Last Minute Points For Bluegrass Fillies?
A confession. I have a soft spot for fillies–it’s that extra dose of personality. Another: I like three-year-olds this time of the year because of that chance, however slim, that any one of them could be the next Superhorse. What all of this means is that this, the $150,000 GIII Jockey Guild Stakes for sophomore fillies going a mile and one sixteenth on the fast Pennsylvania dirt, is pretty much my ideal race.
And it’s got a little of everything, from promising upstarts to veterans, as much as any three-year-old can be a veteran in April. Horses that do nothing but win and horses that are looking to rebound from losing streaks. Some of them are horses looking for a few extra points to guarantee a spot in the gate come Bluegrass Oaks day, and our favorite is one of those.
That’s Baldo Hollandia (Pure Prize), a 6/1 shot out of a Secretariat mare. She’s won just two of her eleven starts for Rintintin, but she’s been keeping some mighty good company. She opened her three-year-old season with a comfortable listed stakes win and two starts back, was beaten just a half-length in the GII Louisiana Oaks, where she earned a career-best 97 speed figure. She was a thoroughly-beaten tenth last time out versus colts in the GI Green Monkey and it’s possible that ambitious placement cost her a ticket to the Oaks: she’s sitting twenty-sixth in her class and distance catagory. D. McCants is an ultraconsistant rider and should be taking this mount very seriously.
The second choice is K’s Stand Tall (Mineshaft), breaking from the far outside, and she’s a front-running winning machine, with seven victories in nine career starts. Her juvenile record was marred only by a three-quarter-length loss in her last start of the year, and her sophomore bow was her only off-the-board finish, a leg-weary eleventh in the Equinics. She rebounded well and cruised to a win in the listed Ginger’s Grade last time out, hitting 97 on the speed rating chart. This will be her first race at a mile or more, but her pedigree is loaded with stamina.
Golden Tale (Tale of the Cat) is the only daughter of a GII-placed Coronado’s Quest mare. she carries the colors of Apniner stable. Like K’s Stand Tall, she’s failed to hit the board only once (in eight career starts). That race was her last, the Louisiana Oaks where Baldo Hollandia thrived: Golden Tale never factored in and wound up tenth. That was her graded stakes debut, and her previous races show a hard-running stalker who never says die. Speed ratings top out in the low 90s.
Moon Queen(SAF) (Victory Moon) is a five-time winner of over $500,000. She’s ranked twentieth, sitting right on the bubble, and will look to repeat her win in last year’s GI Frickasee Stakes, where this race’s favorite finished third. Moon Queen kicked off the year with an uninspired effort in the GII Hello, Goodbye Stakes and was switched by Sprinter to the turf, where she placed in and then won listed stakes. The Jockey Guild will show whether she’s found her true calling on the green.
Pick6 stables will be hoping that Gone West daughter Groomed To Romp T‘s name proves prophetic: their filly is ranked twenty-second and could punch her ticket to the Oaks with a top-notch race on Saturday. The fifteen-race veteran was campaigned hard as a juvenile and seemed to come up a bit tired by the end of the year an then again more recently, when she followed up two GII shows with last-placed finishes in the GI California Oaks and GII Fantasia. The habitual speed horse was asked to come from behind in her last race, the GII South Dakota Oaks, and responded by running out of her skin for a rallying third with a 97. R. Logan is having a super year and if this filly’s back in form, she’s one to reckon with.
Also looking to make amends will be Lake Minnimac (Meadowlake). The Kk1039 entry got a slightly late start, not breaking her maiden until her first start at three. But she rewarded her connections’ patience with a stylish win two starts back in the listed Heather Prospector, where she recorded a career-high 96. She struggled in the GII Fantasy, finishing eleventh, and gets a second chance in this spot to prove that she does belong with these.
I’m not sure what’s up with the random initials, but Trigger’s Girl G (Roy) represents. She’s the third of three winners from a stakes-placed Forestry mare; big brother Don’tpassthebux G by Carson City is stakes-placed as well. Trigger’s Girl G was a listed stakes winner last year, but faltered in graded company, and hasn’t won in four starts at three. She does have tactical speed and numbers to put her in the hunt for a check if everyone runs to form.
The rail spot goes to Papua Theft (AP Indy) and pedigrees don’t come much better: her dam is by Mr. Prospector and out of a Secretariat mare. She was at very short odds the first five times that she ran, and much longer ones when, in her sixth race, she stalked and then pounced on the win in the GI Fast Filly Stakes. Fourth in the Breeders Bowl Juvenile Filly, she hasn’t trained on quite as well as Pick4 likely hoped, with just one win (in a listed stakes) from four starts as three. When she’s good, she’s really quite good, and maybe she’ll get back to fulfilling that early potential.
Dougmatt enters Stone Cold Birdie (Birdstone), the first foal of two from a GIII-winning Louis Quatorze mare. The Jockey Guild will be her graded stakes debut, but she won a listed race at two and has twice (twice!) come within a nose of repeating that feat this year. Her numbers have crawled upwards to 94 last out and throwing out her nine furlong try, she always gets a check.
Speaking of nice pedigrees, how about a daughter of Dixieland Band who’s also the third of four foals from a Gone West mare who’s previously thrown a GIII winner (Danzig) and a listed stakes winner (War Chant)? No pressure, Dixie Park! The Ashworth trainee does hae a GII placing to her credit from last year and dials back in the distance after two nine-furlong starts at three found her closing with determination but not quite enough speed. Her best number to date is a 91, but I have a vague feeling that with the help of the capable D. Anderson, she may get a piece of things late. Call it a hunch.
Little Ghost (Lemon Drop Kid) will be hoping to say goodbye to the closers and keep it all for herself. The six-time starter has a maiden win and two listed stakes under her belt, but struggled in the Equinics and the Louisiana Oaks. Last out, she ran away with the listed Sink Your Teeth Into This Stakes, scoring a 94 that was her best yet. I’m very fond of her sire, but suspect she’ll have a harder time sneaking off with this one.
Hawkfly’s Bridle(Ire) (Hawk Wing) took a big step forward last year in a turf-to-dirt manuver and carried that momentum into this season, which she bean with two commanding allowance wins. In her stakes debut last out at a mile and three-sixteenths, she finished sixth after passing tired horses in the stretch. A GIII seems like an ambitious placement for an allowance winner, but her best number fits well and she may be a bit sharper with the reduced distance. (Though, if she was in my barn, I might be thinking marathon horse.)
Long-time simmer Theatrical sends out Red Hill (Red Ransom), a two-time winner of $100,000. Her career sensibly started on the turf (she’s out of a Danehill mare), but her third start and a switch to the main track brought a rousing win. She was second in the GII Los Vinegrette earlier this year, but the winner of that race has struggled since and I’m a little concerned that Red Hill has seemed to want no part of running on off-tracks.
Soultrapper(Ire) (Perfect Soul) finishes off our field at 17/1. A relative baby beside some of these others, she’s started four times for Techranger stables, winning two and never worse than third. Last out, she was the show horse in a listed stakes with an 89 speed rating and a dependable kick, but I have to ask, with this pedigree (out of a Peintre Celebre daughter), when will she try the green?
I don’t often try to pick ’em, but public humiliation builds character, right? I’ll take Groomed To Romp T to win it with her new and improved running style, with the favorite Baldo Hollandia staying on for second and Dixie Park in third