Hotshot Anna seeking repeat in Presque Isle Masters

There have been three two-time winners of the Grade 2, $400,000 Presque Isle Masters, its namesake track’s signature race. Two of those have gone on to win the Eclipse Award as outstanding female sprinter. On Monday night, Hotshot Anna will attempt to add her name to that elite list when she defends her victory in the 6 1/2-furlong sprint in an 11-horse field that also includes fellow graded stakes winners Talk Veuve to Me and Late Night Pow Wow.

The Masters goes as race 6 on Monday night’s nine-race card that begins at 5:25 p.m., Eastern. The race, first run in 2007, has become a solid prep race for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, this year to be contested on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita. Informed Decision won the Masters in both 2009 and 2010; she captured the 2009 Filly and Mare Sprint to lock up a divisional Eclipse. Musical Romance won the 2011 Masters before going on to an upset Breeders’ Cup victory that earned her a title. Groupie Doll swept the Masters and the Filly and Mare Sprint in 2012 and 2013 while earning her pair of Eclipse Award titles. Two years ago, Ami’s Mesa defeated Bar of Gold by a length in the Masters; those placings were reversed at the Breeders’ Cup, with Bar of Gold prevailing by a nose.

The other repeat winner of the Masters is Living The Life, who took the race in 2014 and 2015. Hotshot Anna, a 5-year-old Trappe Shot mare owned and trained by Hugh Robertson, will try to make it a quartet. The mare came to prominence last season while winning four consecutive races to end the year, including a 5 3/4-length score in the Grade 3 Chicago Handicap, a 3 3/4-length win in the Satin and Lace, the local prep for the Masters, and finally, a 4 1/4-length victory in the Masters itself.

Hotshot Anna was away from the races for nine months after winning the Masters, returning to finish second in the Chicago Handicap in June. She then won an optional-claiming race at Arlington Park before returning to Pennsylvania and cruising to a 1 1/4-length repeat victory in the Satin and Lace on Aug. 19 to set herself up for another repeat attempt.

Antonio Gallardo, aboard Hotshot Anna, for all her local starts, will be in the irons again Monday as the mare breaks from post 10 in a gate that includes some familiar foes. Spring in the Wind was second in the Satin and Lace, while Crazy Sweet finished fourth.

Talk Veuve to Me, with Jose Ortiz in to ride for trainer Rodolphe Brisset, comes in off a solid summer at Saratoga. The filly was third, beaten three-quarters of a length, in an optional-claiming race in which all three of the top finishers came back to win next out, with the victorious Special Relativity taking the Shine Again Stakes. Talk Veuve to Me then won another optional claimer by 3 1/2 lengths. The filly was a regular competitor in graded stakes company last season, winning the Grade 3 Indiana Oaks and finishing second by two lengths to champion Monomoy Girl in the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes.

Late Night Pow Wow won nine consecutive races at Charles Town and Laurel for trainer Javier Contreras, highlighted by a score in the Grade 1 Barbara Fritchie Stakes in February. She then jumped into the deep end, finishing a creditable third in the Grade 1 Madison Stakes in April at Keeneland. Given a short freshening, she won the Twixt Stakes in July back at Laurel in her most recent outing. Both she and Talk Veuve to Me will be trying a synthetic track for the first time.

The field also includes Jean Elizabeth, a stakes winner on Arlington’s synthetic main track this year; Saguaro Row, second to Special Relativity in the Shine Again; Mominou, who won the Caress Stakes on the Saratoga turf; and Misericordia, who comes in off stakes placings at Monmouth and Pimlico.

Rounding out the field are two Presque Isle specialists. Darcy Mae has won 4 of 5 outings at the track, with her only loss a runner-up effort in this year’s Northern Fling Stakes. Regal Chant has won five consecutive races on this synthetic track, beginning with her maiden score in May.