Brown looks for big slices in two divisions of Pumpkin Pie Stakes
Trainer Chad Brown will saddle three talented fillies between two divisions of the Pumpkin Pie Stakes on Sunday at Belmont Park.
The races, for fillies and mares, will be run over seven furlongs. Each is worth $100,000.
Brown trainee Always Carina will break from the rail in the second division. She’s part of a field of eight that includes Lady Rocket and Lake Avenue, who finished a respective second and third last out in the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom at Belmont, and Piedi Bianchi, who is seeking her third straight stakes win.
Brown’s other starters, Starfront and Union Maiden, go in the first division, which drew seven head including Truth Hurts, who is pre-entered in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, multiple Grade 3 winner Victim of Love, and Honor Way, winner of last year’s Pumpkin Pie.
Always Carina won the first two races of her career by more than 13 lengths this spring, with Beyer Speed Figures in the mid-90s. She will be cutting back to one turn following a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Cotillion over 1 1/16 miles on Sept. 25 at Parx Racing.
Brown believes the seven-eighths trip should suit Always Carina.
“I still think a mile will be good, too,” he said. “Just trying to regroup with her a little bit.”
Jose Ortiz has the mount on Always Carina for Three Chimneys Farm, which bred the half-sister to Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Structor.
Lady Rocket could go favored off her runner-up finish to Bella Sofia, who is pre-entered in the BC Filly and Mare Sprint. The Beyer of 94 that Lady Rocket earned is the best last-race number in the second division of the Pumpkin Pie. The front-runner also drew well, getting post 7, an outside draw that might give jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. options. Brad Cox trains the stakes winner for Frank Fletcher and Ten Strike Racing.
Grade 2 winner Lake Avenue was second to champion Gamine two starts ago in the Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga. Gamine is the expected heavy favorite for the BC Filly and Mare Sprint. Junior Alvarado has the mount on the Godolphin homebred for trainer Bill Mott.
In the Pumpkin Pie’s first division, Starfront and Union Maiden both will be making their stakes debuts. Starfront was a debut winner a year ago at Belmont, taking a maiden special weight at six furlongs with a career-high Beyer of 89. She’s made one other start, finishing second, beaten six lengths as the odds-on favorite, in a first-level allowance on Sept. 30 at Belmont.
“I was disappointed with her first race back the way it unfolded, but now that she’s run and she seems to be training good, we’ll give it another shot,” Brown said.
Glass Ceiling, who closed from off the pace to defeat Starfront, goes in the second division of the Pumpkin Pie.
Starfront will break from post 4 under Jose Ortiz.
Union Maiden won a two-other-than allowance in her last start Aug. 26 at Saratoga. She is making her first start at Belmont.
“She’s really going to have to step up, but it’s time to try her in a black-type situation,” Brown said.
Truth Hurts on Friday morning remained under consideration for both the BC Filly and Mare Sprint and the Pumpkin Pie. Trainer Chad Summers said he was leaning toward the race at Belmont, but was going to make a decision as early as Friday afternoon.
Truth Hurts, who won the Perfect Sting in July at Belmont, is coming off a sixth-place finish in the Ballerina. Truth Hurts drew post 5 for the Pumpkin Pie, and Summers has named Irad Ortiz Jr. to ride Sunday.
“I think she’s sitting on a career-best race,” Summers said. “A career-best race here obviously puts her in the mix for one of the top prizes. [At the Breeders’ Cup,] her career-best race might put her in third.”
– additional reporting by David Grening