Love Cervere, Hey Bertie rematch in G3 Soaring Softly

Sunday’s Grade 3, $175,000 Soaring Softly will see a rematch between the top two finishers of the Take the A Train as Love Cervere and Hey Bertie face off in the 5 1/2-furlong Mellon turf sprint for sophomore fillies on Closing Day of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course.

The Soaring Softly is slated as Race 7 on Sunday’s 11-race card, which co-features the $150,000 Jersey Girl in Race 9. First post is 12:10 p.m. Eastern. Admission gates will open to the public at 11 a.m.

Edward Seltzer, Beverly Anderson and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing’s Love Cervere makes her first start for trainer Miguel Clement after her last-out victory marked the final stakes win for the late Christophe Clement on May 10.

In the six-furlong Take the A Train, the Into Mischief bay was last-of-9 and 6 1/4 lengths back through the half-mile in 46.40 seconds under Hall of Famer Joel Rosario, but powered through the turn with a 6-to-7-wide rally to pick off horses down the lane with a tremendous turn of foot and nailed Hey Bertie by a neck in the shadow of the wire. Both Love Cervere and Hey Bertie earned a career-best 83 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort.

Love Cervere cuts back for the shortest race of her career as she makes her fifth start, boasting a 3-for-4 on-the-board record that includes a debut graduation sprinting six furlongs in November at Belmont at the Big A and a close runner-up effort to returning rival Spirited Boss in the one-mile Listed Ginger Brew in January at Gulfstream Park.

Clement said Love Cervere has prepared well for Sunday’s test.

“She worked very well,” Clement said of her half-mile work in 49.90 seconds on Sunday over the Oklahoma dirt training track.

A Kentucky homebred for Edward Seltzer and Beverly Seltzer, Love Cervere is out of the stakes-placed Black Minnaloushe mare Panther Strike, a half-sister to graded stakes winners Surgical Strike and Sky Treasure, and dual graded stakes-placed Axthelm. Love Cervere is a half-sister to Grade 3-winner Chapalu and dual stakes-placed Caroline Test.

Rosario retains the mount from the inside post.

Clement will also send out Gainesway Stable and LNJ Foxwoods’ Make Haste [post 5, Manny Franco], who wired a five-furlong optional claiming sprint last out on April 13 at Gulfstream.

The Blue Point bay made her stateside debut with a fourth in the Melody of Colors on March 23 at Gulfstream, and was listed stakes-placed at Naas in July after an off-the-board finish in the Group 2 Queen Mary at Royal Ascot when trained by Diego Dias.

Klein Racing’s Kentucky homebred Hey Bertie [post 6, Javier Castellano] was bumped at the start of the Take the A Train and tracked in sixth position tucked inside through the first half-mile, angling off the rail slightly into the stretch as Annascaul clung to a precarious lead. Hey Bertie ducked back down inside as the tiring pacesetter Gata Brazil drifted out in front of her path and Love Cervere came charging with her winning run down the outside.

Trainer Cherie DeVaux said she was pleased with the effort from Hey Bertie in her stakes debut.

“She’s doing really well and this is another step up from where she was,” DeVaux said. “She had to face a little adversity and then she closed nicely.”

DeVaux added she expects the daughter of Kantharos will fair well with a sixteenth less after winning twice at this distance – on both dirt and turf.

“The cutback is fine,” DeVaux said. “She’s a neat filly. She’s easy to train.”

Her prior wins came with a debut score by 1 1/2 lengths in an off-the-turf maiden special weight with a prominent trip in January at Fair Grounds Race Course, and an off-the-pace victory in a March optional claimer in her turf debut at the New Orleans oval.

DeVaux said Hey Bertie, a half-sister to recent pacesetting Grade 3 Arlington runner-up and graded stakes-winning millionaire Brilliant Berti, does not seem tied to any particular tactics.

“I don’t think she’s pigeonholed herself in one running style yet,” DeVaux said. “The brother ended up on the lead last time and ran really well. She seems pretty versatile in that respect.”

Steep opposition will be provided by a stakes-winning pair for trainer Jose D’Angelo in the aforementioned Spirited Boss [post 9, John Velazquez] and Cloe [post 8, Irad Ortiz, Jr., blinkers ON].

Tag Stables’ Florida homebred Spirited Boss makes her first start outside of Gulfstream, and exits a 1 3/4-length second to Starship Impulsive in the one-mile Honey Ryder on May 3. There, she tracked in third on the inside through the first three-quarters before moving to the three-path for a mild bid, but she was unable to reel in her foe and settled for place honors.

Spirited Boss cuts back to the distance that saw her graduate in dominant pacesetting fashion over fellow state-breds in January over Gulfstream’s synthetic, a 5 1/2-length trouncing as the post-time favorite on the heels of a third on debut in a similar tilt going a sixteenth shorter in December. Her other win was a strong 3 3/4-length state-bred allowance coup going one-mile and 70 yards on synthetic in February.

While Spirited Boss cuts back in distance, Lugamo Racing Stable’s Grade 3-placed Cloe makes her third consecutive sprint start on the heels of a third in the 6 1/2-furlong Grade 3 Senorita on April 27 at Santa Anita Park.

The Tiz the Law bay has set the pace or pressured it in 3-of-4 starts, including a strong 5 3/4-length January debut graduation going this distance on the Gulfstream synthetic, and wire-to-wire win in the five-furlong Melody of Colors on March 23 at Gulfstream that garnered a career-best 86 Beyer.

Robert M. Evans’ Brindi [post 4, Kendrick Carmouche] seeks her third consecutive stakes triumph after back-to-back listed wins over the Woodbine Tapeta for conditioner Kelsey Danner.

The No Nay Never chestnut makes her ninth start and first on turf since a third-out maiden win in October at Delaware Park in her last start for trainer Christophe Clement before moving to Danner. Since then, she has posted a 3-for-5 record, including her wins in the Star Shoot on April 26 and Ruling Angel last out on May 17, both in prominent fashion.

Completing the field are Grade 3-winner Abientot [post 10, Dylan Davis] for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse, Grade 3-placed Yougottahavehope [post 2, Ricardo Santana, Jr.] for trainer Horacio De Paz, stakes-placed Fortuna Mia [post 7, Jose Lezcano] for trainer Linda Rice, and two-time winner Saturday Flirt [post 3, Junior Alvarado] for trainer Welsey Ward. Rojo Rita is entered for the main-track only.

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