Discreet Marq highlights graded-caliber Pebbles field

A talented field of three-year-old turf fillies, headed by

Grade 1 winner Discreet Marq, will assemble on Monday for the $200,000

Pebbles,

the Columbus Day feature at Belmont Park.

The grassy one-mile Pebbles will be run as the 8TH race on the 10-race

holiday card at Belmont, where fans also can enjoy a Country Music Fest in the

backyard featuring the sounds of Wil Van Awken, Mark Newman, Sean Cuoco, Tony

Montalbo and others. Gates open at 11 a.m. (EDT) with first race post time at 12:50

p.m.

Discreet Marq, who was bred in New York by owner Patricia

Generazio, has put together a sterling sophomore campaign facing open company

under the guidance of trainer Christophe Clement. Winner of two of five starts

in 2012, the gray filly opened her three-year-old season finishing second and third

in a pair of overnight stakes at Gulfstream Park while under the care of Jane

Cibelli, then returned to her home base

to be saddled for the first time by Clement for a front-running victory in the

Sands Point.

In her only start against state-breds this year, Discreet

Marq rolled to a 6 1/4-length win in the Eventail overnight stakes

on July 4 at Belmont before traveling to California and emerging victorious in

the Del Mar Oaks on August 17. Most recently, she was second by 1 1/2

lengths in the Garden City on September 14 at Belmont.

Although she would have been among the favorites for the

Queen Elizabeth II at Keeneland on Saturday, Clement opted

to keep the Discreet Cat filly at home at Belmont.

"She came out of the Garden City in very good order but I

did not want to ship her again," Clement explained. "She just had two tough races, and

I thought to ship her would be a touch abusive for the filly."

Irad Ortiz Jr. will ride Discreet Marq, the 2-1

morning-line favorite who will be making her first start at a mile since

January when she was second by a neck after setting the pace in the Sweetest

Chant at Gulfstream.

"I've always thought she was more of a miler than a

mile-and-an-eighth horse, because she has so much natural speed," Clement

said of Discreet Marq. "If there is a problem with the

weather, we'll go back in the Ticonderoga on (Empire) Showcase Day (October

19)."

Tapicat enters the Pebbles off a freshening following her

fifth-place finish as the favorite in the August 18 Lake Placid

at Saratoga and a third in the Lake George four weeks

earlier. Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, Tapicat launched her career just

over a year ago at Belmont, finishing third in her debut and then reeling off

three straight wins, including a 2 3/4-length victory in the Florida Oaks.

Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith will ride Tapicat, who is 7-2 on

the morning line.

A sensation on dirt early in her career, Stonestreet

Stable's Teen Pauline is 12-1 as she goes in search of her first stakes win.

Switched to the turf in August by trainer Todd Pletcher after failing to menace

in two main track races, Teen Pauline won a first-level allowance and next

finished second in the Riskaverse, both at a mile on the turf.

"We were just a little frustrated with the results we were

getting on the dirt," Pletcher said of Teen Pauline, who set a track record of

:56.53 for 5 1/2 furlongs in her debut at Saratoga last year. "We felt like

her action indicated to us it might be worth giving her a shot on the turf. We

breezed her on the turf and we liked what we saw, and there we went."

With Hall of Famer John Velazquez aboard, the dark bay Tapit filly

drew the rail.

Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin had been hoping for an easier

spot for Darley Stable's With Sugar on Top, who finished ninth, beaten 5 1/4

lengths, in the Garden City last out.

"The last race was a Grade 1 so we thought we'd drop into

an overnight stakes, but there are Grade 1 winners in here, so it's a tough

race," McLaughlin remarked. "We would

love to get some black type for her; she's a nice filly. Last time she angled a

little wide into the lane and finished ninth, beaten five lengths, but it was

not a bad run. She ran well to only lose by five, so hopefully she'll run well."

Jose Lezcano will ride With Sugar on Top, who is 20-1 on the morning-line.

Eight months after breaking her maiden going a mile, Reddam

Racing's Frege returned to the races to finish a rousing second facing older

horses on September 8 at Belmont Park. The Johar filly, who began her career in

Europe, went five wide in the stretch to miss by a neck in the

one-mile race.

"She had a little stress fracture after she broke her

maiden and we gave her a little time off," trainer Mark Hennig explained. "She came

back and she has done really well with the time off. She seems to have matured a

lot. I thought she ran really well off the layoff; looking at the sheet numbers,

she ran a lot faster than she had as a two-year-old. She ran a seven on the

sheets, which would make her pretty competitive if she could match that."

Jose Ortiz will ride Frege, who is also 20-1 on the morning line.

Rounding out the field are the Chad Brown-trained French

import Dauphine Russe, who will run on Lasix for the first time; stakes winner Mariel N Kathy,

victorious in an optional claimer

going a mile last out; and Grade 1-placed stakes scorer Summer of Fun, most recently fifth in the Garden

City. Flash Forward, who is coupled with Mariel n Kathy, Toasting and Galloping

Giraffe were entered and will run only if the race comes off the turf.

One race following the Pebbles, a field of seven will go 1 1/16 miles on the

main track in the $100,000

I'm a

Banker. The group includes Grade 1-placed Fast Falcon, third in both the

Suburban and Brooklyn Handicaps earlier this year; dual Grade 3-placed Norman

Asbjornson, winner of the Roanoke most recently; and Praetereo, second by just

three parts of a length in the Duck Dance last Sunday.

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