Three-Year-Old Filly Diary

THREE-YEAR-OLD FILLY DIARY

JUNE 28, 2005

by Hunter T. Houlihan

SMUGGLER (Unbridled) vaulted

herself into contention for top three-year-old filly honors with a resilient

neck decision in Saturday's $300,000 Mother Goose S. (G1) at Belmont Park.

Ridden to victory by Edgar Prado, the Shug McGaughey trainee rated off a

contested pace between post-time favorite and Kentucky Oaks (G1) queen SUMMERLY

(Summer Squall) and Black-Eyed Susan S. (G2) heroine SPUN SUGAR (Awesome Again)

before gaining the lead in midstretch and fighting off the late charge of both

rivals to cross the wire first in 1:48 2/5.

Entering the nine-furlong fast

track contest off a second-place finish to ROUND POND (Awesome Again) in the

Acorn S. (G1), the bay sophomore scored her first stakes win in the Mother

Goose and now shows a 4-3-1-0 record at the Elmont, New York, oval and an

overall record of four wins and two seconds from six starts, suggesting the

Kentucky-bred miss will be quite a force to be reckoned with in the Empire State

the rest of the summer.

Also on Saturday, the Thomas

Proctor-conditioned RICH IN SPIRIT (Repriced) vindicated her odds-on favoritism

when taking the grassy nine-furlong Regret S. (G3) at Churchill Downs by 1 1/14

lengths. The dark bay tracked the dueling pacesetters, SWEET TALKER (Stormin

Fever) and ROYAL BEAN (Royal Applause), under Gary Stevens until the final

sixteenth, collaring those two en route to stopping the clock in 1:49 3/5

over the firm course.

This weekend's American Oaks (G1),

a 10-furlong turf event at Hollywood Park, will help sort things out in the

sophomore filly turf division, but the upcoming $500,000 Coaching Club American

Oaks (G1), the second leg of the Triple Tiara, on July

23, and the $500,000 Delaware Oaks (G2) on July 16 promise to

narrow down who is the reigning queen of the three-year-old filly division.