Improving fillies face comebacking Bajan Girl

MIAMI – Heiressindy and Thissmytime, a pair of improving 3-year-old fillies, will likely vie for favoritism when they take on six others in Thursday’s $43,000 main event at Gulfstream Park West. The allowance/optional claimer will be decided at a mile on the main track as the sixth event on an eight-race program.

Heiressindy has paired up career best 74 Beyer Speed Figures while finishing third under similar conditions in each of her last two starts, both going a mile across town at Gulfstream Park. A daughter of Take Charge Indy, Heiressindy won a similarly conditioned race, restricted to Florida-breds, three starts back when rallying from just off the pace to a convincing three-length victory.

Heiressall is trained by Terri Pompay for the My Purple Haze Stable.

“She’s kind of a one-paced filly,” said Pompay. “You put her where she’s supposed to be and hope the race works out for her. We thought with seasoning she might get a little more kick to her, but so far she’s really stayed about the same. On paper, she looks very competitive in this spot. A lot will depend on how the race unfolds. You just have to hope turning for home that she’s in the right position to give you the closing kick that she has.”

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Thissmytime has seen her Beyer numbers climb steadily over her last five starts, from a 48 on April 26 to a lifetime best 83 for a second-place finish behind Heiressindy’s stablemate Heiressall in the seven-furlong Sheer Drama Stakes for statebreds on Sept. 8. Thissmytime showed her prowess at a mile when stretching out to that distance for the first time to register an 8 1/4-length victory over Florida-bred optional-claiming and allowance rivals on Aug. 6.

Thissmytime, trained by Kathleen O’Connell, will be meeting open company for the first time on Thursday since her career debut late last summer at Belmont Park.

Heiressindy is one of two horses Pompay entered in the feature along with Yes Factor, who would need to ramp up her game from a Beyer-Figure standpoint to prove competitive in this spot. One of only two older horses in the field along with Free to Fly, Yes Factor is seeking to snap a seven race winless streak dating back to December 2018.

With a fourth-place finish behind Preakness winner Swiss Skydiver on her résumé in her only previous main-track outing, Bajan Girl figures to receive plenty of support when she returns from an extended vacation. Bajan Girl raced forwardly, then finished evenly when fourth, beaten only 3 3/4 lengths by Swiss Skydiver and just a half-length for second money, in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks on March 20. Her four other starts all came on the turf, including her maiden win going a 1 1/16 miles at Gulfstream Park on March 8.

Hall of Fame jockey Edgar Prado has taken the call on Bajan Girl.

Bajan Girl, idle since a wide-running 11th-place finish in the grassy Honey Ryder at Gulfstream Park on May 2, shows a steady string of works for trainer Rohan Crichton over the local surface, including a bullet five furlongs from the gate in 1:00.40 on Sept. 19.