Dame Dorothy the one to beat in Bed o' Roses

Dame Dorothy (Bernardini) brings stellar credentials into Saturday's $150,000

Bed o'

Roses H. (G3) at Belmont Park. The four-year-old exits the first Grade 1

victory of her career, defeating champion female sprinter Judy the Beauty

(Ghostzapper) in the May 2 Humana Distaff at Churchill Downs, and has captured

six of eight career starts, including the Turnback the Alarm (G3) in her lone

previous appearance at Belmont last October.

Javier Castellano will be back up on the classy Todd Pletcher trainee and

Dame Dorothy figures to be a strong favorite among eight distaffers in the

seven-furlong event. However, the Bed o' Roses doesn't figure to be a walkover

for the bay Pennsylvania-bred filly with three intriguing rivals entered.

La Verdad (Yes It's True) is a Belmont sprint specialist, improving her local

record to 6-5-1-0 with a game score in the May 16 Vagrancy (G3), and the Linda

Rice-trained mare is on the verge of surpassing the $1 million mark in earnings

($990,700). Jose Ortiz will be up on the confirmed front-runner.