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​Veteran stakes-winners comprise salty G3 Vagrancy field

by Brian Bohl

A field of seven fillies and mares 4-years-old and up will look to boost their respective stakes-winning resumes in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Vagrancy contested at 6 1/2 furlongs on the main track at Belmont Park.

Six of the field’s entrants have already earned a stakes victory, including Tommy Town Thoroughbreds’ Victim of Love, who won last year’s Vagrancy edition by besting Come Dancing by 1 3/4 lengths before running third in the Grade 1 Ballerina in August at Saratoga Race Course.

Trainer Todd Beattie gave Victim of Love a six-month break, and the now 5-year-old Speightstown mare responded by running second in her 2021 debut going six furlongs against optional claimers in February at Laurel Park.

Victim of Love, whose only previous Belmont start came in the Vagrancy, will look to go 2-for-2 in the prestigious race for older filles and mares, breaking from post 3 in tandem with Joel Rosario.

Jay Oringer and Jack Bick’s Piedi Bianchi started her 2021 campaign with a third-place effort in the seven-furlong Grade 2 Inside Information on Pegasus World Cup Day on January 23 at Gulfstream Park under trainer Steve Klesaris.

The ownership group will again employ a strategy of using different conditioners depending on the location of the race, with Carlos Martin taking over her care as she makes her first start at Belmont since running third for Martin in the Grade 2 Ruffian last July at Belmont. 

Piedi Bianchi, who won the Correction last March at Aqueduct and the Frances Slocum at Indiana Grand Race Course in 2020 [adding to her Frances Slocum win in 2018], has faced top-caliber competition in her career, earning blacktype in the Ruffian in a one-mile race won by two-time Eclipse Award winner Monomoy Girl. 

“She tried hard in the Ruffian. She went up against one of the best fillies in Monomoy Girl, so we were just trying to get a piece of it,” Martin said. “It was a tough spot. But she runs well fresh and we’ve had luck with her in the past and I’m just so happy to have her back in our barn.”

Manny Franco will pick up the mount from the inside post.

Holly Hill Stable’s Pacific Gale has won consecutive graded stakes for trainer John Kimmel, starting her 6-year-old year with a victory in the Grade 2 Inside Information over Piedi Bianchi and following with a 3 1/2-length win in the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie going the Vagrancy distance on March 20 at Gulfstream. 

Pacific Gale, a daughter of Flat Out, will see Hall of Famer John Velazquez back aboard, breaking from post 6.

Dennis Narlinger’s Sadie Lady will look to notch her third consecutive win, building on a 2 ½-length score against optional claimers in December at the Big A before edging Call On Mischief by a head in the six-furlong Correction in March over the same track.

All 18 of Sadie Lady’s previous starts have come at the three NYRA-operated tracks, with the 5-year-old Freud mare posting a 1-0-2 record in five starts at Belmont.

Last out in the Correction, Sadie Lady went gate-to-wire for the win earning a personal-best 84 Beyer Speed Figure. On Saturday, she will break from post 2 with Kendrick Carmouche in the irons.

“When she gets a real sharp break in the first few strides and can clear off, she can rate a little bit on the front end and save a little horse to finish home,” trainer Rob Atras said on her preferred style. “It depends who she's running against and what the pace is like but if she can get out to the lead and get a little breather, she's able to come home strong.”

Sadie Lady was scratched from the $100,000 License Fee going six furlongs on turf last week, but Atras said the Vagrancy could suit her better.

“I didn't think it was a great spot for her. She drew outside and there was other speed in there,” he said. “There was some rain and we didn't think we'd get a real firm turf that day.”

Sadie Lady, out of the Read the Footnotes mare Zucca and bred in New York by JMJ Racing, could parlay a successful Vagrancy effort into an eventual broodmare career, Atras said. 

“The owner bred the horse and would like to breed her someday, so we've been looking for the right spots for her and it hasn't been easy,” Atras said. “Even if you hit the board in a graded race, it's important for the family.”

Rounding out the field is Honor Way, third last out in the Grade 3 Distaff going seven furlongs on April 2 at Aqueduct, for trainer Charlton Baker [post 5, Jose Ortiz]; Kiss the Girl, winner of the Conniver on March 13 at Laurel, for conditioner Michael Trombetta [post 4, Trevor McCarthy]; and French Empire, making her stakes debut in her 17th start, for trainer Brad Cox [post 7, Hall of Fame Javier Castellano aboard].

The Vagrancy, listed as Race 7 on the 11-race card, is one of five graded stakes on the Saturday program. The day will be highlighted by the Grade 1, $700,000 Man o’ War for 4-year-olds and up going 1 3/8 miles on the turf; the Grade 3, $200,000 Peter Pan for sophomores going 1 1/8 miles in a prep race for the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes; the Grade 3, $150,000 Runhappy for 4-year-olds and up going six furlongs; and the Grade 3, $150,000 Beaugay for older fillies and mares competing at 1 1/16 miles on the turf. First post is 1 p.m. Eastern.

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