Artie's Princess gets tested for turf in Coronation Cup

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – There’s no doubting the fact Artie’s Princess can really run. After all, the 3-year-old filly has won three of her first four starts by a combined margin of nearly 13 lengths and is just a neck shy of being undefeated heading into Friday’s $100,000 Coronation Cup at Saratoga.

The question is, can Artie’s Princess really run on turf as well as she has on the artificial surface at Woodbine, where she has raced exclusively.

Even trainer Wesley Ward says he’s not 100 percent certain about how Artie’s Princess will handle the turf when she takes on seven other 3-year-old fillies in the 5 1/2-furlong Coronation Cup. Ward also entered the multiple stakes winner Karak in Friday’s headliner, but said Wednesday that she would scratch.

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“She’s a runner and her numbers have been fantastic,” Ward said of Artie’s Princess. “She’s got numbers that will win the race if she handles the turf, which is why I’ve got her in there. But there’s still a little bit of a question mark about how she’ll take to the turf. I’ve only had her on there once, last week at Keeneland, where I wanted a nice, easy breeze. The rider had her chin to her chest just throwing her down, and she appeared to handle it okay.”

Ward also loves the fact Artie’s Princess is drawn toward the outside, in post position 8, for her turf and local debut. Irad Ortiz Jr. will ride her.

“She’s fast but she showed she could rate in her last start, and I’ve got Irad on her, and he hasn’t made too many wrong decision here thus far this meet,” Ward noted.

Artie’s Princess will face the top three finishers from the six-furlong Lady Shipman at Belmont Park five weeks earlier – Bredenbury, She’s My Type, and Miss J McKay.

Bredenbury stalked the pace, edged clear in early stretch, and maintained a safe advantage over the late-running She’s My Type to win a stakes for the first time in the Lady Shipman.

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She’s My Type shortened up to six furlongs off a series of two-turn races to begin her career and ran out of real estate rallying from near the rear of the field.

Miss J McKay was fanned well wide in early stretch before rallying mildly to finish another two lengths behind She’s My Type while hitting the board for the sixth time in as many starts. She is trained Cathal Lynch.

Always Inthe Munny also tries grass for the first time. She won her last two starts by an average margin of 8 1/4 lengths, including a stakes for Texas-breds at Lone Star on June 14. The daughter of Munnings worked over the Oklahoma turf course earlier this month and will be making her first start since being transferred to trainer Tom Amoss’s barn.

Shippy was an easy winner of the Blue Sparkler Stakes at Monmouth Park on July 11, a race switched from the turf to the main track. Shippy finished third in the Grade 3 Schuylerville here last summer.

Lexi On the Move has won two of her three outings and has been idle since April 4. She is another with no turf experience.