Brown duo of Lady Eli and Sea Calisi looms large in G1 Flower Bowl

by Karen M. Johnson

Following victories in three of the last five runnings of the Grade 1 Flower Bowl, North America's leading turf trainer Chad Brown will saddle the two horses to beat in this year's edition of the $500,000 turf stakes to be contested Saturday at Belmont Park. 

The Brown-trained Lady Eli and Sea Calisi are among a field of six entered in the Flower Bowl, a "Win and You're In" designated race for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf at Santa Anita Park on November 5. The Flower Bowl will be contested as Race 6 on the 11-race Super Saturday card.

Since the inaugural running of the Filly & Mare Turf in 1999, six of its winners have used the Flower Bowl as a prep. The Brown-trained Stephanie's Kitten, who won the most recent two editions of the Flower Bowl, captured last year's Filly & Mare Turf at Keeneland. In 2012, Brown saddled Zagora to a second-place finish in the 1 ¼-mile Flower Bowl before winning the Filly & Mare Turf at Santa Anita with the mare.

Sheep Pond Partners' Lady Eli, the winner of the 2014 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita, missed last year's World Championships because she was recovering from laminitis. The 4-year-old filly returned to action in the Grade 2 Woodford Reserve Ballston Spa at Saratoga on August 27 and ran valiantly to finish second by three-quarters of a length to the late-closing Strike Charmer, one of her Flower Bowl foes. The Ballston Spa, which was run in near-course record time of 1:38.77 for a mile and a sixteenth, represented Lady Eli's first career defeat in seven starts.

"I thought she ran very well, considering how long she had been off and what she had been through," Brown said of Lady Eli, who owned the lead briefly in deep stretch of the Ballston Spa. "Unfortunately, it didn't work out for her, but she ran very, very fast, and was second-best that day. 

"She got a lot out of that race," Brown added. "I've really seen her move forward in her subsequent workouts. She should be fitter and stronger for this race. I think she will take a step forward."

Irad Ortiz, Jr., Lady Eli's regular pilot, has the mount from post 5 on Belmont's inner turf.

One of those turf works from Lady Eli that Brown referenced occurred on September 11 at Belmont Park, a half-mile in a swift 47.66 seconds in company with Sea Calisi.

Martin S. Schwartz' Sea Calisi has not raced since winning the Beverly D. at Arlington Park in August. That day she overcame post 13 in the 14-horse field to garner the first Grade 1 victory of her career. Florent Geroux has the return call from post 6.

The 4-year-old Sea Calisi has already demonstrated a fondness for Belmont Park, where she won the Grade 2 Sheepshead Bay in May and then finished second to stablemate Dacita in the Grade 2 New York one month later.

"It's been more of the same from Sea Calisi since the Beverly D.," Brown said. "She is a solid-training horse - not spectacular. She's a small filly, very lightly framed, but trains well enough. Hopefully, there is enough pace in the race and they both work a good trip out. I'm not going to tell the jocks too much."

McLaughlin, who won the 2007 Filly & Mare Turf with that year's Flower Bowl heroine, Lahudood, was pleased with Godolphin Stable's Sentiero Italia's third-place effort in the Ballston Spa, which was just her second start of 2016.

"She moved a little bit early," McLaughlin said. "They came running with her and they went hard at it. The eventual winner went by her, but our horse ran hard and I thought it was an excellent effort for her second race back. She likes Belmont, so I'm looking forward to running her Saturday."

Joel Rosario will ride Sentiero Italia from post 4.

Strike Charmer, a 6-year-old trained by Mark Hennig for her breeders, Courtlandt Farm, registered her second graded win of 2016 in the Ballston Spa. In May, she used her late turn of foot to capture the Grade 3 Beaugay on the Belmont turf.

"Her [speed figures] have gotten better with every start," said Hennig. "It is unusual for a 6-year-old mare to do that. I made some changes with her shoeing-wise back in March, and it has made a huge difference for her. I think it remains to be seen if going a mile and a quarter is in her wheelhouse, but she has been finishing going a mile and an eighth, so you would think she would."

Javier Castellano has the assignment on Strike Charmer, who drew post 2.

Trainer Todd Pletcher, who upset the Brown-trained Flintshire in last Saturday's Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic with Ectot, will saddle Itsonlyactingdad in the Flower Bowl. The Giant's Causeway filly finished second to Lady Eli in last year's Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational. This year, Itsonlyactingdad, who will be ridden by Hall of Famer John Velazquez from post 3, won the Grade 3 Matchmaker at Monmouth Park over a yielding turf course.

 Completing the field is French invader Ame Bleue, a Group 1-placed runner from the barn of Andre Fabre. In her most recent start, Ame Bleue finished second as the favorite in a Group 3 run at Maisons-Laffitte Racecourse. Olivier Peslier is scheduled to arrive from France to ride Ame Bleue, who drew the rail.