Belvoir Bay could face males in Highlander Stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – Belvoir Bay, the winner of three consecutive turf sprint stakes at Santa Anita this spring, including Monday’s Grade 2 Monrovia Stakes, is bound for Canada for her next start.

Barry Irwin, the chief executive of the Team Valor International partnership, which owns the mare with Gary Barber, said on Wednesday that Belvoir Bay will be considered for the Grade 1 Highlander Stakes against males at six furlongs on turf at Woodbine on June 30.

The $250,000 Highlander Stakes is on the undercard of the Queen’s Plate Stakes and is part of the Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In program, offering a fees-paid berth to the BC Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3.

A 5-year-old trained by Peter Miller, Belvoir Bay is in the best form of her career. Belvoir Bay won the Mizdirection Stakes for fillies and mares on March 25 in her first start of the year and the Grade 3 San Simeon Stakes against males here on April 29. Those races and the Monrovia Stakes were at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course.