Iced Latte improving with distance

With a forecast that calls for steady rain Sunday, the New York Racing Association elected not to card the $100,000 License Fee Stakes scheduled for six furlongs on the turf, postponing it until Friday.

That leaves the feature on Sunday’s nine-race Belmont Park card a first-level allowance for 3-year-old fillies going 1 1/16 miles over the main track. Though the race drew only five entrants, it is a fairly competitive heat.

Iced Latte, a daughter of Pioneerof the Nile out of the Grade 1 winner Malibu Prayer, finished ninth as the 2-1 favorite in her debut going six furlongs on Feb. 7 at Gulfstream Park. Stretched out to a mile for her second start, Iced Latte delivered a 3 1/2-length maiden victory in her second start on March 14.

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“We were disappointed in her debut because she trained like a really nice filly,” said Todd Pletcher, who trains Iced Latte for Mike Repole. “I think maybe she just didn’t want to sprint because she didn’t do what we expected her to that day. Her next start was more an indication of what we’d been seeing in the mornings.”

Since that win, Iced Latte has fired three bullet half-mile works at Palm Beach Downs, a couple of times in company with colts, before shipping to New York.

“She’s worked sharply and worked with some quality horses and held her own,” Pletcher said.

Iced Latte breaks from post 5 under Irad Ortiz Jr.

Teetotaler, a product of Grade 1 winners Uncle Mo and Artemis Agrotera, makes her first foray into open company after winning a maiden and first-level allowance, both restricted to New York-breds.

Trying open company against 3-year-old fillies, trainer Chad Brown felt “it was an opportunity to further her development.”

“I didn’t see a New York-bred stake that fit her distance-wise,” he said. “It looks like she landed in a pretty good spot.”

Manny Franco rides Teetotaler from post 4.

Dollar Mountain, a daughter of Upstart trained by George Weaver, defeated just three horses winning an off-the-turf maiden race in the slop last October at Belmont.

Weaver said he was pointing Dollar Mountain to the Demoiselle at Aqueduct in November but the filly suffered a setback. He had her training in South Florida during the winter and when Weaver thought he had her ready to run, Dollar Mountain developed a temperature.

“We kept going from one thing to the other and the next thing you know she hasn’t run since October,” Weaver said. “The filly’s trained well, she’s handled the slop. This is going to be a barometer of what to do with her.”

Eric Cancel rides from post 2.

Midnight Obsession was a debut winner going seven furlongs over a wet track at Parx for trainer John Servis. Suspended Campaign won a $40,000 claiming race for Brown last Sept. 15 and was claimed out of that race by David Duggan. This is her first race since the claim.