Lady Sabelia, Love Came to Town in top shape for Primonetta Stakes
The $75,000 Primonetta Stakes at Laurel Park on Saturday has drawn a well-matched field of eight filly and mare sprinters, so it is a bit unusual that Lady Sabelia and Love Came to Town are the horses to beat despite coming into the race under less-than-ideal circumstances.
Lady Sabelia finished third as the 3-2 favorite in the Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie in her last start. Love Came to Town hasn’t run in 12 weeks. Both seem ready to fire their best shots in the six-furlong Primonetta.
Lady Sabelia came into the Fritchie off back-to-back stakes wins. She made a bold move to put a head in front of Fritchie winner Dancing House in upper stretch of the seven-furlong race, but just when it seemed like she would score a repeat win in the Grade 2 race, she flattened out. Dancing House pulled away to win by 1 3/4 lengths, and her Kiaran McLaughlin-trained stablemate Clothes Fall Off rallied to finish second, 1 1/2 lengths better than Lady Sabelia.
Lady Sabelia has battled chronic eye ulcers and races with a plastic goggle over her right eye. Her training before the Fritchie was hampered by a flare-up, according to trainer Robin Graham.
“We had a problem with her eye, and I missed almost a month with her,” Graham said. “I just ran a horse that I knew was short. She was fit enough, good enough that she wasn’t going to get hurt, but if the race had been in New York, I wouldn’t have run her. When a race like that is right in your backyard, though, how do you not go?”
Lady Sabelia, a 6-year-old daughter of Majestic Warrior, has worked three times since the Fritchie and is now 100 percent, according to Graham. She enters off a half-mile work in 46.60 seconds, the fastest of 81 at the distance at Laurel on March 19. Her regular rider, Horacio Karamanos, was aboard.
“She kind of blew herself out last weekend,” Graham said. “There was a horse in front of her, and she was bound and determined to catch her. Karamanos never asked her though, and it didn’t take anything out of her. I took her back to the track the next day.”
Love Came to Town was impressive in winning the 1 1/16-mile Nellie Morse by 5 1/2 lengths on Jan. 2. In the winner’s circle after the race, Kevin Sleeter, her owner, trainer, and breeder, indicated that the Fritchie might be her next stop. Love Came to Town was forced to skip the race after she missed about six weeks of training when the track at Parx was closed for the installation of a safety rail.
“The break actually did her good,” Sleeter said. “She’s put on weight; she has lots of muscle.”
Love Came to Town, a 4-year-old by Medallist, enters the Primonetta off three bullet works at Parx.
“She galloped out great after her last work,” Sleeter said. “She’s fit. I’m happy with her.”
Other top contenders include Court Dancer, who ships down from New York for trainer Rudy Rodriguez following a neck victory in the statebred Broadway Stakes, and Sweet On Smokey, who finish fourth, a nose behind Lady Sabelia, in the Fritchie at 53-1.
A longshot to consider is Disco Chick, who has not raced since finishing second to Lady Sabelia in the Dec. 5 What a Summer Stakes. Disco Chick has won off a layoff twice in her career for trainer Mario Serey Jr.