-1 Maldonado/Sherman
3 Sorry Erik 6-1 Gutierrez/O’Neill
4 The All Button 7-2 Prat/O’Neill
5 Balandeen 20-1 Elliot/Hartman
6 Straight Fire 4-1 Desormeaux/Desormeaux
7 Blame Joe 12-1 Pedroza/Mulhall
8 Chasing Aces 5-2 Baze/Miller
9 The Rule of King’s 30/1 Gonzalez/Gomez