Raging Sea, Leslie’s Rose lead deep Shuvee field

Although Friday’s $200,000 Shuvee (G2) at Saratoga isn’t a Grade 1 race, the 49th running of the 1 1/8-mile dirt race for fillies and mares has drawn a top-tier field.

Two of the seven entrants are proven Grade 1 winners, and two others have placed at the Grade 1 level. The Shuvee was a Grade 3 as recently as 2021, but it’s rapidly rising in prominence.

Defending Shuvee winner Raging Sea is the expected favorite in her return to Saratoga, where she boasts a 7-3-1-1 record. Since taking the 2024 Shuvee by 2 1/2 lengths, the daughter of Curlin has won the Personal Ensign (G1), La Troienne (G2), and Beldame (G2), in addition to placing second in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) and third in the Ogden Phipps (G1).

Raging Sea’s defeat in the Ogden Phipps came over a sloppy track at Saratoga last month, and trainer Chad Brown is optimistic the five-year-old mare will rebound in the Shuvee.

“Last time, on that wet track, it was speed-favoring, and it didn't really set up for her,” Brown told the New York Racing Association. “If there's some speed in the race and hopefully we catch a drier track, that would be great.”

At least a little speed could come from Prides Crossing, a second Brown trainee. The up-and-coming filly exits a pace-pressing runner-up finish in a 1 1/8-mile $50,000 allowance optional claimer at Aqueduct.

The other Grade 1 winner in the Shuvee field is Leslie’s Rose, who defeated champion Just F Y I when dominating the 2024 Ashland (G1) by three lengths. She’s gone winless in five starts since then and was eased over the sloppy track in the Ogden Phipps, but last year at Saratoga, she finished second to Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna in the Acorn (G1).

Dazzling Move has made impressive progress since switching to the barn of trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. this year. She opened the season with a triumph in the Royal Delta (G3) at Gulfstream Park and recently finished a pacesetting second in the Ogden Phipps, coming home 1 3/4 lengths ahead of Raging Sea.

Seven-year-old veteran Malibu Beauty has won a bevy of Mid-Atlantic stakes through the years, most recently leading all the way to take Delaware Park’s Obeah S. by three lengths over Gun Song. The latter filly competed at a high level as a sophomore last year, winning the Black-Eyed Susan (G2) and finishing second by a neck to Thorpedo Anna in the Cotillion (G1).

Completing the Shuvee field is Sidamara. Last year’s Delaware Oaks (G3) runner-up seeks to rebound from a fifth-place finish in the Obeah.