Diamondrella, Game Face seek synthetic mastery at Presque Isle

Diamondrella, Game Face seek synthetic mastery at Presque

Isle

A trio of fillies and mares who achieved Grade 1 victories over the summer

will descend on Erie, Pennsylvania, Saturday night hoping to punch their ticket

to the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1). To get a feel of whether their

charges might handle Santa Anita's Pro-Ride surface on November 7, the

connections of DIAMONDRELLA (GB) (Rock of Gibraltar [Ire]), FLASHING (A.P. Indy)

and GAME FACE (Menifee) will get their first taste of running over a synthetic

surface, in this case Tapeta, in the $400,000

Presque Isle Downs Masters S. (G3)

over 6 1/2 furlongs.

Diamondrella, who turned in an explosive stretch kick to beat champion

Forever Together (Belong to Me) in the June 6 Just a Game S. (G1) on turf, might

be a slight choice. The Angel Penna Jr. pupil has had only two starts this

season, preceding her Just a Game score with a similar display in the Giant's

Causeway S. over the Keeneland turf. Regular rider Rajiv Maragh will again pilot

the five-year-old who breaks from post 2.

Game Face is a four-time graded stakes winner on dirt this year, taking the

Princess Rooney H. (G1) at Calder two back and the Honorable Miss H. (G2) at

Saratoga last time. After going through the motions in May following a solid

winter campaign at Gulfstream, the four-year-old has returned to top form for

Todd Pletcher. Flashing, meanwhile, is undefeated in three starts under a mile,

albeit against fellow three-year-olds. Last time, she rallied from slightly off

the pace to take the Test S. (G1) at Saratoga by 1 1/2 lengths. Earlier in the

spring, the Godolphin colorbearer re-rallied to take the seven-furlong Nassau

County S. (G3) over a muddy Belmont Park strip.

One of the likely favorites based on previous synthetic form is INFORMED

DECISION (Monarchos), who is four-for-four on Polytrack at Keeneland and

Arlington Park. At the former locale, she outfinished last year's Breeders' Cup

Filly & Mare Sprint winner Ventura (Chester House) in the April 18 Madison S.

(G1), and later took down the Chicago H. (G3). She will attempt to rebound from

a third in the Ballerina S. (G1) contested in the slop two weeks ago.

Canadian champion mare BEAR NOW (Tiznow) has won or placed in 13 of 14 starts

on synthetic, the lone exception being a distant last-place effort in the

Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic (G1) a year ago. PORTE BONHEUR (Hennessy), a

multi-surface threat, won the First Flight H. (G2) two starts back and is a

stakes winner on Woodbine's Polytrack. Another graded winner this year is DUBAI

MAJESTY (Essence of Dubai), who landed the Winning Colors S. (G3) at Churchill

in late May.

Longshots NICKS (Salt Lake), SWEET LORENA (Langfuhr), TEQUILAS DAYJUR (Dayjur),

BEAUTIFUL VENUE (Came Home) and ROLLICKING AFFAIR (Black Tie Affair [Ire]) round

out the main body of the field. OLD TIME RELIGION (Buddha) and PREMIER ROMA

(Burning Roma) are the two also-eligibles.