I find it hard to take many of the runners dropping out of maiden special weight company. I suppose Preternatural (9) is potentially the best suited to sprinting, but he hasn’t run that well in either of his starts and needs to turn around his form. One More Tom (7) and Ninja Boys (8) come out of the same June 13 race, but both of them are plodders that could be badly pace-compromised in this sprint. Our American Star (3) has run some of the fastest speed figures, but this 21-race maiden is pretty hard to pick on top.

I’m instead interested in a horse that Our American Star defeated last time. There is a serious lack of early speed in this race, unless some of the first time starters have early zip. I think that could make second time starter RAGNAR LOTHBROK (4) a dangerous wire-to-wire threat. This horse ran deceptively well in his debut. He broke very slowly, but rushed up to chase the fast-breaking Leap to Glory through the first quarter mile. The early pace of that race was legitimate, and Ragnar Lothbrok showed a ton of speed to get involved in a duel after breaking so sluggishly. Horses like this are typically much more professional second time out, and I won’t be surprised to see him lead this field for a long way at what should be a generous price.