If she comes, Catherine Wheel will be well-bet in Heavenly Cause
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A pair of lightly raced 4-year-old fillies shipping from New York could be the horses to beat in a pair of $100,000 stakes races for females at Laurel Park on Saturday. Trainer Chad Brown has entered Catherine Wheel in the Heavenly Cause Stakes while Linda Rice will bring Tipple for the Primonetta.
As of Thursday morning, Brown still hadn’t decided if Catherine Wheel would take the trip to Maryland. The trainer has cross-entered her in the Top Flight Invitational at Aqueduct on Saturday. The Heavenly Cause will be run at a mile, the distance at which she won last time out, while the Top Flight would require her to stretch out to 1 1/8 miles.
“I don’t know where I’m running,” Brown said. “She’s 50-50 to run there.”
If he chooses to ship her to Maryland, Catherine Wheel would attract significant attention from bettors in her stakes debut. Her victory at Aqueduct was a vast improvement over her previous form at Tampa Bay Downs and the trainer’s name recognition could even earn her favoritism.
Takethemoneyhoney, a front-runner who lost by a nose to Catherine Wheel last time out at Aqueduct, is cross-entered in a Laurel allowance on Sunday. Trainer Michael Moore said that he will likely skip the stakes.
Sea Dancer, a 4-year-old, has won two stakes at Laurel since arriving in trainer Brittany Russell’s barn last year and will try to run on short rest after a disappointing performance last weekend. Taking a step up in the Grade 3 Distaff at Aqueduct, she struggled behind runaway winner Irish Maxima. As of Thursday morning, Russell said that she planned to run her again Saturday.
“Naturally, we need to see how she does tomorrow. I’m going to watch her day to day and see how she trains. Obviously, New York wasn’t the ideal situation, but we’re going to treat it like a work and hopefully she can handle the quick turnaround.”
Primonetta
While the field for the Heavenly Cause remains in flux, Rice is far more confident that Tipple will ship to Maryland and run a strong race in the Primonetta. Though she will cut back to six furlongs for her stakes debut, she has been practically flawless in two victories since returning from a long layoff in January.
“Maybe seven furlongs or a mile might be better for her, but frankly, I found it to be a shorter field than the Heavenly Cause and I found that attractive,” Rice said.
Rice also entered the 5-year-old mare All Class in the Primonetta, but the trainer was less committed to shipping her.
Firstlady Rosalynn might be stepping up in class to take on Tipple, but the 4-year-old filly is in sharp form and will give Russell yet another chance at a stakes win Saturday. After a disappointing performance in a Penn National allowance in February, she shipped to Colonial Downs in March and rebounded nicely in a commanding wire-to-wire score.
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