Merlazza, after third consecutive win, eyes graded stakes company
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HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The rapidly developing Merlazza could see graded stakes company in the near future after winning her third straight race in the $150,000 Valley of the Vapors on Saturday at Oaklawn Park.
Trainer Brad Cox said the Grade 2, $300,000 Black-Eyed Susan on May 19 at Pimlico will be considered for Merlazza. The daughter of Medaglia d’Oro is scheduled to ship to Churchill on Sunday.
Merlazza won a maiden special weight sprint in February at Fair Grounds, then proceeded to win a first-level allowance route at the same track in March. She was making her stakes debut in the Valley of the Vapors and closed from fifth to catch pacesetter Pink Ace. Merlazza won the mile race by a length and earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 82.
“She’s doing good,” Cox said Sunday. “We may look at the Black-Eyed Susan. It would be back a little quick, but considering it was a soft pace and she kind of just ran the length of the stretch to get there, we’ll see how she comes out of it, look at the Black-Eyed Susan.”
Merlazza races for her breeder, Don Alberto Stable. She is from the female family of Grade 1 winners Dream Supreme and Majestic Warrior.
Joel Rosario rode Merlazza, and on the same card captured the Oaklawn Handicap with Proxy and the Bath House Row Stakes with Red Route One.
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