The closest a favorite has come to winning Portugal’s Grade III Priority Princess Stakes in the past five years was last year, when Slammin Storm, third choice in the betting, beat a strong field of ten. She’s gone one for fourteen since.
Today’s field features a couple of top ten three year old filly sprinters: Peace Blossom, who is coming off a frontrunning win at today’s distance and Lucky’s Brook Lynn, who returns to the distance where she was a Grade I winner. This is a very strong, if short, field with so many unfamiliar with finishing a race out of the money.
Here is a look at the field:
- Top jockey T Tate opts for Fu Fu Mascus (Giant’s Causeway x Fusaichi Pegasus) on the rail. Fu Fu won a DelPenn stakes at seven furlongs and returns to that distance after a couple routes and a failed experiment on the lawn. Expect better things today. She is five for eight in dirt sprints, including four stakes wins. Her speed figures need to take a step up, but that’s entirely possible for the Freeky (20%) trained filly. 5-1.
- In the money in nine of ten dirt sprints, Silver Strav (Stravinsky x Silver Hawk) has just missed in her last two tries, Grade II seven furlong sprints. Stalking style and quick speed figures makes this Emb2 (18%) trainee look like a major player here. 9-2.
- Cat Judge T (Judge T C x Mountain Cat) had been on the dirt only three times in her 16 race career, and those efforts look weak compared to the competition here. The TempStable (8%) trained filly did beat older last time in a grassy allowance. It’s been a while since she’s run on the dirt. Maybe she’s faster now. 12-1.
- Exile on Main Street (Thunder Gulch x Danehill) shortens up a bit, as she tries one turn for the first time in eight races. The game Super18 (20%) trained filly has been in the money in nine of her ten races; however she has only had her picture taken twice. In sprints she has three seconds in three races. She exits the Grade II Mellow Breeze where she finished a close third in an even effort. Has early route speed and figures to sit just behind the early pace here. 6-1.
- Cinematic (Seeking The Gold x Sadler’s Wells) finished ahead of Exile on Main Street in the Mellow Breeze and followed that up with a somewhat disappointing fifth in the Manhattan District. Other than that last one, the Tropicountc (12%) trained filly has two wins and two seconds in five sprints. She is in danger of getting caught in a speed duel here, but does not dare wait as she has never shown an ability to rate. 5-1.
- In the last race of her two year old season, the pace scenario and form of Lucky’s Brook Lynn (Kingmambo x Danzig) came together at the right time as she won a Grade I DelPenn sprint for MrLucky229 (19%). Today gives her the best chance to win since that day – she returns to her best distance and it looks likely that a speed duel will develop and fall apart, setting it up for a filly with a late charge. The only question is form, as she was out-rallied last time and ran a less than thrilling speed figure. Another high percentage filly: nine for ten in the money in sprints. 5-1.
- When Peace Blossom (Speightstown x Danzig) won the I Said Be Quiet Classic last time, she earned the only triple digit speed figure in the field. While many in the field have outstanding in-the-money percentages, Blossom has won most of her races, winning five of eight dirt sprints. The blemish on the Darkfall (27%) trainee’s record is that her three losses came just prior to that last race and in those losses she faded badly after being pressured. If she leads by more than a length at the second call, she is nearly unbeatable; if she is challenged, she looks ordinary. If you think she can get that lead today, the price is square, even as the favorite. 4-1.
- In her only finish out of the money, Medaglia Quest (Medaglia D’Oro x Coronado’s Quest), two back, got off to a slow start and never competed. That race also featured Peace Blossom, who got off to an even worse start and finished behind this one. All four of this Surfer (22%) trainee’s wins have come wire to wire. The start of this race may look like quarter horses on the outside. Yet another one with nine in-the-money finishes in ten starts. 4-1.
Morning Line: 7-8-2-1
Timmn’s picks: 2-1-6-4
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