Isabella Sings tries to stretch speed in Violet Stakes
It’s pretty clear that Isabella Sings will take them as far as she can in Saturday’s $100,000 Violet Stakes at Monmouth Park. The question is, how far can she go?
The Violet Stakes is the ninth of 10 races on the Saturday card. To be run at 1 1/8 miles on turf, the Violet was originally scheduled for last Saturday but failed to fill and was brought back this weekend.
Isabella Sings proved in her win three starts back in the Miss Liberty Stakes that, while quick from the gate, she can take back off the pace and make one run. But the makeup of the field for the Violet suggests that the daughter of Eskendereya is the primary pacesetter among the seven fillies and mares entered, and she is very likely to be the one to catch under leading jockey Paco Lopez.
Isabella Sings certainly will be tough to reel in if she’s able to set her own pace, but she is winless in three starts at nine furlongs. Granted, one of those losses was a narrow loss to Tepin in which Isabella Sings posted a career-best Beyer Speed Figure. Also, in last year’s Boiling Springs, she was second, a nose short, after setting a quick early pace, and her latest try was in the Grade 1 Diana. But she looms a relatively short price in the Violet, and those looking for some value will use the distance as a reason to take a shot against her.
Sweet Acclaim has never been as far as 1 1/8 miles, but she seems likely to relish the added distance. A stretch-running daughter of Acclamation trained by Brad Cox, Sweet Acclaim has won three of her last four starts, the only blemish in that streak coming when she came up a head short against Cash Control in the Grade 3 Mint Julep two back. That effort resulted in a 96 Beyer, the best figure of her career, and if she can run back to it in the Violet, she may be capable of knocking off Isabella Sings.
Jesus Castanon is scheduled to ride Sweet Acclaim for the first time, and it will mark his first mount at the meet.
Desiree Clary is another intriguing closer. The Violet will mark her third start in the United States, and she went longer in each of her first two tries, but she ran well in all of her starts in shorter races in Europe. She has little speed and, like Sweet Acclaim, will spot position to Isabella Sings, but she figures to make her presence felt in the lane. Brice Blanc will ride the daughter of Sholokhov for trainer Christophe Clement, who has won the Violet three times, most recently with Ruthenia in 2012.
Rounding out the field are All in Fun, Biamonte, Sycee, and Tammy the Torpedo. Post time for the first race is 12:50 p.m. Eastern, with the Violet scheduled for 5:04.