How to bet the Alywow Stakes

Seven sophomore fillies, with four hailing from the Mark Casse barn, will run 6 1/2 furlongs on the Woodbine turf in Saturday’s $100,000 Alywow S. I expect the race to come down to a pair of his contenders in the grassy dash. 

Alywow Wagers

• $20 exacta 1 with 5 ($20)
• $10 exacta 5 with 1 ($10)
• $1 superfecta 1,5 with 1,5 with 7 with all ($8)
• $1 superfecta 1,5 with 1,5 with all with 7 ($8)

#1 Stormcast (2-1) is the logical morning-line choice coming off of a very good runner-up showing in the Honey Ryder S. on the Gulfstream Park lawn in her most recent outing. The daughter of Mitole was a fine maiden victress in her juvenile finale while making her turf debut here, and her last race was very encouraging coming off the bench in her initial route try. I think that she got a lot of fitness from the affair and will have no trouble cutting back in distance today. The Ontario-bred miss shows two solid morning moves in advance of the tilt and will have Rafael Hernandez in the irons. 

Casse’s #5 Creed’s Gold (6-1) has shown slight improvement in each career outing to date and I like her cutting back in trip following a pair of eight-furlong performances on the lawn in Florida. The chestnut daughter of Jimmy Creed didn’t show too much in a turf dash at five panels in her second lifetime run, but she ran better than it appears on paper, and I like her progression since. She sped a swift four panels as of late to prepare for Saturday, and if Kazushi Kimura can keep her in striking range early, then I like her chances to make a major impact late at a nice price. 

For the verticals, I feel that #7 Uphill Dance (15-1) is intriguing as the longest price on the board. The dark bay daughter of Tonalist rolled home to win her first two runs as a juvenile on the All-Weather strip, and her fourth-place result in the Glorious Song S. in her third lifetime appearance was encouraging, as well. She didn’t handle the two turns in the Mazzarine (G3) in her 2023 finale, but she comes in fresh with the cutback in trip here. Ryan Munger will have the filly stalking the pace with intent from the break.