Miss Behaviour works at Laurel, Test Stakes next

Laurel Park-based trainer Phil Schoenthal has been trying to find out whether his Grade 2-winning 3-year-old Miss Behaviour can successfully race beyond six furlongs or if she is better off staying at that distance.

He had hoped to learn the answer in the Grade 3 Victory Ride Stakes at Belmont Park on June 29, but Miss Behaviour ended up chasing the lightning-fast Red Velvet early. Miss Behaviour was run down after making the lead in the stretch of the 6 1/2-furlong race and had to settle for second.

Since the Victory Ride, Schoenthal had been considering three possible races for Miss Behaviour, who won the Grade 2 Matron at Belmont last September: The Grade 1, $500,000 Test at seven furlongs on Aug. 2; the Grade 2, $200,000 Honorable Miss against older fillies and mares at six furlongs on Monday; or the $100,000 Coronation Cup at 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf, also on Monday.

Earlier this week, Schoenthal settled on the Test and Friday morning he gave Miss Behaviour her major work for the race.

Schoenthal eased Miss Behaviour into her work with a two-minute-lick half-mile beginning at the mile pole over Laurel’s 1 1/8-mile track. He timed her in 18 seconds for her opening furlong and in 59 for the half. Miss Behaviour then worked a half-mile to the wire in 46.40 seconds and galloped out an extra eighth in 13.60 to complete 1 1/8 miles in 1:59, according to Schoenthal.

The Laurel clockers credited Miss Behaviour with a half-mile in 46.80, the fastest of 18 works at the distance Friday morning by four-fifths of a second.

“The rider said she was taking deep breaths and was good and relaxed,” said Schoenthal, a 36-year-old Air Force veteran. “She was tired afterward but happy, bright, and alert.”

Although Miss Behaviour has yet to win beyond six furlongs, Schoenthal said he is confident she can go farther. In the Victory Ride, Red Velvet sprinted off to an open early lead and set fractions of 21.48 and 44.39 with Miss Behaviour approximately two lengths back. Miss Behaviour took the lead in midstretch and had the lead through six furlongs in 1:10.22. She was beaten 1 3/4 lengths in 1:17.08 by Street Story, who rallied from well back. She finished 1 1/2 lengths ahead of the third-place runner.

“Sometimes as a trainer, when you lose you are blinded by the fact that your horse did run a good race,” Schoenthal said. “She just got cooked by a fast pace.

“We feel she is one of the top five sprinting fillies in the country and she deserves this chance in the Test. I’m very excited about the race.”

Miss Behaviour has a 4-2-1 record from 8 career starts and earnings of $342,000. In her start prior to the Victory Ride, she won the six-furlong Miss Preakness Stakes at Pimlico.