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Prospective Saint blossoms in Gardenia Charles D. Miller's PROSPECTIVE SAINT (Saint Ballado) dueled with Maggie Slew (Seattle Slew) throughout Saturday's $150,000 Gardenia H. (G3) at Ellis Park, but managed to get in front when it really mattered to score a half-length victory. The Marty Wolfson-trained five-year-old traded front-running duties with her rival through splits of :23 3/5, :46 2/5, 1:10 1/5 and 1:22 4/5 before finishing a mile on the fast dirt in 1:36 under Eddie Castro. Prospective Saint was worth $4, $2.60 and $2.40 as the even-money favorite, while Maggie Slew gave back $3.60 and $2.80 as the 3-1 second choice for her game runner-up effort, ending the $16.20 exacta. It was another 1 3/4 lengths back to Plaid (Deputy Commander), who paid $4.60 and completed the $112.40 trifecta. Character Builder (Coronado's Quest) rounded out the 8-2-4-11 superfecta that returned $455.80 and was followed under the line by Fast Navy (Brz) (Minstrel Glory), Starry Pie (Pioneering), Fly Away Angel (Skip Away), Ten Carat Ruby (Rubiano), Beau Watch (Beau Genius) and Sea Siren (Stormy Atlantic). Island Escape (Petionville) was scratched. Prospective Saint already owned four stakes victories, but this was her first graded score. She gave notice of her readiness for this test with a runner-up finish in the Princess Rooney H. (G1) prior to this race, and also boasts placings in last year's Chilukki S. (G2) and the 2004 Iowa Oaks (G3). The dark bay mare improved her record to 19-8-3-1 with $483,343 in lifetime earnings. Bred in Kentucky by Edward P. Evans, Prospective Saint sold for $40,000 as a Fasig-Tipton May two-year-old. She is out of the winning A. B. Prospect (A.P. Indy), who also has an unnamed yearling filly by Whitmore's Conn.
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