Miss Temple City eyes Royal Ascot after Hilltop score

BALTIMORE, Md. – Miss Temple City kicked the Preakness weekend stakes off with a victory for the home team – and her success could have her headed far from home for her next engagement.

Miss Temple City, who races for breeder Sagamore Farm, in partnership, posted her first stakes victory with a 2 3/4-length score in the $100,000 Hilltop Stakes for 3-year-old fillies Friday on the Pimlico turf. The race offered some class relief for the Graham Motion trainee, who finished third in the Grade 3 Sweetest Chant at Gulfstream Park behind Consumer Credit and Quality Rocks and then second to Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Lady Eli in the Grade 3 Appalachian at Keeneland.

“I’m very high on this filly,” Motion said. “I’ve always liked her a lot. I thought last time was a tough spot. Lady Eli could turn out to be the best filly in the country, so I wasn’t too disappointed being second last time. I think [Miss Temple City’s] getting better and better – she’s a beautiful filly. I think she won for fun today, to be honest.”

Miss Temple City will soon venture back into deep waters, as Motion said the filly is nominated to the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at England’s famed Royal Ascot meeting next month.

“I think there’s a good possibility that could happen,” Motion said.

When the gates opened on the Hilltop, Lady Zuzu bounced away to assume the lead, opening up by as many as five lengths at one point as she took the field through splits of 23.44 seconds, 46.86, and 1:11.35 on a course that appeared to favor speed early in the day. Breaking from the outside in a field that scratched down to seven, Miss Temple City ($4.40) sat a relaxed second around the track under confident handling from John Velazquez. She began inching up around the far turn and pounced when set down in the lane, drawing clear late with the outcome never in doubt. She stopped the clock in 1:41.94 for the 1 1/16 miles on turf rated firm.

“Loved [the way the race unfolded], I thought she was perfect,” Motion said. “Everything went so smoothly. She’s that kind of filly. She’s that good, you kind of don’t have to make too many excuses for her. She does everything so professionally.”

After Miss Temple City came All in Fun, who edged out Lady Zuzu by three-quarters of a length for second.

The Hilltop was the first of seven stakes on Pimlico’s Preakness Eve card.