Litfin's preview: Stakes doubleheader

Sunday, Sept. 7, preview

The $100,000 co-featured stakes are early on Sunday’s card, with the Sky Beauty (third race) and the Real Courage (fourth) right in the middle of the early pick four and the pick five.

Five fillies and mares go in the one-mile Sky Beauty, where Katie’s Garden (89), Montana Native (88), and Toasting (88) earned almost identical last-out Beyer Speed Figures under very different circumstances.

Katie’s Garden, the least-experienced entrant, with five starts under her belt, steps up after winning three straight, capped by a sharp second-level allowance win off the bench for Zenyatta’s connections of owner-breeders Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Moss and trainer John Shirreffs.

Montana Native may be the one to catch after pressing the pace in the Grade 2 Molly Pitcher for Christophe Clement.

Toasting rallied from last to get second in the Seaway at Woodbine and is back on two weeks’ rest.

Six turf-meant older males entered the seven-furlong Real Courage, scheduled for the Widener course, where Clement’s multiple graded stakes winner Za Approval looks to turn things around after four straight defeats at age 6, including three as the favorite. This will be his first non-graded stakes start since he won a third-level allowance on Jan. 5, 2013.

Fredericksburg, who has led to the pace call of three graded stakes this year, turns back for Michael Matz; this will be the 4-year-old’s first start at a distance shorter than a mile.

Strong Impact and West Hills Giant also figure in the mix on their top efforts.

TURF MAIDENS GALORE

Four of the day’s six scheduled turf races are for maidens. Three of those are for 2-year-olds, including divisions of a maiden special weight for fillies at a mile on the Widener.

The first division, race 6, may be the tougher of the two, as Eskenformoney and Doukas both exit runner-up finishes going 1 1/16 miles on turf at Saratoga.

In the second division, race 8, the only fillies with any turf experience are Birkenhead and Careful Choice, who finished off the board sprinting. Among the first-time starters is Profess, a half-sister to the fashionable stallion Pulpit.

HORSE TO WATCH

CONSUMER CREDIT
Trainer: Chad Brown
Last race: Sept. 5, 7th
Finish: 7th by 3 3/4
Beyer: 61
This first-time starter was bet to 19-10 favoritism in a six-furlong turf sprint and was buried in traffic through most of the stretch run, with the rider never able to set her down.