Hanshin Cup J

AMERICAN GRADED STAKES PREVIEWS

SPOTSGONE (Bright Launch) will face seven foes in hopes of defending his

title in the $100,000 Hanshin Cup H. (G3) at Arlington Park on Saturday. The

Jinks Fires trainee has kept good company since annexing this race last

season, winning the Essex H. and Sea O Erin Mile H. along the

way, and his affinity for this oval sways us in his corner. The five-year-old,

who has never been worse than second in three local tries, has very good early

speed and could sit the perfect ground-saving trip under Earlie Fires in this

spot. Expect good value on the Kentucky-bred.

CORAGIL CAT (Forest Wildcat) has registered five solid tries in 2008 for

Gregory Geier, capped by a daylight win in the Timeless Native S. in his most

recent effort. The improving four-year-old boasts a pair of wins over this

surface and should get a ton of speed to run at in the lane, so we expect a big

late showing from the colt to get into the top three. A fast enough early tempo

could lead jockey Diego Sanchez all the way to the winner's circle atop the dark

bay.

STONEHOUSE (Chester House) has earned the top two BRIS Speed numbers in his

last pair for Spanky Broussard, and sports a 3-1-1-1 mark over this surface. The

four-year-old bay was clearly second best in the Milwaukee Avenue H. most

recently and could improve his second off the mini-break under James Graham. The

rail draw may force Graham's hand in the early stages, but as long as the

Illinois-bred doesn't duel early, he should have enough in the lane to

challenge.

STEVE'S DOUBLE (Stephen Got Even) ran off a trio of impressive scores in

succession for Ronny Werner last fall, topped by a score in the Perryville S.

(G3) over Keeneland's Polytrack in October. The gelded four-year-old was fourth

in his yearly debut in the Louisiana H. and distanced in the Richter Scale

Sprint H. (G2) most recently, but the surface and the one-mile trip

in here should move him up to contend late. Ramsey Zimmerman has the call.

It seemed as though the hard-knocking, seven-year-old FORT PRADO (El Prado

[Ire]) was transitioned to a turf sprinter over the past year for Chris Block,

but the gray will make his second consecutive start at one mile or longer in this spot. The 16-time victor was fourth in this race last year in his

lone synthetic start to date, and a similar finish is expected beneath Eddie Razo Jr.

We're not sure what to do with LOVANGO (Capote), who scorched home by eight

lengths in his lone synthetic effort to date. Conditioned by Hugh Robertson, the

bay colt has posted triple digit BRIS Speed numbers in three of his last four

tries, including a 108 over this surface, so he's more than logical for those

inclined to spread in this race. The speedy four-year-old could get into some

trouble if he tries to contest the early lead, and we feel that it's worth a

shot to try and beat him at short odds.

THRONG (Silver Deputy) was unplaced in this contest in 2007 for Todd Pletcher

but has improved considerably since that showing, bagging a pair of stakes wins

and finishing second in the Timeless Native most recently. The five-year-old

bay likes to be in the thick of it early, but in this contest that may prove to

be his undoing due to the amount of early zip signed on for this fray. At an

expected low price, we don't like the Kentucky-bred. MORADA KEY (Carson City) has the profile of a late-running sprinter and would

surprise us with a win for Robert Holthus. The dark bay has talent and almost

always fires a shot in the lane, so he may be good to include in the vertical

exotics at a square price.