Dr B begins optimistic journey in Vagrancy
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ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Butch Reid has lofty year-end goals for Dr B, the journey to which begins Sunday at Belmont Park in the Grade 3, $175,000 Vagrancy Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs.
Based on the way Dr B finished her 4-year-old season, Reid believes Dr B could be a viable candidate for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint or potentially the Dirt Mile at Santa Anita this fall. Dr B ended her 4-year-old campaign with a dominant 4 1/4 length victory in the Grade 3 Go for Wand, going a mile at Aqueduct.
Earlier last year, Dr B finished second to Goodnight Olive in a third-level allowance at Saratoga. Goodnight Olive went on to win the Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga, the BC Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland, and was crowned champion female sprinter.
Following the Go for Wand, Dr B went to Ocala, Fla., for a vacation. Reid was quite happy with the mare he saw, when she returned to his stable at Parx.
“She’s gotten bigger, her body really filled out, she was a thin thing as a 3-year-old and 4-year-old and to see her really blossom like she has and mentally too is nice to see,” Reid said. “We breezed her in company and nothing seems to faze her, she’s absolutely a push-button horse waiting for the rider to give her the cue.”
Irad Ortiz Jr. will be riding Dr B on Sunday from post 6 in the field of eight.
Caramel Swirl finished second to Goodnight Olive in the Grade 1 Ballerina, then was stopped on by trainer Bill Mott. Caramel Swirl came off the bench with a disappointing fourth-place finish as the 2-5 favorite in the Minaret Stakes at Tampa on Feb. 11.
Mott noted that he’s had several horses get beat at Tampa to begin their campaigns only to come back and win Breeders’ Cup races later that year. Cody’s Wish, Royal Delta, and Drosselmeyer come to mind.
Caramel Swirl’s last victory, last May, came at Belmont in a seven-furlong allowance.
Rossa Veloce had won four of five starts before a bad stumble soon after the start of the Grade 3 Distaff at Aqueduct led to a fourth-place finish.
“We learned nothing from that race,” trainer Rob Atras said. “She would have been lone speed. Even if she hadn’t won, she would have run a good race and been second. This race could be a lot more competitive.”
Rossa Veloce earned a 102 Beyer Speed Figure winning a 6 1/2 furlong allowance at Aqueduct last year. That day she beat Beguine who came back to run second to Betsy Blue in the Garland of Roses in December and who returns to the races off a five-month layoff in the Vagrancy.
Funny How, like Rossa Veloce a New York-bred, had a five-race winning streak snapped when she finished second to Mommasgottarun in the Grade 3 Distaff.
Trainer Ray Handal calls the Vagrancy “a class test. We’ll find out if she’s good enough for open company stakes.”
Mosienko, Easy to Bless, and Midnight Stroll complete the field.
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