Lack of pace doesn't help Mrs. Revere favorites

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Anybody who can read a Daily Racing Form surely would predict that longshot Positive Danger will set the pace Saturday in the Mrs. Revere Stakes on the Churchill Downs turf.

Beyond that, however, things get tricky.

The top contenders in the 30th running of the Grade 2, $200,000 Mrs. Revere last met in the Oct. 16 Valley View at Keeneland, where Stunning Sky overtook Princess Grace in the frantic final yards of a Grade 3 turf race contested at the same 1 1/16-mile distance of the Mrs. Revere. A repeat of those results wouldn’t be a major surprise, although slight variations would be plausible.

Trainer Mike Stidham hopes Princess Grace can turn the tables on Stunning Sky under the Churchill lights in the 10th of 11 Saturday races. First post is 1 p.m. Eastern, with the Mrs. Revere set for 5:36 p.m. amid an imminent sunset.

“Our filly ran a huge race at Keeneland, and it was tough luck she got beat,” said Stidham. “Hopefully she can follow through this time.”

Princess Grace, bred and owned by Susan and John Moore, will have Florent Geroux aboard when she breaks from post 4 in a field of seven 3-year-old fillies. Stunning Sky, owned by Paradise Farms and Parkland Thoroughbreds and trained by Mike Maker, will start alongside her in post 3 when she is ridden again by Ricardo Santana Jr.

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Stunning Sky and Princess Grace both fired hard in the Valley View, with Santana’s timing on Stunning Sky proving impeccable. Both rallied from behind an honest pace, with Princess Grace surging clear at the furlong grounds in what seemed to be the winning move – until Stunning Sky, who essentially followed Princess Grace around the course while in wider paths, came rolling late down the center of the course to nail her by a half-length.

“The race set up perfectly for her,” Santana said afterward.

Whether the Mrs. Revere will set up in similar fashion for Stunning Sky is a question begging to be answered. Maker said after the Valley View that long-distance races at Gulfstream Park and then back in Kentucky are what he ultimately has in mind for the daughter of Declaration of War as she gets older, so there’s little doubt she once again will be rated well off the pace.

That’s where the role of Positive Danger (post 2, Brian Hernandez Jr.) comes in. A front-running winner in two of her last three starts, both of them going 1 1/16 miles on grass, Positive Danger stands out as the lone speed – although the caliber of competition in those prior races and her relatively low Beyer Speed Figures suggest she could be swallowed up when the real running begins.

Positive Danger, bred and owned by Ed Seltzer and Beverly Anderson, was scheduled to ship down from Hawthorne in Chicago on Friday. The Uncle Mo filly had been considered for the Winter Memories on Sunday at Aqueduct, “but that seemed to be coming up awfully tough,” said trainer Tony Granitz.

“Mr. Seltzer and I agreed if we’re the only speed in the Churchill race, let’s go ahead and try it,” said Granitz. “She’s doing good, and she’s 2 for 2 at the distance, so we’ll take our best shot.”

Hendy Woods (post 1, Tyler Gaffalione) could be giving closest chase to Positive Danger as the running unfolds. Third through the early stages of her last race, the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup, prior to fading to finish sixth, Hendy Woods appears capable of getting first run on the rest. The Stonestreet Stables homebred has enjoyed a productive last few months, winning the Indiana Grand before finishing second to the highly accomplished Sharing in the Edgewood at Churchill on Kentucky Derby weekend.

Completing the Mrs. Revere lineup are the respective third- and fourth-finishers in the Valley View, How Ironic (post 5, Rafael Bejarano) and Witez (post 7, Julien Leparoux), as well as Pass the Plate (post 6, Joe Talamo), a sharp last-out winner of an off-the-turf allowance at Keeneland.

A solid undercard is on tap for Saturday, including a pair of allowances. Race 7 is particularly deep, with the Maker-trained Unmoored gunning for his fifth straight victory in an $89,000 second-level turf sprint that drew an oversubscribed field. Race 9 is an $87,000 first-level race with seven fillies and mares going a mile on the main track.

The Mrs. Revere represents one of the last opportunities for a 3-year-old turf filly in the graded ranks to remain within her niche before year’s end. First run in 1991, the race honors the Bill Mott-trained filly who won four Churchill stakes in 1984-85 for owners Hiram Polk and David Richardson.

Cloudy skies and a high of 55 are in the Saturday forecast. Live televised action is available on FS2.