Frizette field of 10 is largely untested

ELMONT, N.Y. – Eight maiden winners and two maidens make up the field for Sunday’s Grade 1, $400,000 Frizette Stakes at Belmont Park, all trying to achieve a fees-paid berth to the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar on Nov. 4.

None of the three 2-year-old filly stakes winners from Saratoga are in the one-mile Frizette. Schuylerville winner Dream It Is was sidelined by injury. Adirondack winner Pure Silver may go in next weekend’s Matron or a New York-bred stakes in a couple of weeks. Spinaway winner Lady Ivanka is training up to the Breeders’ Cup.

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Separationofpowers is the 9-5 morning-line favorite for the Frizette. A daughter of Candy Ride trained by Chad Brown, Separationofpowers may have been the most impressive debut-winning juvenile of any gender this summer at Saratoga, winning her first start by 11 3/4 lengths while running six furlongs in 1:10.92 over a dull main track.

Sent off the favorite in the Spinaway, Separationofpowers dueled with Pure Silver through fast fractions and she ended up third, four lengths behind Lady Ivanka.

“The way she was hooked early was unfortunate,” Brown said. “She clearly paid the price the last portion of the race. She seems to have thankfully recovered from that grueling effort well and she’s trained particularly well at Belmont.”

After drawing the rail in her first two starts, Separationofpowers will break from post 4 in this 10-horse field under Jose Ortiz.

Critique, a daughter of Midnight Lute trained by Todd Pletcher, won her maiden by 16 lengths in an off-the-turf race on closing day at Saratoga. She had finished second in her debut three weeks earlier, also in a race scheduled for the turf but run on the main track.

“I don’t know what she really ran against that day,” Pletcher said of her maiden win. “She nonetheless did it very well. We think she’s a filly that wants a distance of ground – that’s why we entered her on the turf. She has worked well on the turf as well, but it didn’t hurt our feelings when the race came off. Thought she ran well enough to give this a chance.”

Purrfect Miss, a daughter of Discreet Cat trained by Jeremiah Englehart, won her maiden in solid fashion in her second start after finishing a troubled second in her debut.

“I always thought she’d be more grass than dirt, but after her first two races I guess she’s okay on the dirt,” Englehart said. “I thought the best part of her race was that last eighth of a mile when she drew off from those horses a little bit.”

Maya Malibu, second in the Spinaway, and Caledonia Road, a 2 3/4-length debut winner at Saratoga, are other top contenders in the field.

Go, Strategic Dreams, Drama Run, Wall of Compassion, and the first-time starter Teen Angel complete the field.