Bayou Brigid steadily improving

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Racing resumes Friday with a nine-race program topped by a $65,000 entry-level allowance test for Florida-bred fillies and mares. The 1 1/16-mile turf race drew an evenly matched field of 10 with the inside drawn pair of Bayou Brigid and Lindsay Smiles perhaps the ones to beat.

Bayou Brigid, stakes-placed on the grass at 2, has improved with each successive start since turning 3 and exits a third-place finish against similarly conditioned opposition going a mile April 16. She prompted the pace before faltering at the end to finish two lengths behind City Minute, who registered a career-best 77 Beyer Speed Figure. Bayou Brigid launched her 3-year-old campaign finishing second best behind the odds-on and now three-time stakes-placed Laigina.

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“I gave her a break after her second start this season because the races in this category can get pretty tough here during the winter meet and she likely needed her last race off that layoff,” said Heather Smullen, who trains and owns Bayou Brigid in partnership with Sea Warrior Stables. “I also think she’s probably also a little better sitting a bit further off the pace than she was last time.”

Lindsay Smiles, who will break from post 2 under Joe Bravo, will stretch out around two turns off a much-needed five-furlong try of her own four weeks earlier when finishing fourth while making her first start in nearly a year for trainer Joe Orseno. Lindsay Smiles will be racing on turf for only the second time in Friday’s main event, having finished an even-running fourth in her lone try over the surface in February 2025.

My Denysse, who outfinished Bayou Brigid by a neck for second money behind City Minute in the pair’s previous encounter, also looms a key contender along with Souper Landslide and Lady River Lily.

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