GR Simsters Juvy Filly Turf
A small but talented group of young fillies are set to run in the biggest race of their lives this weekend – the $250,000 GR Simster Juvy Fillies Turf. While several of the residency’s best and brightest are in New York, this bunch is a pretty nice group in their own right, as evidenced by the fact that the longshot in the field is 6/1. The morning line favorite, at 3/1, is eomer’s Blue Smoke. The beautiful roan filly is the proven class of the field – a two time stakes winner and second against colts in graded stakes competition. She actually looks like she’ll be even better at longer distances, but in her first two routing attempts she’s suffered a pair of tough beats. After flying late from hopelessly out of it to finish sixth on Smackdown Day, she made a mild move late to finish fourth in the Grade 3 Booker T. Perhaps she’s only a sprinter with a big late kick, but I don’t think so. With a field-high speed figure of 80 last time out, Blue Smoke is certainly tossing the gauntlet down to the rest of the contenders. At 3/1, those odds may prove to be a gift.
Two other fillies already have stakes credentials. Peeps9 has PB’s Pride, another nice Vindication juvenile. The filly, who looks like a feminine version of her sire, has only one win from five starts to date, but she made that one count, winning the GR Simster Juvy Blast. She followed that winning performance up with a solid second against the colts in stakes company, before finishing sixth against the colts in Grade 1 company. She faces much easier here today, although it is far from a picnic. The mile should suit, and she gets Sherman in the irons, who is hoping to make the most of Givins’ absence this week. Galileo’s lightly raced Maeve’s Causeway has made a solid start to her career, winning first time out by three plus lengths with a 74 SF, and then following that up with a gutsy second in the Four Bee Stakes, run at Saturday’s distance, earning a 79 SF. Blue Smoke needs to have her “A” game, because this rapidly improving youngster might blow right by her in the stretch.
Of the fillies making their stakes debut, astapor’s Lamentations certainly looked the picture of a stakes filly in breaking her maiden last time out. The daughter of War Chant shot out of the gate, and never looked back in a processional march to the wire. The final time was a brisk 78 SF. Chops27 has Just As Well, who sports a win at this distance. While her margin of victory diminished alarmingly in the stretch, it was still good enough to pull out the win, and it isn’t clear how much of that was due to gawking about versus genuinely getting tired. The Rahy filly tired again in an allowance race at this distance last time out, although she earned a solid 78 SF, so that raises some distance questions for her. On the other hand, her “dam” was the talented Gal Dog, who won the Grade 1 Maudlin Cup in 2002 at this distance. Still, she may ultimately be a better sprinter than router; although she is still a nice, nice filly. Ravencard has Ovalau, another filly with a win at this distance (73 SF). Like Just As Well, however, in her allowance try at this distance, Ovalau tired late, finishing fourth (75 SF). If this pair starts to duel early, that can only hurt their respective chances.
Finally, the lone maiden in the field is the lightly raced Simster Seeker. The Seeking the Gold miss, trained by saintly271, has made both starts here in Kentucky. In her turf debut last time out, she set the pace before tiring in the stretch to finish second, earning a respectable 73 SF. I’d like her chances better here if this race was shorter, but if she can improve off that effort, she’s got a decent shot here. Good luck to all!