Miracle in May seeks fifth straight win in Mountaineer feature

Miracle in May, the queen of the Mountaineer Racetrack turf, with four consecutive wins over the past two seasons, will be hard-pressed to extend her streak in Tuesday night’s $37,100 allowance feature.

The 8-year-old Miracle in May, coming off a pair of wins going seven furlongs this spring, stretches out to a mile for a no-conditions allowance for fillies and mares that goes as race 3 at 7:46 p.m. Eastern.

Although Miracle in May’s recent form is flawless, her 2014 Beyer Speed Figures (76, 65) are on the light side compared with two of her rivals, Mountaineer newcomer Bodacious Barb and Kentucky shipper La Malaguena.

Bodacious Barb, winless in four previous starts on grass, launched her 6-year-old campaign in March at Tampa Bay Downs in a fourth-level optional $75,000 claimer. She came from slightly off the pace to score by 1 1/2 lengths, matching her career high with an 87 Beyer.

Although Bodacious Barb has not raced since then, her 80-day absence should not be a concern, since she won following 134 days on the sidelines at Tampa.

La Malaguena returns to turf for the first time since she won back-to-back starts locally last summer. In her first start this year, the 5-year-old La Malaguena was a good third behind Sisterly Love in an off-the-turf allowance at Keeneland. The 84 Beyer La Malaguena earned that day looks good because Sisterly Love returned to win the Grade 3 Doubledogdare in her next race.

In three starts since she ran at Keeneland, La Malaguena’s best performance came when she won going a mile on dirt at Belterra Park. She did not appear to like the synthetic Tapeta surface at Presque Isle Downs last time out.

Among others in the 10-horse field, Come Acorkin and Lady of Rivendell may be live longshots.

Freshened since winning a similar allowance on dirt locally in April, Come Acorkin ran a couple of good races on Tapeta last season that would make her dangerous in this spot if she can transfer that form to turf. She won going a mile and 70 yards with a 77 Beyer last May and was a close third, earning an 80 Beyer, returning from a seven-week layoff last August.

Lady of Rivendell comes back a week after running in an off-the-turf sprint. She is 0 for 12 on fast dirt but 4 for 17 on turf. Last season on grass, Lady of Rivendell won a $5,000 starter allowance going seven furlongs at Mountaineer and a first-level $25,000 optional claimer going a mile in Indiana.