Florida The Scene For Gr. 3 Exit Stage Left

The Grade 3 Exit Stage Left for fillies and mares three years old and up is quite the mixed bag this year.

The 2011 version of this 8.5 furlong $100,000 race on the dirt course down in sunny Florida has a little bit of everything.

There are sprint types in here, trying to move up in distance. There are some really grand old gals who simply tore up the track back in the day when they were running in the Triple Tiara races. A couple of these, Artemis And Apollo and Legend of Jones, have been going at each other a lot this year, so there’s a bit of a rivalry going there. And there are even some ladies who are trying to break into the graded stakes scene for the first time.

Your morning line favorite is Artemis And Apollo, a name we’re all quite familiar with. She’s 9/2 in this spot, and you might remember her from her Triple Tiara days back in 2010, when she won the third leg of the Tiara, the Chestnut Stakes. It seems ages ago, and she’s been through a lot since then.

The four year old daughter of Montjeu has earned over $1.6 million for her owner, Super Stables. It seems like she’s been running this eight and one-half furlong distance her entire career, when, in fact, she’s actually run it 17 times in her 29 career start. And she’s been pretty successful at it, too, so it’s easy to see why the odds makers have made her the morning line favorite. She has had a pretty splendid campaign in 2011, especially early in the season, when she notched wins in some pretty big graded events, like the Grade 1 Orange Blossom (probably her biggest win this year), the Grade 3 Sabian Handicap, the Grade 2 Golfer’s Wager and the Grade 2 Clemente.

She’s been a very busy girl in 2011, that much is certain. And she’ll have some pretty nice horses to contend with here.

Right behind Artemis And Apollo on the morning line is the 5/1 choice, Legend of Jones, a daughter of Smarty Jones. She is coming off a huge score in the Grade 3 8 furlong Airline Handicap, where she popped a 107 speed figure. The five year old mare is a really good friend of Artemis And Apollo. Those two have mixed it up several times this year, most notably in the Grade 2 Clemente (where Legend Of Jones finished third) and the Grade 2 Golfer’s Wager, where she finished fourth beaten only 1 ½ lengths. Legend of Jones ran in this race last year, and she finished second by ¼ of a length behind the Japanese-bred Smash N Grab.

Wikipedia is the third choice here at 6/1, and she’s got a ton of races under her belt this year. She’s a four year old daughter of A.P. Indy, and she’s running in her thirteenth start of the year here this weekend. She’s only got three wins this year, but one of them came in the Grade 2 Fort Lostinthewoods Misery Stakes earlier this season. She’s been pretty consistent, though, compared to most of these, as she’s usually around the top three. And she’s been running with some pretty nice company too. She’s a legitimate threat in this spot.

There are a couple of interesting horses in here at 7/1, Magic Of Night and Pickin’ Winners.

Magic Of Night is a four year old daughter of Daaher, and she’s running in only her second graded event of her career. She’s been throwing some very consistent speed numbers, so she’s definitely one to watch. Four starts back, she blew out the field in an allowance event with a career-high 113 speed figure, and she’s coming off another allowance win in her last start.

The other one in here at 7/1 is Pickin’ Winners. Pickin’ Winners has been killin’ them in the graded sprints in her last two starts, and she turns back to the routes here this weekend in Florida. I have some good information from Pete over at Denovo Stables that his four year old scratch-bred daughter of Fusaichi Pegasus is hot for this race. She won the Grade 2 Lil’ Leprechaun Dash and the Grade 3 Blueberry Stakes in her last two starts, both at seven furlongs. And she brings a four race winning streak in here to the Grade 3 Exit Stage Left. She’s thrown speed figures of 109, 108 and 106 in her last three races. So she is indeed coming into this race very hot.

Then you have A.P. Monte at 8/1. The four year old daughter of El Prado (IRE) is also pretty hot at the moment. She’s a mile specialist who’s picking up an extra 1/16 of a mile here. She’s won three of her last five starts, and she’s finished second in another. A key race you might want to note here for A.P. Monte is the Grade 2 Snownut Handicap in Spain three starts back. She ran away from the field in that race, and she popped a 108 speed figure, to boot.

There’s Conversation Piece, sitting there at 9/1, who looks pretty live in this spot from the two hole, and at 10/1 there are both Snowline and Ignored. Snowline and Ignored are breaking from the 10 and 11 posts, just inside the speedy sprinter Pickin’ Winners. The race could set up nicely for these two, especially if they can cut off Pickin’ Winners early and not let her get over to the rail and dictate the early tempo of the race.

Conversation Piece is very interesting here, and I’ll tell you why. She’s a very lightly raced daughter of Rahy. She comes in here with only 12 starts on her resume. She’s raced nine times this year, and she’s been first or second every single time, except one. In her last start, she finished second to Legend Of Jones, and that was only Conversation Piece’s second career graded start. She’s definitely on the rise here, her speed figures are nice, and she might be one to keep your eye on.

Snowline has won four of her seven starts since June, and she’s finished second in two others. Let’s also throw in the fact that she’s got five consecutive starts coming in here with triple digit speed figures, and you have a very live play here. She finished second in the Grade 2 Hunted By Lions in her last start, and two starts back she won the Grade 3 Bluegrass Cup Distaff. Snowline at 10/1? She’s better than that.

Don’t ignore Ignored, either. She’s a former claimer, too, but her speed figures have been on the rise here in her 2011 campaign. This is the first graded start of her career, believe it or not, and she’s been throwing triple digit speed figures all season long. This is a nice spot for her to drop into, and you might want to keep your eye on how this daughter of Slew City Slew does in her first graded try.

There’s another daughter of Rahy in here by the name of Latchkey Kid. She’s 11/1, but don’t let that fool you. Three starts back, after she had been racing on the turf for a while, she returned to the dirt and scored big in the Grade 2 East Coast Mile. She popped a career high 110 speed figure in that race, so watch her closely here. If she runs anywhere near that form, she is definitely a contender in Florida this weekend.

And last, but definitely not least, there are the two long shots. Playboy Centerfold is 21/1 and the Irish-bred Mont Adjeu is 39/1. Playboy Centerfold was picked up in a $50,000 claiming race by Tilbs Stables a while back, and her new connections have her coming in her pretty hot, too. She’s won three of her last four coming in here, all allowance or starter allowance events, but look at what she did three starts back. She popped a career-high 107 speed figure. The daughter of Henny Hughes has the rail here, and she’s full of speed. If she gets loose on the lead, you could see major balloons light up the tote board here in Florida, if she stays at 21/1.

And Mont Adjeu is 39/1, and she’s another former claimer. She was picked up for a $2,500 tag by Corza Stables. Mont Adjeu is a six year old mare by Orpen out of a Montjeu mare. She’s been running 90-ish speed figures, for the most part, but last time out, she scored an allowance win at 5.5 furlongs. It was a pretty nice tune-up for this race and Mont Adjeu. And this isn’t her first graded start either. She’s seen this type of company once before, and she picked up a check when she ran fifth two starts back in the Grade 3 County BB Handicap. She popped her first 100-plus speed figure in that race, so she might be one to watch here, too. She had been running overseas for most of this year, and that’s probably why you haven’t heard a whole lot about her. That was a pretty nice run two starts back in that graded event, for her.