Leigh Court looks like lone speed in Masters
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Ageless ran down Leigh Court going six furlongs on Woodbine turf July 26 in the Royal North Stakes, but that outcome might prove difficult to repeat Monday in the Presque Isle Masters.
It’s counterintuitive, but Ageless’s big stretch run seems most effective at distances up to six furlongs. The Masters is contested at 6 1/2 furlongs over Presque Isle’s Tapeta surface, and the synthetic track probably works in Leigh Court’s favor, too. Leigh Court is 4-1-0 in six synthetic starts, while Ageless finished third in the 2014 Masters, her only synthetic-track start.
Also in the field for the Grade 2, $400,000 Masters is the mare who won the race last year, Living The Life, who might have to better her 2014 performance to repeat.
Nine fillies and mares were entered in the Masters, which goes as race 5 on the Presque Isle card, with post time set for 7:20 p.m. Eastern. Twice already in its eight-year history, the race has produced a repeat winner: Informed Decision, the excellent sprinting mare, won in 2009 and 2010, while the amazing Groupie Doll triumphed in 2012 and 2013. The Masters has been a key race leading up to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint since that race was introduced in 2007. Groupie Doll won the BC Filly and Mare Sprint both years she won the Masters, while Informed Decision won it in 2009.
Leigh Court was fifth in the 2013 BC Filly and Mare Sprint and has designs on the race again this season. Sold at auction following last year’s Breeders’ Cup, she made her first start of 2015 in the Royal North, setting the pace and holding well while matched against Ageless, who was making her fourth start this season. Leigh Court, trained by Mike Stidham, has since turned in four fast workouts at Arlington and looks like the controlling speed in the Masters.
“I thought looking at it we’re pretty much lone speed, which never hurts,” Stidham said. “She’s really doing well. Her first race back didn’t take anything away from her. She’s really bulked up, put on weight, and maintained it.”
Living The Life, an Ireland-bred import, was making just her second U.S. start for trainer Gary Mandella when she won this race last year as the 5-2 favorite. She returned to finish 10th in the BC Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita and appears to be lengths better on synthetic than dirt.
“This is like the Breeders’ Cup for her,” Mandella said. “She trained great up to the Breeders’ Cup last year but got very sick afterward, and it’s turned out she’s one of those horses that really likes synthetic and not dirt. We feel pretty good about her finally after kind of losing our way with her.”
Living The Life raced without blinkers and with goggles in her last start, a dirt race in which Mandella was trying to protect her from kickback. On Monday, the goggles are off, and the blinkers are back on for the Masters.
It’s possible that Ageless will suit the circumstances better than one would guess based on her 2014 Masters run, since in that start she raced far closer to the pace than usual. Ageless, a winner in 10 of her 21 starts, does best as a one-run closer but might be chasing a fast horse, Leigh Court, who has gotten things her own way.
Stidham has a second, longer-priced entrant, Pirate’s Trove, who stands to improve in her second start back from a long layoff and ran two big races on Woodbine’s Polytrack late last summer.
Miss Mischief has won all four of her races at Presque Isle but might not be quick enough to keep up Monday. Her first three local wins came in two-turn races, but she was cut back to a sprint Aug. 18 at Presque Isle and won an open allowance race by more than four lengths, albeit against competition nowhere near as tough as her Masters foes and with help from a sizzling early pace.