Aurelia's Belle, Stellaris get rematch in Pucker Up

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The July 19 Arlington Oaks was on Polytrack, and the Pucker Up Stakes is on grass, but the one-two finishers in the local Oaks, Aurelia’s Belle and Stellaris, also appear to be prime players Saturday in the Grade 3, $150,000 Pucker Up.

A field of nine 3-year-old fillies was entered Wednesday in the Pucker Up, a 1 1/8-mile race that during its heyday was a prime prep for the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II at the Keeneland meet. But while there are talented and still-promising fillies in this year’s edition, the Pucker Up – similar to other Arlington fixtures – is a victim of the current slots-infused purse landscape.

Belmont Park this weekend hosts the Sands Point, a grass race in the same division with a $500,000 purse. When it looked like heavy rain might threaten to move the Sands Point off turf, the connections of a couple of East Coast heavy hitters in the division considered entering the Pucker Up as a backup, but now the Sands Points seems likely to stay on turf.

Several hours south of Chicagoland, Kentucky Downs is offering grass allowance races with six-figure purses at least in the same ballpark as the Pucker Up’s, and those thin the field here as well.

Besides Aurelia’s Belle and Stellaris, the Pucker Up field includes Ameliatheaviator, Annulment, Final Redemption, Kiss Moon, Maria Maria, Sistas Stroll, and VV Goodnight. While Aurelia’s Belle, trained by Wayne Catalano, has trained up to this race at Arlington since she won the Arlington Oaks, the Mike Stidham-trained Stellaris shipped to Del Mar and finished second Aug. 16 in the Del Mar Oaks.

Trainer Graham Motion is well stocked with talented 3-year-old grass fillies and picked Final Redemption as his Pucker Up hope. The twice-started Final Redemption won her career debut at Belmont and finished second last out at Saratoga in a restricted stakes. The Tom Proctor-trained Sistas Stroll is 2 for 2 on grass, with a Churchill maiden win and a first-level Del Mar allowance score in her two most recent starts.

The Pizza Man to Woodbine

The Pizza Man will ship to Woodbine to start Sunday in the Grade 1 Northern Dancer Turf Stakes, co-owner and breeder Rich Papiese said Wednesday.

Papiese had considered sending The Pizza Man straight from wins here in the Stars and Stripes Handicap and the American St. Leger to the Breeders’ Cup Turf but will try the Northern Dancer Turf first. The Pizza Man, trained by Roger Brueggemann, has posted two recent works, including a bullet five-furlong Polytrack drill in 1:00 last Sunday.