Mischievous Bria has a chance in wide-open Myrtlewood
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Before discounting the Iowa-bred Mischievous Bria, listed at 30-1 on the morning line, in the $200,000 Myrtlewood Stakes on Friday, keep in mind that her trainer, Doug Anderson, is undefeated in Keeneland stakes races.
Glengarry, another Iowa-bred, won the Bowman Mill last fall at Keeneland and won the Lafayette this past April, the only horse Anderson has started in a Keeneland stakes race. Sidelined since the Lafayette with a condylar fracture, Glengarry has returned to the work tab and Anderson has the Mahoning Valley Sprint in mind for a comeback race. And in his mind, there’s no good reason not to take a shot in the Myrtlewood with Mischievous Bria.
The first foal out of the Anderson-trained mare My Sister Madi, who earned $250,000 while racing, Mischievous Bria won an Iowa-bred maiden as an odds-on favorite at first asking. On Sept. 28, she finished second in the Iowa Sorority to a filly named Kanojo, whose victory yielded a good 74 Beyer Speed Figure. Mischievous Bria, by Instagrand, has worked twice since shipping into Keeneland. Her 47-second breeze Oct. 20 was fastest of 47 at the distance.
“We’re just taking a shot, but she’s done everything right. She breezed real good here the other morning,” Anderson said.
Mischievous Bria drew post 1 in a 12-filly field in search of a favorite. Trust Fund Filly, listed at 3-1, is favored on the track’s morning line, but identifying the chalk here looks tricky.
Trust Fund Filly has run once and looked good doing it, stalking the pace and coming home a 3 1/2-length winner of a Churchill maiden sprint of undetermined quality. The race flow appears to have favored Trust Fund Filly, and her win came going 5 1/2 furlongs over a sloppy track, leaving question marks going into the six-furlong Myrtlewood.
Two fillies have started their career winning twice, and it’s difficult to see one of them, Andrea, going off at odds as high as the listed 6-1. Trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., Andrea has leading rider Tyler Gaffalione named, and after winning her 5 1/2-furlong debut by 6 1/2 lengths, she came back in the Hallandale Beach, a one-turn mile, to score by 7 3/4 lengths. Andrea has since posted fast works at Gulfstream Park and appears to possess a good blend of speed and stamina.
Echo Sound, a Keeneland-based filly trained by Rusty Arnold, also has started her career with a pair of wins, though the first-level allowance she captured Sept. 12 at Churchill wasn’t as strong as the Keeneland race at that level where Dancing Magic finished second.
Dancing Magic, on opening day of the Keeneland meet, broke from the rail and gave futile if encouraging chase finishing second to Eclatant, a Brad Cox-trained filly with graded stakes aspirations. Dancing Magic, trained by Mike Campbell, turned in the race’s fastest final furlong, a robust 12.52 seconds, and gets Flavien Prat back in the irons.
Some sort of case can be made for several others – even, perhaps, the Anderson-trained Iowa-bred.
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