Love and Marriage a threat on turf or dirt
ELMONT, N.Y. – Love and Marriage could be a dual surface threat in Wednesday’s $77,000 allowance feature at Belmont Park.
Though Love and Marriage is taking the next logical step from a maiden win on turf last month to a first-level allowance on turf, trainer Chad Brown wouldn’t be bashful about running the 3-year-old filly on dirt if forecasted rain forces the race to the main track. Her breezes on dirt – including a three-furlong blowout Saturday in 38.54 seconds – has Brown wanting to try Love and Marriage on that surface.
“This filly breezes like a bear on the dirt,” Brown said. “I’d like to try her on the dirt going two turns.”
Obviously, it’s not easy to change surfaces coming off a win. Love and Marriage, a daughter of Arch, displayed a strong turn of foot to rally from 11 lengths back and win a 1 1/16-mile maiden race here on Sept. 20. That came after a fourth-place finish in her debut at Saratoga.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 2 Love and Marriage. Trainer Chad Brown is 43-11-9-9 with a $2.41 ROI over the past five years in turf routes at Belmont following a maiden victory. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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“In Saratoga, she got away tardy going a mile and come running to be fourth,” Brown said. “Then I came here, split horses and ran a good number. I was sure she could handle the grass so I started her there.”
The feature is carded as the seventh of nine races and is part of a pick six with a $27,597 carryover.
Key contenders
Love and Marriage (Beyers: 74-73)
◗ She owns a win over the course and at the distance, showing strong late foot despite a tepid early pace.
◗ Her training indicates she’d be competitive if this race is moved to the dirt because of weather.
Sky Painter (Last 3 Beyers: 81-80-73)
◗ She got shuffled back to last at the eighth pole and then closed with a rush to finish third, beaten two lengths, at this condition on Sept. 20. Distorted Beauty, winner of that race, came back to finish second in the Pebbles Stakes. Two other horses from the Sept. 20 race came back to win.
◗ With Luis Saez still not riding due to the death last week of his brother, Cornelio Velasquez picks up the mount.
◗ She finished second, beaten a nose, in the Miss Grillo Stakes at the distance over this course last October.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 3 Sky Painter. Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin is 17-5-2-2 with a $4.17 ROI over the past two years in turf routes in the third start following a layoff. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
Queen’s Prize
◗ This is the third time this Great Britain-bred mare, owned by the queen of England, has been entered. She was scratched twice this meet when races came off turf.
◗ She won her debut 13 months ago in England and finished last of 10 in listed stakes in May.
◗ She was shipped to trainer Christophe Clement in the summer.
“She’s been ready to run since mid-September, we’ve just been a bit unlucky with the weather,” Clement said.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 11 Queen’s Prize. Trainer Christophe Clement is 19-6-3-2 with a $4.51 ROI over the past five years with foreign shippers getting Lasix for the first time in Belmont turf routes. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
◗ She gets Lasix for the first time.
Palace Dreams (Last 3 Beyers: 75-75-85)
◗ She finished sixth in the same race in which Sky Painter was third. She beat the horse that won that race – Distorted Beauty – in a statebred allowance race at Saratoga.
◗ Four-year-old filly gets Lasix for the first time.
◗ Looms the likely pacesetter in a race void of speed.