Crist: Lake George preview

The Grade 2 Lake George for 3-year-old fillies, now slated to go off with a field of nine following the scratches of Celestine, Lady Zuzu, and My Year Is a Day, is an intriguing handicapping puzzle with plenty of room for argument.

The argument begins with the 4-1 morning-line favorite, Mississippi Delta, who might be of minor interest at double-digit odds but to me is a play-against as the favorite. She has a single grass race on her résumé, a last-to-first victory in an ungraded Canadian stakes race that was only 6 1/2 furlongs and on a yielding course. Asking her to stretch out against more seasoned runners who have been in much tougher races is a tall order.

The more deserving favorites are Feathered (9-2), Partisan Politics (5-1), and Mrs McDougal (6-1). Feathered and Mrs McDougal are coming out of the Grade 1 American Oaks, where they ran second and fourth after leading the field to midstretch. The cutback from 10 to 9 furlongs should help Feathered, the field’s only graded stakes winner.

Partisan Politics returned from a seven-month layoff to miss by just a nose to Celestine in the Wild Applause at Belmont and will be dangerous if she improves second time back. She ran up against the unbeaten Lady Eli twice last year and looks like she has improved from 2 to 3. Celestine is no slouch, having won three straight ungraded stakes, including the Wild Applause.

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If Jellicle Ball really goes off at her 10-1 morning-line odds, I think she’s a great stab in her American debut. Previously trained by John Gosden and now in Graham Motion’s barn, she was beaten less than a length in a Group 3 race at Newbury on April 18, which might make her the equal of Grade 1 or Grade 2 American grass fillies. She’s eligible for a N1x allowance race, where she’d be 3-5, so Motion must like how she’s doing to put her in a graded stakes right away.