Treat Gently faces the boys in the Hollywood Turf Cup

The one who would benefit most greatly from a victory here from a purely

commercial standpoint is the field's lone female, TREAT GENTLY (GB) (Cape Cross

[Ire]), who has been shipped west from her Belmont Park base by trainer Bill

Mott. A Group 2 winner in France, she ended the European portion of her racing

career with solid efforts in the 2008 Prix Vermeille (Fr-G1) and Prix de l'Opera

(Fr-G1). Though disqualified from third and placed 12th in the Vermeille, the

more telling statistic is that she crossed the wire only 2 1/2 lengths behind

the brilliant Zarkava.

First with the late Bobby Frankel before moving to the Mott barn, the

Juddmonte Farms homebred has endured a U.S. campaign that could be accurately

characterized as a mixed bag. While victories in the Sheepshead Bay S. (G2) and

Robert G. Dick Memorial H. (G3) this past summer were most welcome, discouraging

performances in races like the E.P. Taylor S. (Can-G1), Santa Ana H. (G2) and

Jenny Wiley S. (G2) are also part of her post-importation story. She enters off

a rough-trip fifth in the Beverly D. S. (G1) and a fourth against males in the

Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational (G1).

The pace of the Turf Cup should be amply provided by MARLANG (Langfuhr),

course-and-distance winner of the Sunset H. (G3) during the spring/summer meet,

and TEMPLE CITY (Dynaformer), the Cougar II H. (G3) hero coming off a

tossout-like attempt in the Hawthorne Gold Cup (G2) on dirt. His record on grass

is considerably better, which includes near-misses in the American H. (G2) in

July and in last year's Del Mar H. (G2).