8-1? 'Shirl'-y you must be joking, but the March-foaled bay rewarded her backers in becoming the second 'TDN Rising Star' out of the mare and the fourth from the first two dams with a spectacular effort on career debut.

A half-step slow to begin from gate nine and a detached last passing the stands for the first time, Ready for Shirl was allowed to find her feet by Florent Geroux and she had some pace up ahead of her, as Tempting Lady (Enticed) went the opening quarter in a swift :22.64 over a course which as recently as Friday still had plenty of ease in it. The homebred had passed a couple of rivals by the time they reached the backstretch, and Ready for Shirl was asked to commence a rally with the better part of 5 1/2 furlongs to go, improving her position with a two-path run before angling down towards the inside at the half-mile pole.

Forced to take evasive action around a weakening rival three furlongs from home, Ready for Shirl was consigned to a very wide run around the second turn, but nevertheless made ominous headway, circling up into contention nearing the stretch. Some six wide at the top of the lane, Ready for Shirl surged to a narrow lead at the furlong grounds and bounded clear late to an eye-catching victory. Pin Up Betty (Constitution) sat a perfect inside trip and narrowly outfinished odds-on Spaliday (More Than Ready–Dayatthespa) for second.

The late Jack Werk acquired then 18-year-old Illinois-bred Grade I winner Lady Shirl for $485,000 on behalf of Fipke at the 2005 Keeneland November sale, and the Theatrical (Ire) filly she was carrying at the time got her new owner off to a flying start. Lady Shakespeare, whose full-brother Shakespeare won the GI Woodbine Mile a year after her birth, would go on to a pair of graded wins–including Keeneland's GIII Bewitch S.

Lady Shirl's first Fipke-planned mating was a date with his 2004 GI Maker's Mark Mile hero Perfect Soul and the result was Perfect Shirl, upset winner of the 2010 GII Lake George S. and whose lone victory in nine subsequent trips to the post was a 27-1 upset of the 2011 Filly and Mare Turf. In her first two years at stud, Perfect Shirl was covered by More Than Ready, but neither of those produce managed a victory. A switch to More Than Ready's barnmate Speightstown seemed to do the trick, as Shirl's Speight, GISW-US, GSW & GISP-Can, $1,408,033, became a 'TDN Rising Star' on Woodbine debut in 2020 and recorded his biggest victory to date in the 2022 Maker's Mark. He was fourth to Master of The Seas (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in Friday's renewal.

Perfect Shirl's half-sister Fantastic Shirl (Fantastic Light), a homebred for Dell Ridge Farm, was accorded 'Rising Star' status on Gulfstream debut in 2006, while Lady Shakespeare was responsible for 'TDN Rising Star' Lady Speightspeare (Speightstown), winner of the GI Natalma S. at two and later third in the 2022 GI Jenny Wiley S. and Filly and Mare Turf at Keeneland. The latter's half-sister Ready Lady (More Than Ready) scored at 7-1 on her seven-furlong debut at Woodbine in 2021 before going on to finish third in last year's GII Dance Smartly S.

Perfect Shirl is also the dam of Speightstown Shirl (Speightstown), GSP, $119,038, the 2-year-old filly Perfectshirlstown (Speightstown) and is due to the late WinStar sire this year.

Ready for Shirl is the 17th 'TDN Rising Star' for her sadly departed stallion.

5th-Keeneland, $98,495, Msw, 4-13, 3yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 1:43.39, gd, 3 1/2 lengths.
READY FOR SHIRL, f, 3, by More Than Ready
1st Dam: Perfect Shirl (GISW-USA, GSP-Can, $1,390,729), by Perfect Soul (Ire)
2nd Dam: Lady Shirl, by That's a Nice
3rd Dam: Canonization, by Native Heritage
Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $56,575. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

O/B-Charles E Fipke (KY); T-Roger L Attfield.

#9 READY FOR SHIRL ($17.86) pulled clear down the lane to make her first start a winning one in race 5 at Keeneland! @flothejock was in the irons for Roger Attfield and Charles Fipke.

Ready for Shirl is out of the GISW Perfect Shirl and is a half to GISW Shirl's Speight. pic.twitter.com/LI6Jn6HUEe

— TVG (@TVG) April 13, 2024

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Also drawn is Ready for Shirl (More Than Ready), who is out of GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf victress Perfect Shirl (Perfect Soul {Ire}). Both were bred and raced by Charles Fipke, along with Perfect Shirl's half-sister MGSW Lady Shakespeare (Theatrical {Ire}), the dam of another Fipke homebred, Canadian three-time champion Lady Speightspeare (Speightstown). Once again, Roger Attfield serves as this owner's go-to conditioner. TJCIS PPS

4th-KEE, $100K, Msw, 3yo, 6 1/2f, 2:36 p.m. ET.
Fracture (Uncle Mo) debuts for Katie Rich Farms under trainer Daniel Leitch. A half-brother to GI Manhattan S. hero Instilled Regard (Arch), the homebred's second dam is champion 3-year-old filly Heavenly Prize (Seeking the Gold), who produced MGISW Good Reward (Storm Cat). TJCIS PPS

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The finalists in each of the following categories are listed in alphabetical order.

Champion Two-Year-Old Female: Cairo Consort (Cairo Prince), Last Call (English Channel), Renegade Rebel (Nyquist).

Champion Two-Year-Old Male: Philip My Dear (Silent Name {Jpn}), Poulin in O T (Reload), Velocitor (Mor Spirit).

Champion Three-Year-Old Female: Moira (Ghostzapper), Sister Seagull (Hard Spun), Souper Hoity Toity (Uncle Mo).

Champion Three-Year-Old Male: Hall of Dreams (Lemon Drop Kid), Ironstone (Mr Speaker), Sir for Sure (Sligo Bay {Ire}).

Champion Older Main Track Female: Infinite Patience (Sungold), Lady Speightspeare (Speightstown), Our Flash Drive (Ghostzapper).

Champion Older Main Track Male: Soy Tapatio (Not This Time), War Bomber (Ire) (War Front), Who's the Star (Tonalist).

Champion Female Turf Horse: Fev Rover (Ire (Gutaifan {Ire})), Lady Speightspeare (Speightstown), Moira (Ghostzapper).

Champion Male Turf Horse: Filo di Arianna (Brz) (Drosselmeyer), Philip My Dear (Silent Name {Jpn}), Ready for the Lady (More Than Ready), Sir for Sure (Sligo Bay {Ire}).

Champion Female Sprinter: Hazelbrook (Bayern), Lady Speightspeare (Speightstown), Our Flash Drive (Ghostzapper).

Champion Male Sprinter: Arzak (Not This Time), Filo di Arianna (Brz) (Drosselmeyer), Lucky Score (Lookin At Lucky).

The full list of categories and finalists can be viewed here.

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“That's the way horse racing is,” the owner and breeder said. “I was kind of disappointed. For every time you do well in this sport, it seems that you are disappointed 50 times.”

Not that Fipke was complaining. With his having nearly died just 15 days before the race, it's easy to keep things in perspective.

On Jan. 13, Fipke was in Costa Rica where he was taking pictures of birds. He had forgotten to bring his glasses and was having trouble seeing. That led him to getting lost and he took a wrong turn and found himself in the thick of the jungle. It was there that he was attacked by a swarm of wasps.

“I was making my way through the jungle and I ran into the wasps,” he said. “They literally swarmed all over my body. I was bitten well over 2,000 times.”

From there, it was just a matter of whether or not he would live. Fipke said he passed out after the attack but he woke up in time to call out and was found by a young Costa Rican. With the assistance, he was taken to a four-wheel drive police vehicle and then transported to a small satellite hospital.

“I wasn't doing very well but they managed to get me from the satellite hospital to a really good local hospital with really good doctors,” he said.

He had come that far, but there were no guarantees that he would make it.

“The doctor there didn't think I would survive,” Fipke said. “He said he hadn't heard of anyone who had ever survived an attack like this. There are 400 different types of wasps, but these were really bad wasps. I didn't think I was going to make it. My fiancee didn't think I was going to make it and neither did the doctor. When you have some good horses like I do, you really don't want to die. On the one hand, I was very unlucky that this happened to me. On the other hand, I lived. So I was lucky.”

To make matters worse, some wasps had burrowed their way inside his eardrum, threatening his hearing. Fipke underwent a successful surgery to remove the wasps from his ear and his hearing was saved.

In time, and though he said the itching was unbearable, Fipke started to improve. On Jan. 20, he returned to a hospital in his native British Columbia, Canada and a few days later was released. He said he's now about 70% recovered. But he never considered traveling to Gulfstream.

“There was no way I could travel,” Fipke said. “It wasn't until the last few days that I started to improve and then I improved quite a bit.”

The wasp attack was not the first time Fipke has been seriously ill. He said he had previously suffered from a case of cerebral malaria, also a life-threatening illness.

“I wasn't supposed to survive the case of cerebral malaria, but I did,” Fipke said. “I've used up two of my nine lives. Seven to go.”

Lady Speightspeare has been one of top runners in the Fipke barn over the last few years. She won the GI Natalma S. in 2020, the same year she was named Canada's champion 2-year-old filly. In what may have been the best race of her career, she finished third in this year's GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf. A five-time stakes winner, she earned $457,420.

The Pegasus was her last race and she will now be bred to Gun Runner. It will be a while before that foal makes it to the races, but Fipke should be around to watch its career unfold. He is a lucky man.

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“I think his [last] race was very good,” said trainer Paulo Lobo. “He lost to a very top horse [Modern Games]. Javier Castellano was riding him for the first time. He rode a very good race, and since then we've pointed for the Pegasus Turf and we've never missed a day and never had a bad day. Everything that we planned is happening, no problems.”

Hall of Famer Castellano will be back aboard Ivar from Post 10.

Also among the dozen contenders are 4-1 second choice MGSW City Man (Mucho Macho Man) and GISW Decorated Invader (Declaration of War), both trained by Christophe Clement, who respectively ran 1-2 in Gulfstream's GII Fort Lauderdale S. Dec. 31.

Third choice at 6-1 is Charles Fipke's homebred GISW Lady Speightspeare (Speightstown), who will face males for the first time. The 5-year-old owns seven wins from 13 career starts, six of them in graded-stakes including Woodbine's GI Natalma S. Third last time out in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf, she retains the services of Luis Saez from post six.

Rounding out the field are MGSP Atone (Into Mischief), MGSW Master Piece (Chi) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}), MGSW Who's the Star (Tonalist), GSW One More Bid (California Chrome), MGSP Good Governance (Kingman {GB}), and another pair of stablemates, Graham Motion-trained GISW Speaking Scout (Mr. Speaker) and MGSP Hurricane Dream (Fr) (Hurricane Cat), making his first start in North America.

On the also-eligible list, in order of preference, are GSW King Cause (Creative Cause) and Dark Shift (Dark Angel {Ire}), winner of the Royal Hunt Cup last summer at Royal Ascot.

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Back in the day, it wasn't unusual to see regional areas populated by trainers who bred and raced their “backyard” runners. These horsemen/women typically ran small-scale enterprises that incorporated poorly raced or unfashionably bred private stallions and small bands of undistinguished mares, but they enjoyed the protection of restricted state-bred monies that allowed them to ply their trade and make a living at the edges of the bigger game. Sometimes, a “big horse” would occasionally pop from such a program.

In Maryland in the 1970s, for example, Robert Beall ran a restaurant but trained some horses he bred on the side. He had his own stallion and a few mares and trained their offspring around his workday schedule. Beall's stallion, Friend's Choice, was by the Spy Song horse Crimson Satan and had won eight of 46 starts and earned $50,169. Though not a stakes winner, Friend's Choice was bred by Leslie Combs ll and shared the same fast female family of Mr. Prospector, who was also bred by Combs. Both had Miss Dogwood as their third dam. This female line, Miss Dogwood/Myrtlewood/Frizeur/Frizette, is one of the most storied in the Stud Book, and Seattle Slew is a member as well–his fifth dam was Myrtlewood.

Beall had a modest mare named Duc's Tina, a daughter of the Spy Song stallion Duc de Fer, that he bred to Friend's Choice in 1974, and the resulting foal was Dave's Friend, who was inbred 3×3 to Spy Song by Beall's design. Beall trained Dave's Friend to win several graded races and then sold the gelding to John Franks, who raced him until he was 11. For several years Dave's Friend was among the best sprinters in the country and retired as the all-time money earning Maryland-bred with a record of 35 wins from 76 starts and $1,079,915 in earnings.

Hickey elevated the Beall and similar models to a much larger scale, and he executed his plans in a precise and novel manner, particularly in Illinois from about the mid-1980s to the late-1990s when the state's restricted program had grown in scope with the rejuvenation of Arlington. And if he needed any inspiration that an “off-bred” horse could scale the heights at Arlington, he got it in the form of the first winner of the Gl Arlington Million in 1981, John Henry, a gelded son of Ole Bob Bowers who was bred on the wrong side of the tracks. Soon, Hickey's “Ill-breds,” as Illinois-breds were derisively referred to at the time, were dominating the turf course at Arlington. In 1990, Hickey led the trainer standings at Arlington with 49 winners, all of them owned by Irish Acres. The next year, he had 61 winners, a record for the track.

Like most who operated this way, Hickey didn't have access to the best or most fashionable stock, but he had a great understanding of the functionality of pedigrees and exploited this as a trainer. In fact, he'd frequently call Jack Werk, founder of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, to discuss sire and dam lines and their characteristics on the racecourse. Hickey also exploited another advantage – his Ocala farm. Hickey would ship his pregnant mares from Irish Acres to Illinois to foal and then ship the foals and mares back to Ocala as Illinois-breds in name only. They were raised and trained on limestone and sun in Florida, giving them a developmental leg up over their Illinois-raised contemporaries that endured comparatively harsh periods of cold weather.

During a long stretch, Hickey trained mostly for his own account, but there were some exceptions. One was the Hickey-trained Illinois-bred Buck's Boy (Bucksplasher), who won the Gl Breeders' Cup Turf in 1998 and earned an Eclipse Award as champion turf horse for George Bunn's Quarter B Farm. Altogether, Buck's Boy won 16 of 30 starts, earning $2,750,148, and he represents the apex of Hickey's long career as a breeder, owner, and trainer, which began in the early 1960s after he'd immigrated to Canada from his native Ireland and started fooling around with horses at Blue Bonnets, at the time a significant track in Montreal. Hickey bred Buck's Boy and initially raced him through his first three starts, winning twice, before selling the gelding in the summer of 1996 to Bunn.

Buck's Boy was a son of Hickey's stakes-placed Buckpasser stallion Bucksplasher, who stood at Irish Acres, and the champion gelding traced in tail-female to an imported Irish-bred mare Hickey had purchased in Canada in the 1960s named Cambalee (Ire), a foal of 1950. She was 18 and had already delivered nine foals by the time she produced her first for Hickey, Irish Molly, in 1968. Irish Molly's Verbatim filly Molly's Colleen was foaled in Canada in 1982, and Molly's Colleen foaled Buck's Boy in Illinois in 1993, at the J.P. Wenzel farm in Junction, a speck on the map about five miles west of Shawneetown, Illinois, in the southern tip of the state and not too far across the Ohio River from Kentucky.

Illinois Connections

I spoke with Hickey several times in the late 1980s and through the mid-1990s when I was bloodstock editor at Daily Racing Form and a columnist with Illinois Racing News. He'd been a youth track star, which helped him later as a trainer of equine athletes, and he had a professional background in finance. He'd left Ireland for Montreal in the 1950s to work in the financial sector before transitioning full time to horses, and his business acumen was vital to running a sprawling enterprise with many moving parts in different states, all under his direction.

To keep expenses low, for instance, Hickey would trade seasons in his stallions for board. “That's how I came to know him. I wanted to breed to Bucksplasher,” said Hugh David Scates, whose family has about 20,000 acres in agricultural use near Shawneetown. Scates and his brother Joseph, who stand the unraced Chuck Fipke-bred Soul of Ekati (Perfect Soul {Ire}), a half-brother to Fipke's Grade l winner Jersey Town, would foal “about 10 to 15 mares” for Hickey each year. “He needed the mares in the state by a certain date to qualify for the program, and his van driver would bring them in from Ocala,” Scates said.

One of the best horses raced by the Scateses, the fast Illinois-bred open stakes winner Island Riffle Cat (Cat Creek Slew), a winner of five of seven starts, was from the Hickey-bred mare Mugsey Molly–a half-sister to Buck's Boy. Island Riffle Cat was trained by Kelly Ackerman, who also happens to handle a Fipke string of fillies in the Midwest.

Before he started breeding horses for his own account in Illinois, Hickey had had success in the state as a trainer. An important horse for him was That's A Nice, with whom Hickey won the Glll Washington Park Handicap on turf in 1978 and 1979 at Arlington for Frank J. Sitzberger. That's A Nice was sired by the Noholme II (Aus) stallion Hey Good Lookin, not exactly a major stallion, but Hey Good Lookin's female line, Hickey pointed out, traced to Frizette. Hickey would later stand That's A Nice at stud, both in Illinois and Florida, and the stallion became a leading sire in Illinois and the sire of Hickey's homebred Grade l winner Lady Shirl, one of the best turf mares in the country in 1991 and at one time a live Eclipse Award contender. Lady Shirl won 18 of 41 starts, including the Gl Flower Bowl at Belmont and the Gll E.P. Taylor S. at Woodbine, and earned $951,523 in a six-year career from 1989 to 1994.

Hickey had acquired Lady Shirl's dam Canonization because she traced in tail-female to blue hen La Troienne (Fr) through the Phipps mares Brilliantly, her second dam.

Like Buck's Boy, Lady Shirl was foaled at the J.P. Wenzel farm in Junction. Wenzel, by the way, had raced Mugsey Molly, the half-sister to Buck's Boy that later produced the Scates stakes winner Island Riffle Cat, and it's likely he'd acquired the mare in a trade with Hickey.

Wenzel died a few years ago, but I tracked down his daughter Holly Wenzel, who now lives in Wyoming. She'd worked closely with her father at the farm and at the track and was mentored by Hickey one year at Hawthorne when she had her father's string in training. “Every year, we foaled about 100 mares on the farm,” Wenzel said, “and about 70 to 75 would be for Hickey.”

And how did the relationship with Hickey develop? “Well, we raised alfalfa hay. And through advertisements, we ended up shipping loads and loads of semi-loads down to Ocala for Irish Acres. And then Noel found out we had horses, too, and blah, blah, blah. And we–me, dad and mom–went down and met him and Bobby”–Hickey's wife–“and that's when we created our little business of foaling mares for Noel in Illinois.”

Hickey's legacy

Hickey was a meticulous horseman who paid a great deal of attention to pedigree and trained according to that knowledge. He was generous in sharing his knowledge, too, said Holly Wenzel. “He was amazing. I was training my father's horses and Noel was in the same barn one year. He came down and gave me advice and told me what to do and how to do it. He'd watch my horses exercising with me in the mornings and help me decide the program for each horse, what races would be best for them, like say a six-furlong race on dirt or a long one or a mile on turf for this one or a state-bred race on turf for another. He taught me how to characterize all that.”

Holly Wenzel continued: “We loved Noel. And I don't think a lot of people realized this but Noel was so funny. He could crack a joke and make any bad situation into a good situation. He was friendly, he was very, very businesslike, but he treated everyone well. His employees, he treated them like royalty. He treated them very well. Even his van driver who would haul the mares from Ocala to Illinois and then take them back with foals by their sides loved Noel, and I wish I could remember his name, but he became like family to us, too, because he was up at our place so often.”

Two of Hickey's longtime assistants are still around. One is trainer Doug Matthews. The other is Hilary Pridham, an assistant now for trainer Mike Stidham.

Remnants of Hickey's breeding program have also endured and have links to the present.

On Saturday, Chuck Fipke's homebred Canadian champion and Grade I winner Lady Speightspeare (Speightstown) won the Glll Trillium S. at Woodbine. Her second dam is Lady Shirl, who Fipke purchased in 2005 as an 18-year-old mare for $485,000 at Keeneland November with Jack Werk signing the ticket. Fipke was attracted to Lady Shirl for her race record and her female line–as Hickey had been when he'd purchased Lady Shirl's dam.

For Fipke, Lady Shirl produced Grade II winner Lady Shakespeare (Theatrical {Ire}), the dam of Lady Speightspeare; and Grade l winner Perfect Shirl, a daughter of Fipke's homebred Grade l winner and champion Perfect Soul and dam of Fipke's 2022 Grade l winner Shirl's Speight (Speightstown).

Fipke, an independent thinker, probably has more similarities to Hickey than anyone else in the game. Fipke knows pedigrees and plans his matings accordingly, he exclusively races his homebreds in his own name and assumes 100-percent risk, he targets his horses for races and distances based on pedigree, and he supports his own stallions, including some that weren't stakes winners, like the unraced homebred Not Impossible (Ire)–sire of Fipke's Queen's Plate winner Not Bourbon.

It's fitting, therefore, that a part of Hickey's legacy continues with Fipke, and I'm sure Hickey would approve.

Sid Fernando is president and CEO of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, Inc., originator of the Werk Nick Rating and eNicks.

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A dominant winner of last year's GII Kelso H. and GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and this term's GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S., Life Is Good spent some time at WinStar after his return from Dubai and has been breezing steadily at Belmont for Pletcher since Memorial Day weekend. Flavien Prat climbs aboard the fleet-footed bay for the first time Saturday.

“Flavien has proven he rides really well in any occasion,” said Pletcher, who indicated this race is a prep for the GI Whitney S. “There might be some similarities to Flightline (Tapit) and Life Is Good, but we'll have a talk about the horse a little bit. He's got kind of a quiet touch, so that should suit him well.”

While Life Is Good will certainly be the heavy favorite, there is one member of this five-horse field who could give him a run for his money. Godolphin homebred Speaker's Corner (Street Sense) kicked off 2022 with a trio of seemingly effortless victories in the GIII Fred Hooper S., GII Gulfstream Park Mile and GI Carter H. He received a 114 Beyer Speed Figure for that win, which trumps Life Is Good's best figure of 110 in the Pegasus. The bay enters this off a third-place finish behind unbeaten sensation Flightline in the GI Hill 'n' Dale Met Mile June 11 and Jose Ortiz takes over the controls from Junior Alvarado, who will be riding for trainer Bill Mott in Kentucky.

The Nerud certainly looks like a match race between these two formidable foes as Repo Rocks (Tapiture), Harvard (Pioneerof the Nile) and War Tocsin (Violence) are overmatched to say the least.

Also on tap at Belmont Saturday is the GIII Dwyer S. for sophomore colts. The regally bred Charge It (Tapit) looks to rebound in this cutback in trip after a poor effort in the GI Kentucky Derby, where he finished 17th. The 'TDN Rising Star' was a green, but good second in the GI Curlin Florida Derby in April and the Run for the Roses may have just been too much too soon. You can count on Pletcher to have the colt ready to roll in this softer spot and his back-to-back bullets on the local training track affirm that. With the colt's regular rider Luis Saez at Churchill Downs for Americanrevolution (Constitution), the Hall of Famer calls on his right-hand man John Velazquez to take over the reins.

Chad Brown has an intriguing runner in the Dwyer in Peter Brant's Nabokov (Uncle Mo). The $775,000 KEESEP buy earned his diploma at this oval when extended to two turns last time in his second start May 15.

Cox Holds Strong Hand at Churchill

Churchill Downs also offers a pair of intriguing graded events and Brad Cox has a strong chance to take both. He sends out Juddmonte homebred Mandaloun (Into Mischief)–who is making his first start since a well-beaten ninth in the G1 Saudi Cup–in the GII Stephen Foster H., a Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In' event. The colt was promoted to first via DQ in both the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Haskell Invitational S. last year and crossed the line first in the GIII Louisiana S. in January. Cox also saddles Caddo River (Hard Spun) off a trio of optional claimer scores.

Olympiad | Coady

That pair face some stiff competition from New York in Olympiad (Speightstown) and Americanrevolution (Constitution). The Bill Mott-trained Olympiad is a perfect four-for-four this season, topped by wins in the GIII Mineshaft S., GII New Orleans Classic and GII Alysheba S. Meanwhile, Americanrevolution, who shares the same connections as Life is Good, looks to return to winning ways. Capturing the GI Cigar Mile Dec. 4, the chestnut spent six months on the shelf and was a disappointing fourth in his return in the track-and-trip Blame S. June 4.

The GII Fleur de Lis S. attracted just five distaffers, but two of them are Grade I winners. Cox sends out Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil), whose trio of Grade I wins includes the 2020 GI Kentucky Oaks. The bay was run down last time by this field's other top-level scorer Pauline's Pearl (Tapit) in this venue's GI La Troienne S. May 6. That Stonestreet homebred ran back in the local Shawnee S. June 4, finishing fourth as the heavy favorite behind She's All Wolfe (Magna Graduate).

Sprinters Star at Gulfstream

Female sprinters get a chance to secure a spot in the Breeders' Cup Saturday at Gulfstream in the GII Princess Rooney S., a 'Win and You're In.' Champion Ce Ce (Elusive Quality) won this event last term en route to a victory in the GI Breeders' Cup F/M Sprint and she will be heavily favored to defend her title. Winner of the GII Azeri S. earlier this year, the chestnut was third behind champion Letruska (Super Saver) and last-out GI Ogden Phipps S. winner Clairiere (Curlin) in the GI Apple Blossom H. Apr. 23.

Her biggest competition will come from claim-to-fame Glass Ceiling (Constitution), winner of the GIII Barbare Fritchie S. and GIII Distaff H. The bay enters off a third to Bella Sofia (Awesome Patriot) in the GII Bed O'Roses S. June 10.

Male sprinters get a chance at graded glory in Hallandale too in the GIII Smile Sprint S. The race will go through GI Woody Stephens S. winner Drain the Clock (Maclean's Music), who makes his first start since finishing seventh in the G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen S. Mar. 26.

Delaware & Canada Also Offer Graded Action

Sophomores will be in the spotlight at Delaware Park Saturday with the GIII Delaware Oaks and GIII Kent S. Ruthless S. winner Shotgun Hottie (Gun Runner) looks like the one to beat. The bay receives Lasix for the first time off a third-place finish in Aqueduct's GIII Gazelle S. Apr. 9.

The GIII Kent S. features 3-year-old colts on the grass and the likely favorite is Harrell Ventures' Main Event (Bernardini), winner of the Cutler Bay S. He was last seen finishing ninth in the GII American Turf S. at Churchill May 7. He faces Brad Cox runner Tommy Bee (Medaglia d'Oro), who was second in a trio of listed stakes.

Woodbine hosts four graded events Saturday: the GIII Selene S. for 3-year-old fillies, the GIII Marine S. for sophomore colts, the GII Nassau S. for older fillies and mares, and the GII Highlander S. for older male turf sprinters. Jonathan Thomas could win both the sophomore events with Catiche (Arrogate) in the Selene and Fuerteventura (Summer Front) in the Marine.

Lady Speightspeare (Speightstown), winner of this venue's GII Bessarabian S., faces SW & MGSP Crystal Cliffs (Fr) (Canford Cliffs {Ire}) and GSW Plum Ali (First Samurai) in the Nassau. The Highlander is topped by the Wesley Ward-trained Bound for Nowhere (The Factor), a two-time winner of the GII Shakertown S. at Keeneland.

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Brant and Brown will also be represented in the Distaff Turf Mile by In Italian (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}). The 4-year-old was a flashy wire-to-wire victress of the Mar. 5 GIII Honey Fox S. in her most recent start and makes just her fifth trip to the post Saturday. She was tabbed a 'TDN Rising Star' following her maiden score at Belmont last May, but was sidelined by pneumonia until adding a Tampa allowance Jan. 12.

Roger Attfield sends outs Charles Fipke's homebred Lady Speightspeare (Speightstown). The 'TDN Rising Star' was sidelined for a year after winning the 2020 GI Natalma S. in her second career start. She returned with a pair of victories at Woodbine, including the GII Bessarabian S., but is winless in four starts since leaving Canada. The speedy filly was never a threat after blowing the break in the Apr. 16 GI Jenny Wiley S., but still came home third at Keeneland last time out.

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Formerly the Marshua's River S., the 8 1/2-furlong test for older fillies and mares features a pair of Grade I winners–morning line favorite Peter Brant's Regal Glory (Animal Kingdom) and Lady Speightspeare (Speightstown), a homebred for Charles Fipke.

The former, a half-sister to MGSW Night Prowler (Giant's Causeway), is an eight-time stakes winner, including the most recent Del Mar's GI Matriarch S. Nov. 28. Last season, she also annexed the Plenty of Grace S. and De La Rose S., in addition to finishing runner-up in the GI First Lady S. The daughter of MGSW Mary's Follies was plucked out of the Paul Pompa Jr. dispersal at Keeneland last January by Brant for $925,000.

Lady Speightspeare showed her class early on, taking her career debut while becoming a 'TDN Rising Star' at Woodbine in August before taking the one-mile GI Natalma S. at that venue to cap off her 2-year-old campaign. Back on top in her sophomore reappearance while facing her elders in a Woodbine optional claimer last September, she was scratched after acting up in the gate before Keeneland's GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Oct. 16 and was scratched by her trainer Roger Attfield prior to the Oct. 29 GIII Rubicon Valley View S. Trying a synthetic surface for the first time in the seven-panel GII Bessarabian S. against older rivals at Woodbine Nov. 13, the chestnut rolled home by four lengths before finishing third behind the re-opposing Bipartisanship (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}) in her final race of the season in Gulfstream's Tropical Park Oaks Dec. 26. Junior Alvarado rides the 4-year-old for the first time.

Trainer Todd Pletcher, offering very strong candidates in the other two Pegasus races, is represented in this inaugural running by Robert and Lawana Lowe's Sweet Melania (American Pharoah). The consistent filly has hit the board in 12 of 15 lifetime starts, including a recent win over the local turf course in the one-mile GIII Suwanee River S. Dec. 18. On that occasion, she defeated several horses marking their returns here, including runner-up Shifty She (Gone Astray).

“She's had six weeks since [the Suwanee River] and she's eating well, putting on a little more weight,” said Pletcher. “She's also been training very enthusiastically. All the signs you'd like to see. Her coat is better than it was. She just seems to be blossoming right now. This will be a tougher ask, but she's doing great.”

Making her U.S. debut Saturday, Gary Barber and Team Valor's Wakanaka (Ire) (Power {GB}), winner of six of eight starts in Italy while under the care of trainer Diego Dettori. In her final race in Italy, the bay won the G3 Regina Elena Italian 1000 Guineas at Capannelle in Rome last April. Purchased by the current partnership 10 months ago, she suffered from bone bruising after her arrival in the U.S., postponing her Stateside debut.

“Everybody wants to win the 1000 Guineas equivalent. There it's a Group 3, but it's a Classic,” said Team Valor's Barry Irwin. “That's the big focal point for all the fillies.”

He continued, “She was a good 2-year-old. She would have been the second-best 2-year-old filly in Italy. She had six starts: four wins, two seconds. She got beat by the filly [Aria Importante] that wound up being the champion.”

Trained by Bill Mott, the filly will break from post 2 under Umberto Rispoli.

“She's a very likable filly,” said Irwin. “She's got a lot of pizazz about her. And she's got instant turn of foot, which is the one thing that we liked. That's why we buy so many horses over there. You tell them to go and it's like now.”

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Peter Brant's Grade 1 winner Regal Glory, trained by Chad Brown, is the 2-1 morning-line favorite in the 1 1/16 miles turf test that drew a field of 11 stakes runners. Regal Glory will start from Post No. 4 with jockey Jose Ortiz. The lineup includes Robert amd Lawana Low's Sweet Melania, who edged Shifty She in the Suwannee River (G3) on Dec. 18, and Team Valor's Irish-bred Wakanaka, who will make her U.S. debut.

The $500,000 Filly and Mare Turf is the newest addition to Gulfstream Park's program of seven graded stakes topped by the sixth running of the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) present by 1/ST Bet.

Shifty She, a Florida-bred daughter of Gone Astray, had won three of four starts as a 3-year-old in 2019 before going to the sidelines with a tendon injury.

“In this game you have to be very patient and I'm a very patient guy,” said Chris Pallas, who is the mare's co-breeder and co-owner.

Pallas credits the vets at Ocala Equine with the treatment that enabled her to resume her career.

“We got her back and she is just a pleasure to be around,” he said. “She's just a very smooth horse. When you watch her, she glides over the grass. She's very graceful and she loves what she's doing. That's really her mindset. She's all about the business and she loves to run.”

Since her return in April with new trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., the speedy daughter of Gone Astray has a record of 3-1-1 from seven starts, topped by a victory in the Noble Damsel (G3) on Oct. 23 at Belmont Park.

Chris Pallas and his brother-in-law George Klein bred the mare and Pallas is a co-owner in Pedigree Partners. Pallas and Klein were given the unraced broodmare Perilous Hope and they followed their plan to have the Phipps family mare Pure Profit on both sides of Shifty She's pedigree. Pure Profit's daughter, Educated Risk, is the third dam of Perilous Hope and her Hall of Fame daughter, Inside Information, is the third dam of the Florida-based sire Gone Astray.

“We had won a silent auction to a season with Gone Astray so we kind of did this for practically nothing. Here we are today,” Pallas said. “This is an expensive sport and if you can match up your pedigrees you can do this fairly inexpensively and you can get pretty lucky.”

Pallas, a longtime Fort Lauderdale resident, said there was a similar breeding approach with the graded-stakes winning sprinter Mambo Meister he co-owned from 2007 to 2012.

Shifty She – Pallas fashioned the name from her breeding – showed stakes ability while tiring and finishing fourth in her comeback race in April in an optional claimer and has been in stakes company since. At her best when on or near the lead, she led from gate to wire in the Noble Damsel.

“I was numb for three days after that. It was amazing. She had two really sharp works here and when you're an owner and you can come and watch the workouts, you learn a lot more about your horse than at a race. I knew she was ready to run. Everybody that handled her from here to Belmont was fantastic. Just being there that day, it was an overcast day, it was cool. She ran them off their feet. She just did her thing.”

Brant purchased Regal Glory for $925,000 in January of 2021 in the disbursement of the late Paul Pompa's racing stable. The daughter of Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Animal Kingdom has been trained by Brown throughout her career. Last year, she won the Plenty of Grace at Aqueduct and De La Rose at Saratoga around a fourth in the Just a Game (G1) then finished second by a half-length to stablemate Blowout in the First Lady (G1) at Keeneland. In front from the start, she picked up the coveted Grade 1 victory in the Matriarch on Nov. 28 at Del Mar.

Sweet Melania, a 5-year-old daughter of American Pharoah, was in the money four times during a seven-race winless streak going into the Suwanee River. She stayed within striking distance of pacesetting Shifty She, engaged her in the stretch and earned her third graded stakes victory by a half-length. Sweet Melania, the 5-1 second choice on the morning line, will start from the rail.

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher liked what he saw Saturday when the mare worked a half-mile in :48.98 at Palm Beach Downs.

“I thought her last race was one of her best. I think she's actually coming into this one even better,” Pletcher said. “This will be a more demanding race, but she's training like she's made a move forward since the last one. Hopefully she can step up.”

Charles Fipke's homebred Lady Speightspeare won the first four starts of her career, all at Woodbine in suburban Toronto, before finishing third as the 6-5 favorite after a troubled trip in the Tropical Park Oaks on Dec. 26. The daughter of Speightstown out of the Theatrical mare Lady Shakespeare, will have a new rider with Junior Alvarado. She drew Post No. 3 and is 8-1 on the morning line.

Fortune Racing's Bipartisanship won the Tropical Park Oaks at 19-1 for trainer Graham Motion and has two wins and a third in four starts since being imported from Ireland last year. She drew the outside post and is 20-1.

Stuart Janney's homebred 5-year-old In a Hurry finished third in the Suwannee River behind Sweet Melania and Shifty She. Her regular rider Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano has the mount on the daughter of Blame, who will start from Post No. 10.

Trainer Michael McCarthy will saddle Nicest, the Irish-bred daughter of American Pharoah. She was third in the Juddmonte Irish Oaks (G1) and Ribblesdale Stakes (G2) at Royal Ascot before being imported last year. In her most recent start, she was second in the off-the-turf American Oaks (G1) on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita.

Godolphin's Alms was seventh in the Suwannee River after missing by a neck in her previous start at Fair Grounds. Gift List will be making her first start for trainer Brian Lynch since finishing third as the favorite in the Wonder Again (G3) on June 3 at Belmont Park. Summer in Saratoga, trained by Joe Sharp, closed out the 2021 season with three wins in four starts. In her most recent race, she won the Blushing KD by a neck at Fair Grounds on Dec. 26.

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