Finley'sluckycharm drills for Honorable Miss Handicap

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Finley’sluckycharm was beaten a neck by Paulassilverlining in last year’s Grade 2 Honorable Miss Handicap, and she is back at Saratoga for another try at that six-furlong stakes for fillies and mares.

On Wednesday, Finley’sluckycharm breezed a half-mile in 50.07 seconds over an Oklahoma training track rated “good.” Finley’sluckycharm will be trying to bounce back from a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Humana Distaff at Churchill Downs when she starts next Wednesday.

Trainer Bret Calhoun said that Finley’sluckycharm may have had too hard a race in winning the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland four weeks prior to the Humana Distaff.

“She went head-and-head all the way around,” Calhoun said. “It had to take a lot out of her. She seemed okay, and we were running out of her own stall – we had to take our shot.”

Calhoun said he is hoping to use the Honorable Miss as a stepping-stone to the Grade 1 Ballerina, a race she missed last year due to a muscle strain.

Calhoun said that Classy Act, who lost a neck decision in the Grade 3 Victory Ride at Belmont on July 7, is at Saratoga and is pointing to the Grade 1 Test on Aug. 4.