Talented Fillies Collide in Double Blush

Eight youngsters will collide in this week’s feature, the $80,000 Double Blush Stakes, which is carded for 6 ½ furlongs on the main track. 5/2 favoritism belongs to greentreef’s Chased By A Posse. The bright chestnut daughter of Posse has won only once in four starts, but garnered a lot of attention in the victory, posting a flashy 84 SF in an easy win over this distance. She’s been given seven weeks to recover from that effort, and with Ian Wimpy aboard, has an excellent shot of making it two in a row. Just to her outside is the second choice, moriahspop’s Seattle Rainbow. The DelPen resident gets leading rider Herbert Ross in the irons, and is perfect in her only start, a win in Michigan with a 73 SF. Her style of running and pedigree suggest the extra furlong are well within her range, although with Rainbow Quest as a sire, she may ultimately be better on the lawn. That said, her dam, Valid Slew, was a stakes winner on the main track. Alluring Niner G is a beautifully bred daughter of Forty Niner out of a winning mare by dual Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Lure. Despite that turf influence, she flopped on her only start on the lawn. In five dirt starts, Alluring has never been worse than third, and was second here at Delaware in the Sashina Memorial six weeks ago, closing nicely in that race. She gets an extra half-furlong here, but loses Ross to Seattle Rainbow. Solid jock Z Wylde takes Ross’s place, and hopes to make Ross regret jumping off the mount.

Hot Bump is relatively ignored by the snobbish oddsmaker, despite winning her only start with a stylish 81 SF for 5 furlongs. This is primarily due to the devry filly’s lack of high-priced sires in her pedigree, as she is by a nice son of Nureyev in Unusual Heat, out of a Vicar mare. She does wheel back on four weeks’ rest, which might be a tad quick, but a second victory here would be no real surprise, and her backers would be rewarded with odds of 7/1. Also at 7/1 is loves3’s Dandabeel. The relative veteran in the field has six starts under her belt, with a 4-1-0-1 record on the main track. The daughter of Zabeel is graded stakes placed, but tends to get a bit rank and then tire. If Brian Ironside can get her to relax a little on the front end, she could be dangerous. The outside post belongs to Spar Ant, trained by ballen53. The Storm Creek filly has gotten off to a good start, and while her times aren’t quite as impressive as some of the favorites in the race, she’s had several in the 70s, including a third place run over this track, where she earned a 79 SF. That race, however, was only two weeks ago, so it’s asking a lot of this miss to turn right around, and improve on that effort. I’m also not sure that she really wants to go this far, but some frontrunners do relax in longer races. If she and the other frontrunners hook up, this could really set up things for a closer. Killerz has Jokes On Bbor, a very nice daughter of Santa Anita Derby winner The Deputy. I honestly have no idea why she is 10/1, other than the snob factor, as she has won two of three starts, with 79 and 80 SFs. The only real knock against her is the presence of several other frontrunners, particularly when she has tended to get a little legweary in the stretch. You gotta like her until she proves she can’t do it, but the extra distance has got to be a bit of a concern for her connections. Finally River Runs Red from the sarava02 barn, looked solid in her dirt debut with a rallying third (71 SF), over six panels, and less so in her second start, which she won without really being challenged. Her odds are inflated by her poor turf run last time out, which should be tossed out. If she can take another step forward in her return to the dirt, which is entirely possible, could be a value play at 12/1. Good luck to all!