Joyful Victory, Disposablepleasure meet in Phipps; Kauai Katie highlights Acorn
Joyful Victory, Disposablepleasure meet in Phipps; Kauai
Katie highlights Acorn
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The Metropolitan Handicap is the main event, but Monday's Memorial Day program at Belmont Park also features a strong undercard of stakes events with Ogden Phipps, Grade 1 Acorn and The $400,000 Phipps did not attract divisional leader Royal Delta, who is expected to make her first start back from Dubai in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis next month, but will showcase perhaps the two most exciting distaffers outside of the reigning Eclipse Award winner, Joyful Victory and Disposablepleasure. Both runners are two for two this season. After a solid 2012 campaign in which she recorded a stakes win and five graded placings, Joyful Victory appears to have developed into a much more formidable five-year-old. The daughter of Tapit opened the season with a facile 4 1/4-length tally in the January 26 Houston Ladies Classic at Sam Houston and then made short work of her rivals when shipping to Santa Anita for the Grade 1 Santa Margarita on March 16, rolling on the front end to a four-length decision.
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The gray mare netted BRIS Speed ratings of 112 (Santa Margarita) and 107 for
those impressive performances. Rosie Napravnik will retain the mount for trainer
Larry Jones and Joyful Victory promises to show speed from her innermost post
position in the 1 1/16-mile Phipps.
Disposablepleasure posted her first stakes win in the Grade 2 Demoiselle in
2011, but her sophomore campaign got off to a slow start and she appeared to
tail off at the end of the year following a pair of runner-up finishes in the
Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan and Grade 1 Mother Goose. The gray Giacomo filly has
come back with a vengeance so far in 2013, opening with a good-looking score
over optional claiming at Gulfstream Park before posting a 3 1/2-length romp in
the Grade 3 Sixty Sails at Hawthorne, running the 1 1/8-mile distance faster
than Illinois Derby winner Departing later on the same program.
The Todd Pletcher-trained filly registered a career-best 103 BRIS Speed
rating in the Sixty Sails and should appreciate the return to Belmont Park,
where Disposablepleasure has produced a win and a close second from two previous
attempts. Javier Castellano will be back in the saddle.
Jones will also saddle 2012 Kentucky Oaks winner Believe You Can, who exits a
third in the Grade 2 La Troienne on May 4, and Pletcher has a second starter in
La Troienne winner Authenticity.
Multiple Grade 3 queen Tiz Miz Sue, runner-up in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom
most recently, and longshot Centring round out the Phipps field.
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Kauai Katie will look to remain unbeaten at one turn when she lines up against five three-year-old rivals in the $300,000 Acorn at a mile. A multiple Grade 2 winner last season, the Pletcher-trained daughter of Malibu Moon sustained her only career setback when trying two turns in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, checking in fourth. Cutting back to the six furlongs in the Grade 3 Old Hat on New Year's Day, Kauai Katie posted an eight-length decision. She continued to roll along in the Grade 2 Forward Gal on January 26, scoring by 5 1/2 lengths in the seven-furlong test, and tuned up for the Acorn with an easy 3 1/4-length tally in the April 21 Road Princess going seven furlongs at Aqueduct. Kauai Katie steps up to face a deeper cast Saturday and figures to break running from her rail post with jockey John Velazquez.
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Midnight Lucky and Close Hatches will both look to reverse fortunes after
recording unplaced finishes in the Kentucky Oaks.
Midnight Lucky sustained her first defeat after setting the pace, weakening
to fifth in the stretch, and trainer Bob Baffert hopes the cutback in trip will
benefit her. The gray daughter of Midnight Lute opened her racing career in
mid-February with a 7 1/4-length win over maiden special weight rivals at Santa
Anita and then produced an eye-catching eight-length victory in the March 24
Sunland Oaks. She drew well in post 5 with new rider Napravnik.
Close Hatches, who is by First Defence, captured her first three starts
before a disappointing seventh in the Oaks in which she never fired. Winner of
the Grade 2 Gazelle at Aqueduct two back, defeating subsequent Oaks winner
Princess of Sylmar in the process, the Bill Mott-trained filly will keep Joel
Rosario in the saddle Saturday.
The rest of the field is comprised of Cue the Moon, Let Me Entertain U and
Momentary Magic.
In the $200,000 Sands Point, Watsdachances figures to go postward as a solid
favorite in the 1 1/16-mile event on inner turf. Winner of the Grade 3 Miss
Grillo and P.G. Johnson, she completed her two-year-old season with an excellent
second in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. The Chad Brown trainee made a
belated three-year-old bow, rallying for fourth as the odds-on choice in the
Grade 3 Appalachian on April 18, and is eligible to show much more following the
tightener.
Appalachian winner Unbelievable Dream is also part of the seven-horse field
that includes a main-track only runner.
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