Dream Dancing faces Brown trio in Wonder Again
ELMONT, N.Y. – Dream Dancing won’t have stablemate La Coronel to contend with, but she will have to face a trio of Chad Brown-trained runners in Thursday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Wonder Again Stakes for 3-year-old fillies going 1 1/8 miles over the Belmont Park inner turf course.
Dream Dancing has finished behind La Coronel in both the Grade 3 Appalachian and Grade 3 Edgewood Stakes in her last two starts. Both horses are owned by John Oxley and trained by Mark Casse. La Coronel is being sent to Royal Ascot for the Coronation Stakes on June 23.
Prior to those losses to La Coronel, Dream Dancing won the Grade 3 Herecomesthebride by a neck over Coasted, one of her rivals in the Wonder Again.
However, it is the trio of New Money Honey, Fifty Five, and Enchanting Kitten – all from the Brown stable – who may pose the biggest threat to Dream Dancing. That and a seeming lack of pace in the Wonder Again, which drew only six runners for turf and an additional entrant should the race be rained off to the dirt.
New Money Honey was last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner, while Fifty Five won the Grade 3 Florida Oaks. Enchanting Kitten was a maiden winner two starts back who Brown believes will relish the nine furlongs.
Running 1 1/8 miles is something Dream Dancing “has been wanting to do,” Casse said. “There doesn’t seem like there’s a whole lot of speed in there, so I don’t know how that is going to play out. That would be my only concern.”
Casse is also running Corporate Queen, who has never raced on turf. Casse noted that Corporate Queen is by Colonel John, the sire of La Coronel and Airoforce, both graded stakes winners on turf.
With a small field, the Wonder Again goes as race 3 on a nine-race card that begins at 2 p.m. Eastern.
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KEY CONTENDERS
Dream Dancing, by Tapit
Last 3 Beyers: 88-80-85
◗ All three of her turf wins have come at 1 1/16 miles; the extra sixteenth should play in her favor.
◗ While the lack of pace is a concern, her maiden win at Saratoga came off a half-mile fraction of 49.33 seconds.
Fifty Five, by Get Stormy
Last 3 Beyers: 81-83-83
◗ Another late runner who is a three-time winner at 1 1/16 miles.
◗ Had to steady in upper stretch when third in the Memories of Silver, which produced the 1-2 finishers in last Saturday’s Penn Oaks at Penn National.
“Didn’t get a great trip, the more I looked at it,” Brown said. “She was following a horse inside, then decided to go outside, and that probably wasn’t the right move because the inside opened up, and she had quite a wide trip.”
New Money Honey, by Medaglia d’Oro
Last 3 Beyers: 79-85-83
◗ Won the Miss Grillo over this course last year before upsetting the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita.
◗ Finished sixth in the Appalachian after racing between horses down the backside and trying to make a run when in the clear in the stretch.
◗ Her last two workouts at Belmont have been solid.