Secret Shuffler Goes For Second Leg Of Tiara
Secret Shuffler is all hooked up and good to go, as she continues to chase her bid to become the first filly in Derbyfever history to win a Triple Tiara. The three year old scratch-bred filly by Speightstown whose got Awesome Again and Tiznow back there in her pedigree has drawn the 1 hole here in the $250,000 Grade 2 Black Middle Flower Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Tiara, here in Maryland this weekend. She’s only lost once in her nine career starts coming into the Tiara’s second leg, and she looks like the filly to beat in this field, especially after she showed a lot of moxie when she hung on to win the Bluegrass Oaks two weeks ago by ½ a length over Final Exit, the post-time betting favorite in the Oaks. Final Exit won’t be here this weekend in Maryland to bother Secret Shuffler, who has been installed as the 7/2 morning line favorite. In fact, most of that Oaks field won’t be here. Only one filly, Giant Zen, has joined Secret Shuffler from the Bluegrass Oaks. Giant Zen finished 17th in that field two weeks ago. And that means the trend of new shooters coming in here and stealing the middle leg of the Tiara just increased exponentially. There are nine new shooters in this field of 11 fillies this weekend, and all of them will be looking to do something that has happened every year since 2009–and that is to become a new shooter who comes in and walks off with a win in the Black Middle Flower Stakes. Grim Batol and Country Comforts have been installed as the 5/1 co-second favorites by the morning line guys here this weekend, and both of those are coming off some pretty impressive performances last time out. Grim Batol is coming in here off two listed stakes wins, while Country Comforts comes in here off a second place finish in the Grade 3 Chief Snow Handicap. And Country Comforts also has a couple of monster speed figures in her last two starts. Your 6/1 third choice, according to the odds makers, is the aforementioned Giant Zen, who won the Grade 1 Miss Bonnie a couple starts back, before she finished second to the boys in the Grade 1 Wooden Indian Derby Lock Prep to Silverton. Silverton was extremely highly regarded going into the Bluegrass Derby two weeks ago. Here is the field for the 14th running of the $250,000 Grade 2 Black Middle Flower Stakes, at nine furlongs on the Maryland dirt course, for three year old fillies. (1) SECRET SHUFFLER (KY) ** 7/2 ** ( 9 8-0-1 ) Owner: Phantom Pharms (Speightstown x Awesome Again x Tiznow) Secret Shuffler has been managed beautifully by her connections, Phantom Pharms, thus far. She started her career with five consecutive wins, including her first graded win in her last start of 2011 in the Grade 3 Reflection Futurity in North Dakota. After that, she was given almost two months off and came back in her first start of 2012 to finish third in the Grade 1 Los Vinegrette Oaks–her only loss of her career. To come back off that long a layoff and still finish third in that monster of a field in the Los Vinegrettes should have told us right then that this daughter of Speightstown was pretty special. Since then, Secret Shuffler has reeled off three consecutive wins. She scored quite easily in the Grade 1 California Oaks, where she drew off late to win by open lengths. Then she tuned up for the Bluegrass Oaks with an easy warm up score in an allowance event in Washington state, where she absolutely toyed with that field. Then last time out, she stalked the early leaders before grabbing the lead about two furlongs from the wire and held off a late rush from Bluegrass Oaks favorite Final Exit. That Oaks field was one of the best in recent memory, and for Secret Shuffler to pull off the upset there tells us this is one very special filly here for Phantom Pharms. She’s got a ton of early speed, but Secret Shuffler doesn’t necessarily need the lead. She’s learned how to rate as her races have gotten longer. And with Awesome Again and Tiznow back there in her pedigree, this filly has what it takes to hang on late. Watch Secret Shuffler here this weekend. If she gets her trip, she could join an elite group of two other fillies in Tiara history (Storey Megan in 2003 and Sabbath Point in 2008) to win both the first and second legs of the Triple Tiara. If she does win here in Maryland this weekend, look for her to try to become the only filly to ever win a Triple Tiara in three weeks in New York. (2) CANDY LICKER (KY) 23/1 ( 8 1-2-2 ) Owner: Natural Wonders Stables (Mineshaft x Candy Land II (Candy Ride)) Someone has to be the longshot here, and Candy Licker has drawn that distinction in the Black Middle Flower Stakes this weekend. She’ll break just to the outside of your Oaks winner, Secret Shuffler. The daughter of Mineshaft has an awful lot of stamina in that pedigree. Her dam, Candy Land II, was more of a miler type, but when you team her up with Mineshaft, that means this one will probably love this 9 furlongs she’ll see here in Maryland this weekend. She’s only got one career win in her 8 starts, and that was a maiden score on New Year’s Eve day last season. She’s been second or third five other times. She popped a career-high 93 speed figure last time out in a second place finish in an allowance event in Massachusetts. She will only get better as she goes longer, but she shows quite a bit of early speed in her races. Candy Licker could surprise here, but it would take a monster jump in speed figures for her to do so. Still, she’s a new shooter, and in that capacity, it means she’s got recent Black Middle Flower Stakes history on her side. She’s also one of two entries from Natural Wonders Stables here. (3) FANTABULOSA (KY) 18/1 ( 6 2-1-1 ) Owner: Equifaux By Donny (Tiznow x Fantastic Form (Fantastic Light)) Fantabulosa comes from the barns of Donny Beisbol and his Equifaux by Donny Stables. She’s only got six career starts coming in here to the Black Middle Flower Stakes, and she’s a daughter of Tiznow out of the Fantastic Light mare Fantastic Form. Her dam loved to run in long turf races, and she racked up nearly $400,000 in her career. She’s another new shooter here, and she’s coming off a win in the 9.5 furlong Chopping Hill Dirt Filly Route listed stakes. Fantabulosa popped a career high 99 speed figure in that start last time out, her first try in graded stakes company. She’s been itching for more distance, as she showed last time out when she came on strong late in a 9-furlong allowance event in New York. She ran on late in that field to get second place, and that run encouraged Donny to run her in that Chopping Hill Dirt Filly Route last time out. Like most Tiznow daughters and fine wines, she has gotten better each time out. Let’s not totally discount her chances here, just because she’s 18/1. Donny wouldn’t have her here, if he didn’t think she didn’t have a realistic shot of winning. She loves to lay about mid-pack, and that should suit her well in this field. She’ll probably be right behind Secret Shuffler most of this race, and she’ll also probably make her move about the same time as Secret Shuffler does. Look for this filly to come running late–and hard–this weekend in Maryland. (4) RACE TO JUDGEMENT (AUS) 15/1 ( 5 3-1-1 ) Owner: Megablaze2 Stables (Encosta De Lago x Evilangelist (Monsun)) Race To Judgement is one of two non-American breds in the Black Middle Flower this weekend. She also comes in lightly raced here, with five career starts. But she’s done very little wrong in those starts. She’s scored three wins for her connections, Megablaze2 Stables, and all three of those were open-lengths scores. She comes in here off a huge win in the 9.5-furlong Grade 3 Running AwaySpecial in Germany, where she won impressively by over four lengths. The daughter of Encosta De Lago could be very dangerous in this spot. She’s on a hot streak, and she has one of those past performance charts you just love to look at when you’re handicapping a race. Her speed figures have gotten better each time out, and that’s always lovely to see. She has done the majority of her racing on the West Coast, until she was shipped to Germany for that Grade 3 win last time out. She’s back in the states now in one of the biggest three year old filly races of all, and she’s trying to become the fourth new shooter in four years to win this race. Keep your eye on this one. Race To Judgement might just be the one to do it. Her dam didn’t start really cranking it up until she was a three year old, and it looks like Race To Judgment is following in mommy’s footsteps here. (5) GIANT ZEN (KY) 6/1 ( 10 5-1-1 ) Owner: Foto Finish (Zensational x Giant Move (Storm Cat)) It won’t be hard to find Giant Zen in this field Saturday in Maryland. She’s a beautiful roan daughter of Zensational, and she’s out of the Storm Cat hemare Giant Move. Her hemare was a Storm Cat x Mr. Prospector x Seattle Slew, and while he didn’t do a whole lot on the track in his time, his daughter Giant Zen has more than made up for it. She’s got ten career starts, and she’s won five of those. She opened up her career last year winning three of her first four starts, before she got into some serious graded races. She came from way back to finish third in the Grade 3 SilverBulletBeer in Louisiana, before she traveled to Florida to score her only graded stakes win–a 9-furlong triumph in the Grade 2 Miss Bonnie. She popped a career-high 105 speed figure there, and that encouraged her connections, Foto Finish, to try her luck against the boys in the Grade 1 Wooden Indian Derby Lock Prep in New York. Giant Zen finished second there after coming from over a dozen lengths off the pace midway through that race. In fact, that’s how this girl likes to roll. You’ll probably see her at the back of the pack early on, before she kicks in late. It’s hard to say what happened to her in the Bluegrass Oaks last time. She was back late, running her race, but she just never fired when asked. She finished 17th there, and you might want to watch and see if she throws a better performance in this spot in Maryland this weekend. Giant Zen is extremely talented, and she’s in with a bunch of speed horses here. Her late-running style should suit her fine in this bunch. And she MIGHT just be the one to break the streak of new shooters winning this race lately. (6) BATILIA (KY) 8/1 ( 13 6-2-1 ) Owner: Rafa Stables (Arch x Tirillas (Seeking The Gold)) Batilia likes to run. And she likes to run often. The daughter of Arch has 13 career starts so far, nine in her two year old season alone. That’s a pretty tough schedule, but it got her in the top 27 in her division coming into this race. She doesn’t have a graded win……yet. But we have a feeling this one might be getting ready to bust out big very soon. She’s out of the stakes-winning Seeking The Gold mare Tirillas. She’s run in four graded stakes races in her career, but it wasn’t until September of last season when she really started popping some pretty nice speed figures. This season, she’s been on fire. She’s won three of her five starts, including a couple of listed stakes wins. Three starts back, she pulled her first 100 speed figure race of her career, when she won a 9-furlong listed stakes in Mexico. Batilia’s got speed figures of 95, 100, 93 and 97 in her last four starts, and that’s why she’s 8/1 in this spot. She hasn’t had a real break since she started running back in May of last year, but she’s stood up to the rigors of that tough schedule. And she’s gotten better as she’s gotten older. Add to that the fact that she comes from Rafa Stables, and you might be looking at a very dangerous entry here in Batilia. She might be ready to throw a very big race here. She’s got a couple of different running styles she can throw at this field. She can show early speed, like she did last time out, when she won a 10-furlong listed stakes in Jamaica. It wouldn’t be a huge surprise at all to see her do extremely well in this spot, despite her tough schedule. This is one sturdy filly here, and she might also be one very dangerous filly here in Maryland this weekend. (7) NEVER COME BACK (ENG) 11/1 ( 10 5-1-1 ) Owner: Desperado Stables (Dubawi x Dead Man’s Switch (Galileo)) Never Come Back is the only other non-American-bred filly to grace the Black Middle Flower with her presence. She has won half of her ten career starts, and she’s a daughter of Dubawi out of the Galileo hemare Dead Man’s Switch. As a two year old, she ran six of her seven starts on the grass, and she was doing pretty well on that surface. That’s when her owner, Rob of Desperado Stables, decided to switch Never Come Back to the dirt permanently. She won an allowance start and a listed stakes in her first three-year-old starts on the dirt, and then Rob put her in with the big girls in the Grade 1 lool Oaks in California. She finished fifth there, but she was coming on strong late in that spot. She’s been pretty nicely spotted as a three year old, and it looks like she might one to watch in this spot. This field is coming up light compared to most years, with only 11 fillies entered. But I don’t see Rob running Never Come Back here just because there’s an opening in here for his 96th-ranked filly. He must know she’s sharp and sitting on a big race, and it’s pretty evident by her last race that she loves to come running late. And that means she should love the extra half-furlong she’ll see here in the Black Middle Flower Stakes. She fits in this spot, and she could be one of the new shooters here who has a real shot in this second leg of the Triple Tiara. (8) GRIM BATOL (KY) 5/1 ( 12 6-0-1 ) Owner: Shaghar Stables (Medaglia D’Oro x Cheyenne Gold (Seeking The Gold) Grim Batol, a daughter of Medaglia D’Oro, started off her career on the turf and she broke her maiden at first asking. That was way back in March of last year. She wouldn’t win again until three starts later, when she tried the dirt for the first time. Her connections, Shaghar Stables, turned out to be right about her. The dirt is where she belongs. If you don’t believe it, look what she did in her last two starts. Grim Batol threw speed figures of 103 and 104 in finishing first in a couple of listed stakes her last two times out. This filly is heating up at the right time here, and these connections are super sharp. She’s ranked 21st in her division, and, with those two humongous speed figures last time out, that’s probably a big reason she’s one of the two co-second favorites. She’s a deep closer, and she loves to come running late. As a two year old, she went into the Breeders’ Bowl Juvenile Fillies, and she came from a dozen lengths off the pace to finish fourth, beaten only three lengths. She’s won three of her four starts since that race, and her last two were at the distance she’ll be facing this weekend in Maryland. She loves this distance, she’s got the numbers, and she’s from a super sharp barn. If this filly isn’t ripe to take home the Black Middle Flower Stakes trophy, then no one is. She’ll lay back early here and come charging hard late, and if Grim Batol can get any kind of fast pace to run at, look out. She might be very dangerous here in Maryland this weekend. (9) BIG BROWN EYES (KY) 8/1 ( 12 4-5-0 ) Owner: Natural Wonders Stables (Big Brown x Sleeping Beauty (Empire Maker)) Aha! Here we go! The second entry from Natural Wonders Stables is a daughter of Big Brown out of the stakes-placed turf mare Sleeping Beauty, who is by Empire Maker. She’s got the most early speed of the two entries from Natural Wonders Stables, and they might be setting up a rabbit situation here. You would have thought this entry might have loved the turf, given that she is by Big Brown and her dam is stakes-placed on the turf. But breeding is like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates. You just never know what you’re going to get. Natural Wonders Stables guessed right when they threw this one on the dirt first time out, and she won in the slop in Pennsylvania way back in April of last year. In fact, she ran her first five races in Pennsylvania against some pretty tough company, and she was either first or second every time. She ran into a little trouble in the Grade 3 Adam’s Apple, but she dropped back into allowance company, and her speed figures improved. She won four of her first twelve career starts, and she finished second five times. In fact, the only time she finished out of the top three was in graded company, and she might just break that graded jinx this weekend. She tuned up last time out, when she ran fourth in the 7.5 furlong Grade 3 Owner’s Tree, and I really liked watching her run in that race. She quickly jumped to the lead and held it for a while, before she was passed in deep stretch. She still finished fourth there, and I think that was the perfect tune-up for her. Big Brown Eyes was only beaten 1 ½ lengths in that spot. She’s got tons of early speed, and she might want to run off and hide from this field. I really like this long/short prep schedule, and she should be sharp for this race. She’s only run once over 8.5 furlongs, and that was two starts back, when she finished second in a listed 9.5-furlong stakes in Arkansas. The race in Arkansas is her only triple digit speed figure race, too. This race is setting up nicely for her, and she might just have what it takes to pull off the score here. And if she doesn’t, you can probably bet she’ll be somewhere in the top three. Her natural speed alone should enable her to hang on long enough to catch a check here. Watch her. (10) JOHNNY WALKER B (KY) 7/1 ( 16 5-5-1 ) Owner: The Light Bulb Conspiracy (Old Fashioned x Broad Lush (Broad Brush)) If you see a three-year-old at this time of year with as many starts as Johnny Walker B, you can just about bet it’s from either Rafa Stables or The Light Bulb Conspiracy. These two particular connections build strong, sturdy pedigrees who run like they used to run in the old days….hard and often. Johnny Walker B is a daughter of Old Fashioned out of the Broad Brush mare Broad Lush, who won most of her money in turf routes. Leave it to Tye to figure out this girl belongs on the dirt, and she loves that surface. She’s run an incredible 16 races so far in her young career, and if you think he’s running this filly into the ground, think again. She’s either won or finished in the money in 11 of her 16 career starts. She’s 7/1 in the Black Middle Flower Stakes this weekend, and if you think she hasn’t gotten a shot, I reiterate. Think again. This filly can run–on the turf and the dirt. She’s got just about an equal number of starts on each, and she’s won just about an equal amount of money on each. In five races since February, she’s run speed figures of 95, 96, 103, 92 and 93. She has won once in those five starts, and that was an easy 8.5 listed stakes win in Wisconsin. Last time out, Tye prepped her with a 10-furlong listed stakes try, and she finished second there behind Batilia, who she will see in Maryland this weekend. Johnny Walker B was pretty badly beaten in the Grade 1 lool Oaks, but that’s okay. She won’t be seeing near the type of company here that she saw there. Some of those fillies lost to Secret Shuffler two weeks ago in the Bluegrass Oaks, and they’re sitting this race out. Give Johnny Walker B a look here at the betting windows. She might be getting ready to pop a good one for Tye and his Light Bulb Conspiracy Stables. (11) COUNTRY COMFORTS (KY) 5/1 ( 8 3-2-1 ) Owner: D&Z Farms (Belong To Me x Tabasco Cat x Bold Reasoning) Country Comforts is the other co-second favorite in the Black Middle Flower Stakes, and if you look at her last two races, you can see why. She was bouncing along, popping some pretty nice speed figures. Then the lights came on for this daughter of Belong To Me. She popped some pretty brilliant speed figures last two times out. She didn’t start running until September of last season, and she only raced three times as a two year old. This season she’s run five times, and she has won two, finished second twice, and she finished third once. She popped a mid-80 speed figure in her first start of the year, when she finished third in a 9.5 furlong listed stakes in North Dakota, and she got better and better as this season progressed. In her last two starts, she threw some speed figures that make you say, “Wow!”. She popped a 107 and a 106 in those two starts. She won by open lengths in a 9.5-furlong listed stakes, and then she just missed in her first graded start of the year, when she got nosed out at the wire in the Grade 3 Chief Snow Handicap. That was at 9 furlongs, the distance she’ll see this weekend. I don’t know what made the lights suddenly come on for this filly from D&Z Farms, but they came on–very brightly, in fact. If the daughter of Belong To Me runs back to either of those two speed figures, she’ll be a very live shot here in the Black Middle Flower. You can take that to the bank.