Asserting Bear tries to get back on track in Marine Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Five top Queen’s Plate prospects will look to solidify their credentials in Sunday’s $125,000 Marine Stakes, an open, 1 1/16-mile route for 3-year-olds that attracted a field of eight.

Asserting Bear was one of the busier Queen’s Plate prospects this winter. He finished a close fourth to current Plate favorite We Miss Artie in the Grade 3 Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park on March 22 before fading to eighth in the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 12.

“We had tried to get him to the Kentucky Derby,” said trainer Reade Baker. “His last race, he was tired – he had done a little too much, too quick. He had two races three weeks apart, so we’re trying to regroup now and get ready for the Plate.”

Trainer Josie Carroll would have liked to have gotten another race into Ami’s Holiday ahead of the Marine but was pleased with the colt’s fourth-place effort in his seasonal debut in the Grade 3 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland on April 19.

“We had hoped to run him a little earlier at Oaklawn because they have a great program there,” she said. “Unfortunately, we gave him a little time off, and we got to Oaklawn just when the bad weather hit the whole country, so it put us behind a little bit.”

The third-place finisher from the Lexington, Supermonic, will ship to Woodbine for trainer Todd Pletcher after two solid performances over 1 1/16 miles on Polytrack at Keeneland this spring.

Trainer Mark Casse will start a pair in the Marine, including Queen’s Plate prospect Matador. Matador was off slowly and never threatened last out in the Grade 3 Derby Trial at Churchill Downs and will return to Polytrack for the first time since a troubled trip in the 2013 Coronation Futurity. Casse also will start Conquest Top Gun, who won his maiden over 1 1/16 miles on Polytrack at Keeneland on April 16.

Tower of Texas, another Plate prospect for trainer Roger Attfield, comes into this race after winning his maiden in his sixth career start at Woodbine on May 10. He’ll be making the third start of his form cycle in the Marine and was third behind Conquest Top Gun on April 16.

The fifth Queen’s Plate prospect in this field is Heart to Heart, who was supplemented to this race by trainer Brian Lynch. Heart to Heart earned a 92 Beyer Speed Figure while winning an allowance event over a mile on turf at Keeneland on April 9 and figures to inject some early pace into this race.

Rounding out the field is Puntrooskie, who won the Woodstock Stakes impressively with a 98 Beyer on April 20 but will be making just his third career start at a mile or longer in the Marine.