Highway Star looks to right ship with Gallant Bloom repeat

ELMONT, N.Y. – The New York-bred Highway Star won the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom Handicap last year to cap a series of good efforts in graded stakes and establish herself as a significant player for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

It’s been nothing but frustration ever since then for her connections.

On Sunday, Highway Star will look to end that frustration and earn a return trip to the Filly and Mare Sprint with a repeat victory in the Gallant Bloom, one of three stakes on the 10-race card.

In six starts since the 2017 Gallant Bloom, Highway Star has four seconds and two non-efforts in the Breeders’ Cup and the Heavenly Prize.

Trainer Rodrigo Ubillo wasn’t thrilled with the ride Highway Star received in a couple of those races, including the Breeders’ Cup, and said that Highway Star came out of the Heavenly Prize in March sore.

Highway Star has not raced since finishing second to Lewis Bay, the likely Gallant Bloom favorite, in the Grade 3 Bed o’ Roses Handicap here on June 8. Highway Star kicked a stall wall, preventing her from making the Honorable Miss in July at Saratoga. Then, she spiked a temperature the day before she was to run in the Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga.

“It’s not her fault, it’s just the way it’s been,” Ubillo, who trains Highway Star for Chester and Mary Broman, said Thursday. “You have to be patient, have everything come together and move forward again. I’ve been trying to regroup and move forward.”

In between the Heavenly Prize and the Bed o’ Roses, Highway Star finished second, beaten one length by Pacific Wind, in the Grade 2 Ruffian and was beaten a nose by Holiday Disguise in the Critical Eye for New York-breds in May. When Highway Star ran in the Bed o’ Roses, she was coming back in 11 days.

“I ran her back too soon,” Ubillo said. “She needs more time.”

Highway Star will break from post 4 under Luis Saez as the 120-pound second highweight behind Lewis Bay (121 pounds).

The Gallant Bloom field, from the rail out, is: Still There, Kirby’s Penny, Lewis Bay, Highway Star, Holiday Disguise, Union Strike, and Your Love.