Elysea's World, Cambodia get rematch in Gallorette

BALTIMORE – One started her 2018 season with a whimper, the other with a bang. Cambodia and Elysea’s World were the winner and beaten favorite in last year’s renewal of the Gallorette Stakes at Pimlico. Their paths converge again Saturday in the Grade 3, $150,000 Gallorette Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile turf race for fillies and mares, with one looking to rebound, the other to continue her momentum.

Cambodia counted last year’s Gallorette as one of three graded stakes scores in a solid campaign, which included a third in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf. But she has gone unplaced in a pair of Grade 1 events since then, most recently finishing a wide and tiring sixth in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes last month at Keeneland to open her 2018 campaign.

Meanwhile, Elysea’s World scored her long-awaited first graded stakes victory when she edged stablemate Dream Awhile by a neck in the Grade 3 Suwannee River Stakes in February at Gulfstream Park.

“It’s her last year of racing, and she’s been so close,” trainer Chad Brown said. “Particularly last year, she ran some terrific races in graded stakes and couldn’t win with tough trips and such.”

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The Suwannee River was the first victory in more than a year for Elysea’s World, although she finished second or third in six graded stakes in that span, including a third as the favorite in the 2017 Gallorette.

These two lead a well-matched field, with several getting class relief and several others stepping up from allowance company. Ultra Brat is among those getting some relief after finishing 10th in the Jenny Wiley. Prior to that, she had gotten her season off to a solid start, winning the Grade 3 Marshua’s River at Gulfstream and finishing third, beaten less than a length, in the Suwannee River.

Stallion Heiress, a multiple stakes winner on the Fair Grounds turf, has not won in more than a year but has faced strong company, with Grade 1 winner La Coronel and Canadian champion Holy Helena appearing in her recent past performances. Last out, she finished third in Aqueduct’s Plenty of Grace Stakes behind winner Uni.

Stakes-placed Brooks House enters off a nose win in a Keeneland allowance over graded stakes winner Purely a Dream. Special Event also comes off an allowance win, having scored at Laurel in her first try on turf. The Arch filly is from a versatile family that includes Grade 1 turf-stakes winners Brahms, Harmonize, and Somali Lemonade.

French-bred and -raced Blessed Silence is trained by Christophe Clement and is making her second start in the U.S. She finished third in an Aqueduct allowance on the turf April 22.

Multiple stakes winner Lake Ponchatrain was well beaten last June in her only start on turf but has won several times on sloppy or muddy dirt tracks, which would give her credentials should the persistent rain this week force Pimlico’s turf stakes to the main track.

Key contenders

Elysea’s World, by Champs Elysees
Last 3 Beyers: 96-91-95

◗ Her Beyer Speed Figure of 96 for the Suwannee River is the top last-out figure in the field.

◗ Drew the outside post in the field of nine under Javier Castellano.

Cambodia, by War Front
Last 3 Beyers: 94-96-101

◗ She has finished in multiple stakes on soft or yielding turf courses.

◗ The only entrant with a triple-digit Beyer, a pair of 101 figures last year.

◗ Breaks from post 5 under Julien Leparoux, who was aboard her for the first time in the Jenny Wiley.

Blessed Silence, by Siyouni
Beyer: 84

◗ Won several times on soft tracks in her native France.

◗ Inflexibility, who won the allowance that marked her U.S. debut, was a Canadian classic winner last year and most recently finished second in the Grade 3 Beaugay Stakes.