Battle Bling, Maiden Beauty meet a third time in Top Flight Invitational

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The grinding style of Battle Bling may give her an edge over the front-running Maiden Beauty when the two square off for the third time in four months in Sunday’s $100,000 Top Flight Invitational going 1 1/8 miles at Aqueduct.

Six were entered in the Top Flight, but Into Vanishing will scratch to run in a $120,000 allowance race Saturday at Keeneland, trainer Jonathan Thomas said.

Maiden Beauty beat Battle Bling by a neck in an optional-claiming race going a mile here in December. Battle Bling came out of that race to win the Ladies Stakes at 1 1/8 miles in January. Battle Bling then finished second, a neck behind Bank Sting, but 2 1/2 lengths clear of Maiden Beauty in the one-mile Heavenly Prize Invitational on March 6.

Rob Atras, trainer of Battle Bling, said that going a one-turn mile, jockey Trevor McCarthy had to ask her a little early “where she wasn’t quite able to settle and make that big kick,” Atras said. “But she still ran a creditable race. Bank Sting is pretty special.”

Battle Bling, who spots all her rivals two pounds, breaks from post 4 on Sunday under McCarthy.

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After beating Battle Bling in that Dec. 19 optional claimer, Maiden Beauty came back 11 days later to win the Bay Ridge Stakes for New York-breds by 3 3/4 lengths over Ice Princess, who also is in this field. Maiden Beauty dictated terms in the Bay Ridge, which was run over a sloppy track.

“When she gets to the lead, she gets brave,” trainer Robert Falcone Jr. said.

Because he ran Maiden Beauty twice in such a short period, Falcone gave her a break before bringing her back in the Heavenly Prize off a 66-day layoff.

“Bank Sting and Battle Bling both had racing, we were coming off a layoff, they may have had a little bit of an edge on us that day,” Falcone said.

Falcone said his biggest concern going into the Top Flight is what he perceives as an inconsistent Aqueduct main track.

“It’s such a tough track to gauge, it’s either speed favoring or it’s not speed favoring at all,” Falcone said. “Hopefully, it’s speed favoring that day. I just hope she gets a clean break and the track’s fair.”

Maiden Beauty could get some pressure from Exotic West, who has won two of her last three starts. In between, she stumbled out of the gate in the Ladies Stakes and unseated her rider. Javier Castellano rides Exotic West from the rail Sunday.

Ice Princess, on the outside, likes to lay close. She finished third in a second-level allowance here Feb. 18, a race in which Frost Point, also in this field, finished second.

On Jan. 27, Frost Point won a two-turn allowance race at Laurel Park by 7 3/4 lengths for Bill Mott and Godolphin Racing.