Irishbred Fillies Top Entrants In Norway

Four 3yo fillies are set to face off in this week’s feature, the Prize Caliope Challenge. It will be run at 8.5 furlongs on the dirt course for a purse of $65,000. Prize Caliope was an either-surface router by Prized who won a pair of dirt stakes at 10 and 12 furlongs.

In post one at 4/1 is Quirt’s New Toy owned by quirt22. She is by New Way (Danzig) and is out of a Zignew mare. She began her career in a maiden claimer, but placed second in a turf sprint stakes in her third start. She has collected cheques in three dirt stakes and placed second in an allowance at a mile, running a top speed of 80. D. Shirley will be riding her.

In post two at 9/5 is Celebre Slap(Ire) owned by irishman2. She is by Peintre Celebre(Ire) and is out of the G1 winning Dixie Brass mare Sally Slap. She began her career on turf, winning her debut and placing second in a stakes. After failing to show improvement, she switched surfaces, and has gone 3 for 4 on dirt, with her only loss coming on DelPenn Champions Day. She has routed once on dirt, running an 86. J. Gibbs is her jockey today.

In post three at 3/1 is Miesque’s Nereid owned by mrfu2. She is by Miesque’s Son and is based on the graded-placed Danzig horse Nereus. She’s tried both surfaces and distances, but both of her wins have been dirt routes. She ran an 81 while winning a California allowance at today’s distance. She’s shipping in from Northern Cal for this race. She’s sharp and she’s going to need to be to keep up with the favourite, who is also a frontrunner. Her jockey W. Church has the best winning percentage of the four in this race.

Rounding out the field is today’s favourite at 6/5, Macfly’s Affair(Ire) owned by macfly. She is by Black Tie Affair(Ire) and is out of therion’s stakeswinning Sadler’s Wells mare Theli. She is a full sister to the G1 winning marathoner Sadlefly’s Affair(Ire). She opened her career on turf, running second in three consecutive maiden races. She promptly won when switched to dirt, and has won one stakes and placed in two others. She ran a top speed of 88 in her stakes victory. Her only finish worse than second on dirt was last time out in Finland, which was also her first route. Given her pedigree and the success of her older brother, however, I would expect that was just an aberration, and she will bounce back and perform well here.

Well, there’s your field. Only one stakeswinner, but she will face challenges from the other three. Good luck to all the runners, and may they all come home sound.