Miss Temple City, Heath get golden opportunity in Lake Placid
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The absence of Lady Eli, who is recovering from laminitis, certainly leaves Friday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Lake Placid Stakes at Saratoga a wide-open affair, even if only five 3-year-old fillies are likely to run in the 1 1/8-mile turf race.
Miss Temple City, second to Lady Eli in the Grade 3 Appalachian at Keeneland, and Heath, second to Lady Eli in the Wonder Again Stakes at Belmont, head the quintet, which includes the Chad Brown-trained pair of Consumer Credit and Strict Compliance as well as Sentiero Italia. Embellish the Lace was entered to run if the race is switched to the main track.
Miss Temple City looms like the Lake Placid favorite following a trip to England, where she finished fourth, beaten two lengths, in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at the prestigious Royal Ascot meet.
“She ran great,” trainer Graham Motion said. “The race was a little awkward for her. She never got into a comfortable spot, and she didn’t settle like you would have hoped she would just because she was hung on the outside a little bit.”
Motion said the Lake Placid has been his goal with Miss Temple City since then. Miss Temple City has breezed four times since she last raced, including two solid moves over the turf course at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland.
“She’s actually done great since she ran,” Motion said.
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When Lady Eli overcame traffic trouble in the Wonder Again Stakes, it was Heath whom she ran down in the final stages to win by a half-length.
“When Lady Eli was trapped in behind horses, I thought we had a good chance,” said Heath’s trainer, Bill Mott. “Didn’t look like it once she got out.”
Mott said he was planning to run Heath back in the Belmont Oaks, but the filly got sick.
“It would have been really squeezing her to try and have her back for the other race,” Mott said.
KEY CONTENDERS
Miss Temple City (Last 3 Beyers: 90-88-79)
◗ Got a dream stalking trip in winning the Hilltop Stakes at Pimlico on May 15 before going to England.
◗ Figures to be forwardly placed under John Velazquez, though Motion would like to see Miss Temple City settle behind another horse.
Heath (Last 3 Beyers: 88-82-75)
◗ Has two wins and her second to Lady Eli since Mott added blinkers to the filly’s equipment. Mott said blinkers “helped her quite a bit, got her to focus a little bit.”
“She was always in the race, but she was always just running [spotty],” he said.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 2 Heath. Trainer Bill Mott is 13-1-3-1 with a $0.51 ROI over the past two years in turf route graded stakes following a layoff of 45 days or more. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Strict Compliance (Last 3 Beyers: 92-86-83)
◗ Had a three-race winning streak snapped when dead-heating for fourth in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks, 3 1/2 lengths behind stablemate Lady Eli.
“She was following Eli the whole way, but she lost a lot of ground doing it,” Brown said. “Ran well, was unlucky not to be second. Another one where a mile and an eighth probably should suit her a little better.”
◗ The Brown-trained Consumer Credit will be cutting back to 1 1/8 miles after running two straight races at 1 1/4 miles.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 5 Strict Compliance. Trainer Chad Brown is 15-1-4-0 with a $0.90 ROI over the past five years in graded stakes at Saratoga with jockey Javier Castellano aboard. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 1 Consumer Credit. Trainer Chad Brown is 20-7-2-2 with a $5.45 ROI over the past five years in graded stakes on the NYRA circuit with jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan