Little Alexis returns in Orange Blossom

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Five months after having any chance of winning the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint virtually eliminated due to a severe reaction to a routine injection given the previous day, Little Alexis finally returns to the races in Saturday’s $60,000 Orange Blossom Handicap at Gulfstream Park.

Little Alexis finished ninth in the BC Filly and Mare Sprint. Immediately afterward, she spiked a high temperature, and her neck blew up grotesquely at the site of the injection. Owner and trainer Carlo Vaccarezza has tread lightly with his Grade 1 stakes-placed filly ever since, waiting until he felt Little Alexis was absolutely perfect before launching her 2015 campaign.

“We gave her plenty of time off after the Breeders’ Cup, then had her up to a work earlier this winter,” said Vaccarezza. “But her neck blew up again from the stress of training, so we backed off again and gave her more time. She’s doing great now. We checked her inside and out after her last work, and everything is just fine.”

Vaccarezza said he’s using the Orange Blossom as a test to see where he stands with Little Alexis.

“This race should tell us if she’s the old Alexis,” said Vaccarezza. “I’m just looking for a good performance, one we can move forward off. It’s still early, it’s a long year, and our goal is to try to get her back to the Breeders’ Cup again.”

The stretch-running Little Alexis should have plenty of pace to run at in the six-furlong Orange Blossom, with the red-hot Joann’s Wildcat and the graded stakes winner R Free Roll likely to duke it out early.

Joann’s Wildcat has won both starts since returning from a 14-month vacation but will get a class test Saturday. R Free Roll is coming off a frustrating second-place effort after setting the pace in the Minaret Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in her lone start this season.

Quiet Hour, Puddifoot, Light Bringer, and Flutterby complete the field.

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Key contenders

Little Alexis (Last 3 Beyers: 74-86-91)

* She won her only two previous starts over her home course, including an overnight stakes here last summer with Edgar Prado in the irons. Prado worked her an easy five furlongs in 1:01.60 on March 20.

R Free Roll (Last 3 Beyers: 88-92-81)

* Has had her races well spaced since upsetting the Grade 2 Honorable Miss at Saratoga, the Orange Blossom being just her fourth start since that career-defining performance in July.

* She’s not been headed at the first call in any of her last seven starts but faces the prospect of an early challenge from Joann’s Wildcat and a track bias that has compromised the chances of speed horses in dirt races for the better part of the last two weeks.

Joann’s Wildcat (Last 3 Beyers: 88-85-74)

* She’s won four of five lifetime starts and has been well clear at the stretch call in each of those four victories, but like R Free Roll, she might have to overcome a potential speed duel as well as a deep and tiring racetrack.

Quiet Hour (Last 3 Beyers: 85-81-72)

* Her form has continued to improve as the meet has progressed, and her running style fits the profile of the race, with the main track favoring outside closers and stalkers of late.

* Her last work over a deep, cuppy track was impressive, a bullet four furlongs in 48.60 seconds Monday, and she was traveling well within herself throughout.