Godolphin's 5-year-old homebred mare Alms, winless since opening her career with four consecutive victories including a pair of graded stakes, will chase an elusive fifth career triumph in Saturday's $100,000 Big Dreyfus at Laurel Park.
The third running of the Big Dreyfus for fillies and mares three and older and the $100,000 Prince George's County for 3-year-olds and up, both scheduled for 1 1/8 miles on the grass, are among four stakes worth $450,000 in purses highlighted by the $150,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash for 3-year-olds and up sprinting six furlongs on the main track.
Rounding out the stakes action is the $100,000 Alma North for fillies and mares 3 and up at 6 ½ furlongs. All four races are part of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series.
Post time for the first of 11 races is 12:40 p.m.
Alms won the 2019 Grade 3 Matron at Belmont Park and G3 Jimmy Durante at Del Mar to cap a perfect 3-0 juvenile campaign. She opened her sophomore season with another win in the 2020 Shantel Lanerie Memorial at Fair Grounds but has been blanked since, placing three times in her last nine starts including a second in the inaugural G3 Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf Jan. 29 at Gulfstream Park and the 2020 G3 Appalachian, where she was third by a head.
Most recently, Alms raced between horses early and ultimately settled inside but trailed her six rivals into the stretch before making a belated move to be fifth, beaten 4 ¾ lengths, in the 1 1/16-mile G3 Eatontown June 18 at Monmouth Park. Finishing last in that race was her stablemate, Princess Grace, who came back to win the G3 Dr. James Penny Memorial for the second straight year July 12 at Parx and become a millionaire.
“She had a real crazy trip last time [racing] last behind a crawling pace. She was supposed to be either on the lead or either sitting right there,” trainer Michael Stidham said. “She made a little run and made up some ground, but had no chance. Princess Grace had the same kind of trip and she came back to win the stake at Parx by three [lengths], so that tells you a little bit about that [Monmouth] race.
“We're expecting Alms to hopefully bounce back and have a big race on Saturday,” he added. “We're hoping to finally get her to win a race.”
Alms has won twice at both one mile and six furlongs and has yet to race beyond 1 1/16 miles, but Stidham is confident the granddaughter of 2003 Belmont Stakes winner Empire Maker can handle the added distance.
“We've been thinking for a while about trying stretch her to a mile and an eighth,” he said. “She's got that natural speed, so I think she'll be close up. She doesn't really seem to have any real distance limitations. She's obviously handled the mile and a sixteenth well, so I don't think the mile and an eighth will be a problem.”
Jevian Toledo gets the riding assignment on Alms from Post 1 in a field of 10.
Entered to defend her Big Dreyfus victory from last summer is Fiasco Farms, Ltd.'s Tightly Twisted. The 6-year-old Hard Spun turned back heavily favored Counterparty Risk by a half-length at odds of 9-1 for her second career stakes win. She has raced just four times since, running fifth in the June 14 Neshaminy at Parx in her season debut and first race in eight months.
William Pape's Deciding Vote was beaten 1 ½ lengths when fourth in the 1 1/16-mile Neshaminy, his second start of the year following a half-length triumph in the one-mile Dahlia April 23 over the Laurel turf. The 5-year-old daughter of Mr Speaker has two wins, one second and one third in seven career tries at Laurel, where she was third by a neck in a 1 1/8-mile optional claiming allowance over yielding ground last fall.
Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey trained Grade 1-winning millionaire Mr Speaker to four graded-stakes wins including the 2015 G3 Commonwealth Cup at Laurel, and is represented in the Big Dreyfus by Stuart Janney III's homebred In a Hurry. The 5-year-old Blame mare was second as the favorite in the Dahlia and most recently third behind Technical Analysis and subsequent G2 Nassau winner Crystal Cliffs in the May 21 G3 Gallorette at Pimlico.
Merriebelle Stable's Bellagamba won the 2020 G1 Enrique Acebal and G2 Federico de Alvear in her native Argentina, both going 1 ¼ miles, but has yet to find success since coming to the U.S. last year. She was second twice, in a Keeneland allowance and the Blushing K.D. at Fair Grounds, last fall and winter, and was third in the Joseph R. Peluso Memorial at Fair Grounds and the Romacaca June 18 at Hawthorne, her lone start this year.
“She didn't have a good trip. She had an inside post [and] she doesn't like that much,” trainer Ignacio 'Nacho' Correas IV said. “We added some cheater [blinkers] so we're hoping that helps her a little bit more, that little bit of help that she needs to win. I think that she's sitting on a big race. We'll see. I'm very happy with the way she's doing.”
Though his 5-year-old mare has yet to find the winner's circle in North America, Correas is proud of the efforts Bellagamba has put forth. She has been beaten a total of 8 ¼ lengths in her five U.S. runs, and came within a neck of beating Grade 3 winner Summer in Saratoga in the Blushing K.D.
“Summer in Saratoga is a very accomplished mare. She put up a good fight and she lost on the wire,” Correas said. “All the other races she never has a trip that you can say, 'This one was perfect.' I don't to say she had an excuse because she always runs well. Her second time in Fair Grounds she was way far and had too much to do and I don't think that she's that kind of horse. So we are adding those cheater blinkers to see if we can focus her a little bit more and get some stuff out of her way and let her focus more on what she has to do.”
Vincent Cheminaud will ride Bellagamba from Post 4.
Juddmonte homebred Petricor, an English-bred 4-year-old daughter of Frankel, will make her third U.S. start and seventh overall in the Big Dreyfus for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. Group 3-placed in France last spring, she won an April 24 allowance at Keeneland in her North American debut and rallied to be fourth as the favorite following a belated start in the June 5 G3 Mint Julep, both going 1 1/16 miles on the grass.
Also entered are Coconut Cake, third by less than a length in the 1 1/16-mile All Brandy June 19 over the Laurel turf; Fool Yourself, coming off a one-mile allowance win on Laurel's main track June 11; Double Fireball, sixth in the Dahlia; and Tic Tic Tic Boom, making a four-day turnaround after running fifth in the Penny Memorial.
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