Two divisions of $175K Perfect Sting on tap for Friday at Belmont Park
The Listed $175,000 Perfect Sting, a seven-furlong Widener turf sprint for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up, drew enough interest to be split into two divisions on Friday’s card at Belmont Park.
The divisions of the Perfect Sting are slated as Races 5 and 8 on the nine-race card, which also features the Grade 3, $200,000 Sands Point in Race 9. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.
The first division of the Perfect Sting [Race 5] will see Speedway Stables’ Epic Style [post 3, Antonio Fresu] attempt to bring her win streak to three in-a-row on the back of a career-best effort in the six-furlong Listed Sweet Briar Too on September 19 at Woodbine Racetrack for conditioner Michael Stidham.
“She’s doing great training at Fair Hill and she’s in good shape,” Stidham said. “She’s been on the improve and when she’s in that six-to-seven-furlong range, that’s where she really seems to shine.”
The 4-year-old Good Magic dark bay earned a 97 Beyer Speed Figure for the rallying victory where she came from 13 lengths back to drive clear by 1 1/2 lengths through the wire and earn her first stakes conquest. That effort came on the heels of a 2 1/4-length optional claiming victory sprinting 6 1/2 furlongs in August at Kentucky Downs.
Epic Style has won at six, 6 1/2 and eight furlongs, but tries this distance for the first time here.
“She’s always showed us that type of turn-of-foot, and it seemed like five or five-and-a-half [furlongs] were a little too short, and going a mile was a little bit out of her best range – she’s won going a mile, but she seems like she is at her best at six or seven,” Stidham said. “We couldn’t be happier with her. Our goal was to get her some black type, which happened, so we’re very pleased with where she’s going.”
Epic Style, out of the Grade 3-winning Sky Mesa mare Final Mesa, is a half-sister to stakes-winner Cashcheckorcharge and was a $300,000 purchase at the OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training.
Klaravich Stables’ dual graded stakes-placed Oversubscribed [post 7, Flavien Prat] makes her eighth consecutive appearance in stakes company, and returns from a six-month respite dating to a three-quarter-length second to Grade 1-winner And One More Time in the one-mile Listed Plenty of Grace in April at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Trained by five-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown, the Too Darn Hot 5-year-old makes her third start this campaign, and looks to add to a resume that includes a win in the 1 1/16-mile Forever Together in November at Aqueduct and the one-mile Listed Wild Applause there in 2024. In between, she finished second in a pair of Grade 3s, landing three-quarter-lengths back of Pounce in Saratoga Race Course’s Lake George and 1 1/4 lengths behind No Mo Candy in the Pebbles at Aqueduct.
Oversubscribed was a $481,041 purchase from Book 1 of the 2022 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale and is out of the stakes-winning Cape Cross mare Zurigha, a half-sister to Group 3-winner Lily’s Angel.
Completing the field are Grade 3-winners Spirited Boss [post 5, Manny Franco] for trainer Jose D’Angelo and Fast Market [post 6, Samuel Marin] for conditioner John Terranova; graded stakes-placed Civetta [post 4, Javier Castellano] for trainer Brendan Walsh; multiple stakes-winners Cupids Crush [post 1, Julio Hernandez] for trainer McLean Robertson; dual stakes-placed Somnium [post 2, Ricardo Santana, Jr.] for trainer Elizabeth Merryman; allowance-level winner Wind Flower [post 9, Jose Lezcano] for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott; and the Jena Antonucci-trained maiden-winner New Rose [post 8, Umberto Rispoli].
The field for the first division in Race 5 is as follows:
1.) Cupids Crush [Julio Hernandez]
2.) Somnium [Ricardo Santana, Jr.]
3.) Epic Style [Antonio Fresu]
4.) Civetta [Javier Castellano]
5.) Spirited Boss [Manny Franco]
6.) Fast Market [Samuel Marin]
7.) Oversubscribed [Flavien Prat]
8.) New Rose [Umberto Rispoli]
9.) Wind Flower [Jose Lezcano]
Stone Base and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing’s Love Cervere will vie to double up on local stakes scores in the second division of the Perfect Sting [Race 8].
Trained by Miguel Clement, the 4-year-old daughter of Into Mischief was a deep-closing winner of the six-furlong Floral Park last out on September 19 here, rallying from last-of-9 under Hall of Famer Joel Rosario to show an explosive turn-of-foot down the center of the course and drive home a 1 1/2-length winner. The effort produced a career-best 93 Beyer.
“I think she’s very consistent,” Clement said. “She’s been a little unlucky in the sense that a lot of these races all year long have been at the wrong distance for her. Now that Belmont is open, I’m looking forward to having a proper campaign with her next year for all the stakes at six [furlongs], six-and-a-half and seven-eighths.”
Love Cervere is 5-2-0-0 this year, including an additional stakes score going six furlongs in the Listed License Fee in May at Belmont at the Big A. She followed with a fourth in the 5 1/2-furlong Grade 2 Intercontinental in June at Saratoga and a ninth in the 6 1/2-furlong Grade 1 Ladies Turf Sprint in August at Kentucky Downs ahead of the Floral Park.
Clement said Friday’s distance should suit Love Cervere, whose lone effort at seven furlongs was a 1 3/4-length third from last-of-14 in Woodbine’s Grade 3 Bessarabian last November over Tapeta.
“I think she should be able to handle it comfortably,” Clement said. “She was amazingly impressive here the other day and she has run effectively over seven before. Every time she’s run six furlongs, she’s effective, and I think the same can be said between six and seven furlongs.”
The talented bay made the grade in last year’s Grade 3 Glen Cove at six furlongs over the Aqueduct Racetrack turf, the highlight of a three-win sophomore campaign that included a successful trip to Canada to win Woodbine’s Listed Alywow, and the Take the A Train at the Big A. She has banked $592,766 through a lifetime ledger of 14-6-2-2.
Manny Franco, who was aboard Love Cervere for her Glen Cove score last year, has the call from post 7.
Parkland Thoroughbreds, Sportsmen Stable and Avanti Stable’s graded stakes-winner Jody’s Pride [post 4, Edgard Zayas] has raced competitively on both dirt and turf, and earned her second Grade 1-placing last out when a 3 1/2-length third to In Our Time in the Ladies Turf Sprint on August 29 at Kentucky Downs under Francisco Arrieta. Trained by Jorge Abreu, she also landed third in that event last year when it was a Grade 2.
“I’m not looking for any excuses – Kentucky Downs is a track that’s pretty hard to gauge, and the jockey told me he probably gave her too much to do at the end,” Abreu said. “She ran a good race."
The American Pharoah 5-year-old makes her sixth start of this campaign, which also includes a close third in the Grade 3 Distaff going this distance over the Aqueduct main track in April. She entered the Ladies Turf Sprint off a two-month respite dating to a well-beaten fifth in the Alma North on dirt in June at Laurel Park.
“We had given her a little break and her race back was really good – I don’t know if it’s because she likes Kentucky Downs, but she’s training very well and is happy,” Abreu said. “It was very important to get another Grade 1 placing. If she runs good here, we’ll keep in her training, but if she doesn’t, we’ll make a decision about being a broodmare.”
Jody’s Pride took an off-the-turf edition of the Listed Matron as a juvenile and the Listed Busher in her sophomore bow, efforts that sandwiched a neck second to subsequent Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Just F Y I in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita Park. She looks to notch her first win since earning her initial graded victory in the Grade 2 Ruffian 10 starts back last May.
“She ran second in the Breeders’ Cup when she’s not built to be a two-turn horse. I think the seven furlongs here will be perfect,” Abreu said.
Jody’s Pride has banked nearly $1.2 million through a lifetime record of 18-4-1-5. She was bred in Kentucky by owner Parkland Thoroughbreds’ Mr. Steve Weston.
Tracy Farmer’s Grade 3-winner Abientot [post 9, Dylan Davis] got back to winning ways last out with a three-length optional claiming score traveling this distance on September 5 at Kentucky Downs.
Trained by dual Hall of Famer Mark Casse, the 4-year-old Not This Time dark bay won the Grade 3 Matron at Belmont at the Big A as a juvenile, and hit the board in four stakes last year, including a third in the Glen Cove won by Love Cervere last October. She finished third in her first three starts this year at Gulfstream Park and Saratoga ahead of her Kentucky Downs victory.
Abientot has banked $522,650 through a 16-3-1-7 record, and was purchased for $210,000 at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
Completing the field are multiple graded stakes-placed winners Little Jamie [post 3, Samuel Marin] for conditioner Saffie Joseph, Jr. and Vive Veuve [post 2, Kendrick Carmouche] for trainer Joe Sharp; stakes-winners Gratefully [post 8, Umberto Rispoli, blinkers OFF] for trainer Rob Falcone, Jr. and Spinning Colors [post 5, Javier Castellano] for trainer Mark Hennig; stakes-placed Ashikidah [post 6, Ricardo Santana, Jr.] for trainer Philip Antonacci; and allowance-level winners for Hall of Fame conditioners in the Todd Pletcher-trained Capturing [post 1, Flavien Prat] and Table Flirt [post 10, Jose Lezcano] for Bill Mott.
The field for the second division in Race 8 is as follows:
1.) Capturing [Flavien Prat]
2.) Vive Veuve [Kendrick Carmouche]
3.) Little Jamie [Samuel Marin]
4.) Jody’s Pride [Edgard Zayas]
5.) Spinning Colors [Javier Castellano]
6.) Ashikidah [Ricardo Santana, Jr.]
7.) Love Cervere [Manny Franco]
8.) Gratefully [Umberto Rispoli]
9.) Abientot [Dylan Davis]
10.) Table Flirt [Jose Lezcano]
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