La Verdad returns to best distance for Dancin Renee Stakes
La Verdad, who successfully stretched her speed to a mile in winning the $200,000 Critical Eye Stakes on Big Apple Showcase Day on May 31, cuts back to her best distance as the one to catch and beat in Thursday’s $100,000 Dancin Renee Stakes.
La Verdad has won her last seven starts at six furlongs by a combined 33 lengths, capped by a decisive performance in the Grade 2 Distaff two starts ago. The 4-year-old filly faces four other New York-bred fillies and gets a switch to jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., replacing his brother, Jose, who serves the final day of a three-day suspension for careless riding in a race last week.
La Verdad was pushing the envelope of her range to take the Critical Eye, but that effort was flattered when second finisher Hot Stones returned to win the Grade 3 Bed o’ Roses Handicap three weeks later.
“She hasn’t run since May 31, and I want to keep her sharp going into Saratoga,” said trainer Linda Rice. “We’re pointing towards the Honorable Miss [on July 28], so the plan is to keep her sharp for that race.”
La Verdad breaks from the rail, where she has won twice before, including the Distaff. “We have to roll away from there, coming from the 1 hole,” said Rice, “but she seems to find the lead wherever she is.”
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 1 La Verdad. Trainer Linda Rice is 4 for 11 with a $6.21 ROI over the past five years with horses going from route to sprint on dirt after a winning effort.Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
:: Learn more about Formulator | Buy Formulator PPs
:: Follow the @DRFFormulator Twitter feed and get free Formulator facts
Clear Pasaj, who led all the way in last year’s Dancin Renee, breaks right alongside the favorite in post 2. She was fractious in the gate and trailed throughout her 2014 debut in the slop at Delaware Park. But she won or placed in all seven starts last year for Bruce Levine and has never been worse than second from five outings on the main track at Belmont.
“She’s really a tough competitor, very feisty,” Levine said.
Willet, a four-time stakes winner in 2012-13 for Jimmy Iselin, makes her first start since taking the Touch of Love Stakes on short rest Dec. 6. She traded decisions with Clear Pasaj at Saratoga last summer, coming up a nose short of that rival in the Lottsa Talc before turning the tables in the Union Avenue.
Rounding out the field are Miss Da Point, whose three wins this year include the Judy Soda Stakes, and Risky Rachel, who returned from an extended layoff to win the Minaret and the Manatee at Tampa Bay Downs before losing her best form.