Dry Powder is an intriguing prospect in $125K Wilton

Gold Square’s lightly-raced Dry Powder is an exciting prospect in Sunday’s $125,000 Wilton, a one-turn mile test for sophomore fillies that have not won a sweepstakes other than state-bred, at Belmont at the Big A.

Trained by Chad Summers, Dry Powder graduated in her six-furlong debut in March at Gulfstream Park and finished a 1 1/4-length second in a local one-turn mile optional claimer last out on May 1. There, the Gun Runner dark bay dueled with Grade 1-winner Scottish Lassie for the lead after bobbling at the break, taking command inside the three-sixteenths pole before Cassiar closed to victory. 

“We took advantage of her early foot and we didn’t think Scottish Lassie was going to make the lead, so we battled and it was a good race. I was really proud that she put away a Grade 1-winner,” said Summers. “Unfortunately, we set it up for Cassiar and she ran us down at the wire. Scottish Lassie came back and ran third in the Acorn, which flatters our form, and this has been our plan and focus since that race.” 

Cassiar was sixth next out in the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks on June 14 at its namesake oval and Scottish Lassie was third in the Grade 1 DK Horse Acorn on June 6 at Saratoga Race Course. Dry Powder earned a career-best 79 Beyer Speed Figure in defeat. 

“This stakes is a good measuring stick, running against 3-year-old fillies that haven’t won a stakes race yet,” Summers said. “This looks like a good field. Bill Mott’s filly [Mazayaat] was impressive breaking her maiden, Rodolphe Brisset’s [Liam in the Dust] is proven and stakes-placed, so we are excited to take this next step in the journey.” 

Dry Powder [post 4, Jose Lezcano], a $525,000 purchase at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, is out of the winning Broken Vow mare Tell All, a half-sister to graded stakes-winner Overheard. Her fourth dam, Whisper Who Dares, is a half-sister to Hall of Famer Chris Evert. 

“Every year at the sale there’s one horse that stands out. For Gold Square, that has been Cyberknife, Instant Coffee, now it is this filly,” Summers said. “She’s really nice. She was nice as a 2-year-old, just wasn’t ready yet. Obviously, there’s some other stakes as the year goes on, but she needs to take us there and we’ll give her the opportunity Sunday to do that.” 

KAS Stables’ Mazayaat [post 3, Junior Alvarado] graduated over course and distance last out on May 15. Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, the Bernardini dark bay set the pace under returning rider Junior Alvarado en route to a one-length victory over next-out winner Meursault in a final time of 1:35.44, earning a career-best 83 Beyer in the third-out graduation. 

Mazayaat was second in her first two outings, including by two lengths on debut to June 8 Jersey Girl-winner Indy Bay sprinting seven furlongs in March at Gulfstream Park, and by six lengths to next-out winner Clicquot going about seven furlongs in April at Keeneland. 

Mazayaat, a $650,000 purchase at the 2024 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, is out of the Medaglia d’Oro mare Rubies Are Red, a half-sister to Grade 1-winner and perennial top stallion Tapit. 

R. Lee Lewis, Ryan Lewis and Anthony Lewis’ Cat Chat [post 2, Kendrick Carmouche] steps up in class following a third-out seven-furlong graduation in April at Gulfstream Park and a one-mile off-the-turf optional claiming score last out on May 9 here. Trained by Mark Hennig, the Flatter dark bay closed from deep in both victories, most recently earning a career-best 77 Beyer over course and distance. 

“Her last two races have been pretty impressive,” said Hennig. “We let her settle and make one run. That seems to be the way she wants to run. She wants to be left alone early in the race and I think she likes to have a target to run at. I was worried last time if she’d have enough pace to run at, but it worked out well for us.” 

Cat Chat ran once as a juvenile, finishing seventh in a maiden turf sprint in August at Saratoga after trailing by as many as 19 lengths early. In her sophomore debut, she finished fifth in a one-mile tilt at Gulfstream won by the well-regarded Shred the Gnar.

“I think she does need a little bit of a set-up,” Hennig said. “Hopefully, we’ll get a bit of pace in this race and we’ll see what happens. She’s not real big. She’s on the smaller side. She never grew much, but she’s done well.” 

Cat Chat, a $325,000 purchase at the 2024 OBS March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training out of the winning Unbridled’s Song mare Warm Sunshine, is a half-sister to graded stakes-winner Steal Sunshine. 

Stonehaven Steading’s Sweet Seraphine [post 6, Irad Ortiz, Jr.] closed to defeat elders by a nose in a one-mile maiden tilt on May 24 at Churchill Downs. Trained by Cherie DeVaux, the Quality Road bay was making her second start after a 1 1/2-length debut third sprinting six furlongs in August at Ellis Park. 

There, Sweet Seraphine was defeated by next-out winners Echo Sound and Evanescence, now a graded-winner and graded-placed, respectively. Kinzie Queen also ran in the key race and is now dual graded-placed. 

Bred in Kentucky by Stonehaven Steadings, the $900,000 purchase at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, a half-sister to Grade 3-winner Moonlight d’Oro, is out of the winning Bernardini mare Venetian Sonata, a half-sister to A.P. Sonata, dam of Grand Sonata, and In the Moonlight, responsible for Ballerina d’Oro.

Rounding out the field is dual graded stakes-placed Liam in the Dust [post 1, Flavien Prat] for trainer Rodolphe Brisset and two-time winner Pink Ruby [post 5, Manny Franco] for conditioner Lindsay Schultz. 

The Wilton is slated as Race 7 on Sunday’s nine-race card. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern. 

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