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Wild About Star Set To Defend Title In The Very One Stakes

Brittlyn Stable, Inc.'s Wild About Star, winless in her only two starts this year, looks to get back on the winning track in a familiar spot when she returns to Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md., on Thursday to defend her title in the $100,000 The Very One.

Wild About Star, a 6-year-old daughter of multiple stakes winner Star Guitar, sprung a mild upset in last year's The Very One by 1 3/4 lengths over Jo Jo Air, who is the only other returnee from 2019. Five of her six career wins have come on the grass but she has not raced on the surface since last summer after her two starts this year were rained off.

Fifth in the Incredible Revenge Stakes at Monmouth Park following her Pimlico score, Wild About Star didn't return until running fifth to The Very One foe Mr. Al's Gal in an optional claiming allowance July 23 at Delaware Park. Most recently she tired to third after chasing the pace in a similar spot Aug. 20, also at Delaware.

“After the last race she ran at Monmouth, the owner and I decided to give her time off and see how she's doing and we decided to bring her back,” trainer Jose Camejo said. “She ran two races on the dirt because they came off the turf and now she's doing really good. We'll see if we can get lucky a second time and win again.

“I feel good about her. She's much better than she was before,” he added. “She's in the right shape right now, she looks really good and she's doing very well. I think we've got a good chance.”

Alex Cintron rides Wild About Star, the 124-pound co-topweight, from Post 5 in a field of 16 that includes main-track-only entrant Never Enough Time and also-eligible Philipine Cobra.

Among the challengers to Wild About Star will be Lael Stables' Chalon, a seven-time stakes winner less than $9,000 away from $1 million in career earnings who is entered to make her turf debut. The 6-year-old Dialed In mare has raced once previously at Pimlico taking last year's Skipat, contested at six furlongs on the main track.

Chalon opened her season finishing off the board in the 6 1/2-furlong Vagrancy (G3) June 27 at Belmont Park, her first start in nearly nine months. She followed up by registering back-to-back wins in the Dashing Beauty at Monmouth and Incredible Revenge Aug. 16 at Monmouth, a race that was originally carded for the turf.

In her last start, Chalon stumbled out of the gate and chased the pace before getting up to be second behind Never Enough Time in the six-furlong Alma North Sept. 7 at Laurel Park. She drew Post 14 with Trevor McCarthy up.

Chalon's stablemate, Edward Seltzer and Beverly Anderson's Ode to Joy, is also entered with Sheldon Russell named to ride from Post 7. Ode to Joy, a 5-year-old daughter of Grade 1 turf winner Artie Schiller, was fourth to Chalon in the Incredible Revenge and has never won a stakes, also finishing fourth in the Feb. 22 Lightning City.

Wesley Ward-trained Jo Jo Air has won twice in five starts since coming up short in last year's The Very One, an optional claiming allowance last December at Gulfstream Park and the five-furlong Daisycutter Handicap July 24 on the Del Mar turf, her most recent race. Paco Lopez has the call from Post 8.

LC Racing's Captain Sam has respectively finished fourth and fifth in two stakes attempts, the 2018 and 2019 Power by Far at Parx, both times rained off the turf to the main track. The 5-year-old mare comes in off a 2 ¼-length optional claiming allowance win as the favorite sprinting five furlongs at Penn National, her first win in four tries on grass.

“She goes either way. If it rains off she loves the slop, too,” trainer Robert E. 'Butch' Reid Jr. said. “The main thing with her is the distance. She can't really get much past five-eighths so you have to run in those races when you have the opportunity. She's had two or three breezes that have been real nice so we'll go ahead and take a shot.”

Sophomores Foolish Humor, Giggling and Hear My Prayer and older horses A Great Time, Dendrobia, Tracy Ann's Legacy, Peaceful and Not In Jeopardy round out the field.

The post Wild About Star Set To Defend Title In The Very One Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Come Dancing Back On Home Court For Vagrancy

Come Dancing (Malibu Moon), a five-time stakes winner in New York, returns to the Empire State after making her last two starts elsewhere as the likely favorite in the GIII Vagrancy H. in Belmont. Winner of the GIII Distaff H. and GII Ruffian S. last spring, the dark bay checked in second to champion Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute) in this venue’s GII Ogden Phipps S. last June. Returning to winning ways with a dominant score in the GI Ballerina S. at Saratoga in August, she followed suit with a decisive score in the GII Gallant Bloom H. at Belmont a month later and finished off 2019 with a sixth in the GI Breeders’ Cup F/M Sprint S. Nov. 2. Come Dancing made her last start under the name of Hall of Fame legend D. Wayne Lukas, fading to last in the GI Apple Blossom H. at Oaklawn Apr. 18, but has since returned home to the barn of Carlos Martin. Come Dancing enters off a pair of bullet works in Elmont, most recently breezing five panels in :57 4/5 June 15.

“We wanted to just keep her fresh,” Martin said. “It didn’t look like she was out of a canter. She was just so smooth. It’s just one of those things where the track is extremely fast and she came out of it great.”

A close runner-up in the 2018 Breeders’ Cup F/M Sprint, Chalon (Dialed In) was second in both the GIII Bed O’Roses S. and GII Honorable Miss H. last term, but returned to winning ways in the Roamin Rachel S. at Parx Sept. 2. She was fourth when last seen in Keeneland’s GII Thoroughbred Club of America S. Oct. 5.

Dual graded winner Royal Charlotte (Cairo Prince) looks to return to the winner’s circle in this spot. Capturing the GII Prioress S. at Saratoga Aug. 1, the gray was off the board in the GII Raven Run S. at Keeneland Oct. 19 and was subsequently shelved for the season. She finished second as the favorite in her seasonal bow in the mud in Belmont’s Harmony Lodge S. June 5.

Also exiting the Harmony Lodge is the Bob Baffert-trained Mother Mother (Pioneerof the Nile), who finished fourth in that test and stuck around town for this one. Third in the GI La Brea S. Dec. 28 at Santa Anita, she won the Kalookan Queen S. there next out Jan. 12 and was second to La Brea winner Hard Not to Love (Hard Spun) in the GII Santa Monica S. Feb. 15. Mother Mother was fourth, but promoted to third in the GIII Desert Stormer S. in Arcadia May 17 prior to her last out effort here.

The post Come Dancing Back On Home Court For Vagrancy appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Talented Sprinter Come Dancing On Her Toes Ahead Of Saturday’s Vagrancy

Blue Devil Racing Stable's Grade 1-winner Come Dancing headlines Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Vagrancy, a 6 ½-furlong sprint for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up at Belmont Park.

The Vagrancy is one of four graded stakes on a loaded 11-race card, highlighted by the Grade 1, $250,000 Just a Game for fillies and mares going one mile on the Widener turf and also featuring the Grade 2, $150,000 True North, for 4-year-olds and up going 6 ½ furlongs; and the Grade 2, $250,000 New York at 1 ¼ miles on Belmont Park's inner turf.

Trained by Carlos Martin, the 6-year-old Malibu Moon mare will look to rebound after a rare off-the-board performance last out in an ambitious spot going two turns in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 1 Apple Blossom on April 18 at Oaklawn Park.

Come Dancing now returns to sprinting, where she excelled in 2019, highlighted by a dramatic come-from-behind win in the Grade 1 Ballerina in August at Saratoga Race Course. At the Spa, she was left at the break but rallied under Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano, posting a 3 ½-length score in the seven-furlong sprint.

That was part of a stellar season for the millionaire Come Dancing, who won 4-of-6 starts in 2019 for Martin, including Grade 2 wins in the Ruffian and Gallant Bloom, both at Belmont Park; and the Grade 3 Distaff at Aqueduct.

Come Dancing was prepared for her Apple Blossom effort by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, after which Martin said the talented dark bay was given some time to recuperate before returning to Belmont Park in May.

Castellano, who also rode Come Dancing to victory in the 6 1/2-furlong Gallant Bloom last September at Belmont Park in an off-the-board finish in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in November at Santa Anita Park, gets the call on Come Dancing again on Saturday, breaking from post 5.

“Javier is one of top jockeys in the world and brings in a lot of experience, that's for sure,” Martin said. “There are certain riders like Javier who are just winners. There are great riders all over the country, but in New York, we have the best in the world.”

Come Dancing enters Saturday with a month of solid work, fortified by two recent bullet workouts on the main track at Belmont: on June 15, going five furlongs in 57.94 seconds and on June 8, going a half-mile in 47 flat.

“We wanted to just keep her fresh,” Martin said. “It didn't look like she was out of a canter. She was just so smooth. It's just one of those things where the track is extremely fast and she came out of it great.”

Lael Stables' 6-year-old Chalon, a winner of seven of 18 career starts, will make her 2020 debut. In her last start, going six furlongs in October at Keeneland, the Dialed In mare finished off the board. Trained by Arnaud Delacour, she will leave from post 3 with Jose Ortiz aboard.

Also looking for redemption is Gainesway Stable's Mother Mother, trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, who last out on June 5 at Belmont Park finished a disappointing fourth in a 6 ½ furlong sprint. One of the youngsters in the field, the 4-year-old has three victories in 13 career starts. The Pioneer of the Nile filly will be ridden by Joel Rosario from post 2.

Looking for redemption in the Vagrancy will be First Row Partners and Parkland Thoroughbreds' Royal Charlotte, who finished three-quarters of a length back to Honey I'm Good in a runner-up effort in the six-furlong Harmony Lodge on June 5 at Belmont Park in her seasonal bow.

“I wish I had a little more time,” said trainer Chad Brown. “I felt she could've won if she would've gone more to the outside on that wet track. It was a good prep for her.”

Royal Charlotte has five wins in eight career starts, including four consecutively in 2019 when she dominated races from 6-to-6 ½ furlongs, capped last July 4 by a convincing four-length win in the 6 ½-furlong Grade Victory Ride on the July 5 Stars and Stripes Day card at Belmont.

Irad Ortiz, Jr. will be aboard Royal Charlotte Saturday, drawing the inside post.

Rounding out the seven-horse field are Jakarta [post 4; Luis Saez], Victim of Love [post 6; Jose Lezcano] and Pacific Gale [post 7; Junior Alvarado].

The Vagrancy is named for the bay mare out of Valkyr by Man o' War, who in 1942 was Champion 3-Year-Old Filly and also the Champion Handicap Mare. Bred and owned by Belair Stud and trained for most of her career by the legendary “Sunny” Jim Fitzsimmons, Vagrancy enjoyed a season for the ages in 1942, winning nine stakes races that included the Coaching Club American Oaks, the Pimlico Oaks, the Delaware Oaks, the Alabama, Gazelle and Test against other 3-year-olds, and the Beldame Handicap and Ladies Handicap against older fillies and mares. Vagrancy raced 42 times in her career, hitting the board in 31 of her starts.

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