Dame Dorothy gets another try

ELMONT, N.Y. – Dame Dorothy won seven of her first nine races and hadn’t finished worse than third in her two losses. Sent off as the 7-5 favorite in the Grade 1 Ballerina on Aug. 29 at Saratoga, Dame Dorothy was a no-show, finishing sixth behind Unbridled Forever.

Still not sure what went wrong, trainer Todd Pletcher has decided to forge on with the Bobby Flay-owned 4-year-old filly, and she will run in Saturday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Gallant Bloom Handicap.

“I wanted to see how she worked his weekend, and she worked well enough,” Pletcher said, referring to a half-mile breeze in 49.01 seconds Saturday at Saratoga. “I feel like the last race was a head scratcher, so I think we need to run to get some conditioning and hopefully get her back into form.”

Dame Dorothy was assigned 122 pounds in the Gallant Bloom, one fewer than La Verdad, who is expected to run. Others pointing to the Gallant Bloom are Classic Point (119), Street Story (116), Willet (116), Room for Me (115), and Wavell Avenue (115). Kiss to Remember (116) and Frivolity (113) are possible.