Altaf jumps in class at short price in Lady's Secret

You’re not supposed to take a short price on Altaf in the featured Lady’s Secret Stakes on Sunday at Monmouth Park. The 4-year-old filly has raced but three times and jumps from a first-level allowance into a $100,000 stakes race, where she faces seasoned, accomplished rivals. Chad Brown trains Altaf, who got a 91 Beyer Speed Figure for her April 18 comeback win at Aqueduct. She’s going to take money, no doubt, but Altaf could take some beating in the Lady’s Secret, a 1 1/16-mile dirt race that drew eight entrants.

“Yeah, she seems like she’s pretty good,” said Brown, who trains Altaf, a homebred by Medaglia d’Oro out of Fawaarek, for Shadwell Stable.

Brown also entered Velvet Crush, another last-out first-level allowance winner, though this filly got the lead on a sloppy track while scampering to victory and does not evince the same raw talent as her stablemate. Paco Lopez rides Velvet Crush, who should be part of a legitimate pace.

Sans the Brown factor and Altaf’s suggestion of serious ability, Lucky Stride would look very competitive in the Lady’s Secret, provided one is willing to draw a line through her most recent start, an uncharacteristically dull eighth in the Allaire duPont Distaff. Lucky Stride, who once campaigned in Puerto Rico, had won two winter stakes and raced competitively in seven straight black-type contests for trainer Mike Trombetta.

“That was what made her last race so surprising,” Trombetta said. Surprising, but potentially excusable. “She got away bad and was three or four paths wide all the way around there, and anyone who was paying attention to Pimlico that weekend knows that was not the place to be. She seemed okay coming out of it. Hopefully, she can turn things around.” Trombetta said he also entered Lucky Stride in a Delaware stakes race but plans to start her at Monmouth.

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DuPont fifth-place finisher Landing Zone breaks from the rail Sunday. Gibberish, coming out of a fading sixth in the Grade 2 Ruffian for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., figures to be a forward factor. Sweet Sami D finished third in the 2019 Monmouth Oaks but had a better season at age 3 than during 2020.

Dylan Davis has the mount on Altaf, and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. already schooled her for her trip to Monmouth, where whips cannot be used for encouragement. Altaf showed little in her career debut on turf, but won impressively second time out, going a one-turn dirt mile at Churchill Downs during spring 2020.

“Minor stuff she needed to get over, rest up from,” Brown said, led to an 11-month layoff, and Altaf showed noteworthy improvement in her comeback race, a one-turn Aqueduct mile. Settling near the rear of a six-horse field, the filly raced in traffic a good portion of her trip before getting a clear stretch run and turning in an eye-catching finish. Ortiz never wielded his crop, instead throwing the reins at his mount, who responded with an energetic final three-sixteenths.

“It’s a good opportunity to try a stakes race and get her a chance around two turns,” said Brown.

If not an especially good opportunity for bettors seeking value.