Dance to Bristol rolls in Bed o' Roses

Susan H. Wantz's Dance to Bristol made her debut against graded company and

pushed her winning streak to five in a row by taking down Saturday's Grade 3, $147,000

Bed o'

Roses Handicap at Belmont Park.

"Whenever you have a (winning) streak like that, it's just hard for a horse

to perform like that every time, and she seems to do it, somehow," trainer Ollie

Figgins III said. "As long as she stays healthy, hopefully it will keep

happening.

"She's a filly with speed, but she's not the run-off type," Figgins added.

"She's not the type you have to coax off the bridle. You just set your hands

still, and she relaxes. If you ask to move forward, she does."

The four-year-old filly stumbled slightly at the start and settled three wide

while tracking pacesetter and eventual runner-up Fantasy of Flight, who posted

splits of :23 and :45 4/5.

Dance to Bristol overcame her miscue at the start and made her pursuit three

wide coming around the far turn. She was roused at the head of the stretch,

reigned in the leaders with a furlong to go and edged away under a drive to

prevail by 2 3/4 lengths.

"I let her do what she always does, which is break good and settle behind

horses," jockey Xavier Perez said. "When I asked her to run -- to put her on the

outside -- I did it right away because she doesn't like to be between horses too

much. I tried to get her on the best part of the track, and I did. Approaching

the quarter-pole, I just shook my reins at her a little bit and she just took

off running. Down from the quarter-pole to the wire was just an easy jog for

her."

The 8-5 favorite crossed the wire in 1:20 4/5 for the seven-furlong test over

the fast main track and returned $5.30, $3.20 and $2.80 to her supporters.

Fantasy of Flight took second, while Delightful Quality was another length

back in third. Withgreatpleasure and Willet finished fourth and fifth,

respectively. Munnings Sister was scratched from the race.

"I was four-for-four and now five-for-five with her -- it's a fun ride every

time I ride her," Perez said. "Every time she runs, she runs better. Today was a

big test for her, a big step to run in a graded race, and she improved pretty

good. She took on good company today."

Dance to Bristol broke her maiden in her third start in October 2011 and made

her stakes debut the following month while finishing second. She captured her

first stakes score in her next start in the Pandera Stakes to close out her

two-year-old campaign. The chestnut won the Marshua Stakes last year and was

coming off victories in the Sugar Maple and the Skipat Stakes her last two times

out. With Saturday's score, Dance to Bristol added a fifth stakes win to her

resume which now reads16-8-7-0 and $500,880 in lifetime earnings.

The daughter of Speightstown was bred in Kentucky by Mr. and Mrs. David Garner

and is out of the Louis Quatorze mare Dance to Dawn. Her second dam is the

multiple Grade 3 winner Expressive Dance, who produced Grade 1 hero Chief

Honcho. Her female family also produced multiple Grade 2 winner American Change

and Group 1 scorer Poet's Voice.

Most notably, her third dam is the Native Dancer mare Exclusive Dancer, from

whom is descended the likes of multiple Grade 1 winners Versailles Treaty and

General Assembly.

Dance to Bristol was sold as a two-year-old in training for $42,000 at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale.

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