Monarch Stables, Inc.'s Last Leaf, a multiple stakes winner on both turf and dirt exiting off-the-board finishes in successive graded-stakes, is entered to make her Maryland debut in Saturday's 32nd running of the $100,000 Safely Kept.
Last Leaf spent her entire juvenile season and made her first seven sophomore starts at Gulfstream Park, winning the Hollywood Beach and Melody of Colors on grass as well as the Game Face and Azalea on dirt, where she also ran third in the Feb. 5 Forward Gal (G3).
By Not This Time, Last Leaf has made her last three starts in Kentucky winning the Aug. 14 Audubon Oaks at Ellis Park before finishing fourth to 2021 champion 2-year-old filly Echo Zulu in the Dogwood (G3) and fifth behind multiple graded-stakes winner Wicked Halo in the Raven Run (G2) Oct. 22.
Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Long Valley Stables' Divine Huntress won the seven-furlong Miss Disco July 30 at Laurel against fellow Maryland-bred/sired horses and returns to action for the first time since finishing fourth in the Aug. 26 Charles Town Oaks (G2).
“We freshened her up a little bit, but I thought she got a little sick after the race at Charles Town. She had sort of a lung infection that we gave her some time to get cleared up. She's had four breezes now since she came back, and I'm happy with her,” trainer Graham Motion said. “It's the last opportunity to get to run against 3-year-old fillies. It's too good an opportunity to pass up, I felt, if I could get her there in good shape which she seems to have done.”
Second to Matareya in the June 11 Acorn (G1) at Belmont Park after running fourth in the Black-Eyed Susan (G2) at historic Pimlico Race Course, Divine Huntress is 2-for-3 lifetime at seven furlongs.
“I think she's been very consistent. She's been a pleasure to have. We've obviously tried her in some tough spots, but when we run her locally she's always very competitive in these races,” Motion said. “The other thing that was appealing is the seven furlongs. I think it's a good distance for her.”
Team Hanley's Vibrant Judy will be giving up some seasoning as she makes just her fourth career start and first in stakes in the Safely Kept. Trained by Laurel fall meet leader Brittany Russell, the daughter of champion Bernardini has two wins and a second thus far, graduating first time out going seven furlongs and getting up by a neck in a six-furlong optional claiming allowance Oct. 29 at Delaware Park.
“She's awesome. We've liked this filly a lot since she came in the barn,” Russell said. “She broke her maiden going seven-eighths and she likes that distance. We had to cut her back in the a-other-than and it's probably not what she really wants ultimately, but she got the job done.
“We were able to get that last run into her and she got another win on her resume and a little more experience, too,” she added. “She has plenty of natural speed and ability like that, but if something's faster than her she's smart enough she can sit off.”
Hope Jones' Buy the Best went 4-for-6 as a 2-year-old including back-to-back stakes wins at Laurel but is winless in four starts this year. She is entered along with stablemates Liscolvin, a last-out allowance winner at Delaware Park; and Still My Babe, third in the Oct. 7 Honey Bee at The Meadowlands.
Completing the field are June 3 New Start winner Bazinga C; Oct. 14 Glen Cove winner Half Is Enough; two-time New York-bred stakes winner November Rein; Swayin to and Fro, who beat older Maryland-bred/sired horses to win Pimlico's Shine Again Sept. 10; multiple stakes placed Click to Confirm, Moody Woman and Sweet Gracie; and Noble Bid.
The Safely Kept honors the champion sprinter of 1989 and member of the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame Class of 2011. The daughter of longtime Maryland sire Horatius was the first sprinter to top $2 million in earnings, the first Maryland-bred to win a Breeders' Cup race in the 1990 Sprint (G1), a four-time Maryland-bred champion including Horse of the Year twice (1989,1990) and is one of only seven horses to win three Maryland Million races. She won 24 races, 22 in stakes, from 31 lifetime starts.
The post ‘Too Good An Opportunity To Pass Up’: Divine Huntress Back In Action For Safely Kept Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
