Miss Temple City unproven at Diana distance
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Miss Temple City is the only Grade 1 winner in the field going into Saturday’s $500,000 Diana Stakes at Saratoga, and trainer Graham Motion is hopeful she’ll also be the only one coming out of the prestigious turf fixture for fillies and mares that highlights an 11-race program complemented by the Grade 3 Sanford.
Miss Temple City became a Grade 1 winner by defeating males in Keeneland’s Maker’s 46 Mile on April 15. That performance earned her a trip to Ascot for the Duke of Cambridge Stakes, where she finished a late-running fourth as the 131-pound highweight going a mile over soft ground.
“This is the race I’ve been pointing for since she came back from Ascot,” said Motion. “She had to be doing well coming off the long trip, and she has, otherwise we wouldn’t be here.”
Motion said he was not disappointed in Miss Temple City’s effort in the Duke of Cambridge.
“I think I underestimated the weight,” said Motion. “I knew she would pick up a penalty for winning the race at Keeneland, and an extra five pounds seemed like no big deal. But she carried only 113 at Keeneland and 131 at Ascot over soft ground, going up and down hills. I’m not sure that cost us the race, but I think it cost us at least a placing.”
Miss Temple City will stretch out to 1 1/8 miles for the first time since her second-place finish in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup in her 3-year-old finale last fall at Keeneland. Miss Temple City is winless in three previous starts at nine furlongs.
“She probably should have won the Queen Elizabeth, but that’s another story,” said Motion. “I don’t think a mile and one-eighth is a problem for her.”
Miss Temple City will face nine rivals in the Grade 1 Diana, four of whom come from the barn of trainer Chad Brown. The Brown quartet is led by Dacita, the winner of the Grade 2 New York in her last start, and Wekeela, who has finished second in her only two U.S. appearances, both of which came in Grade 1 races. Brown also sends out the graded stakes winners Mrs McDougal and Rainha Da Bateria.
Recepta finished a distant second behind Celestine in the Grade 1 Just a Game going a mile in her last start, but like Miss Temple City, she has never won at nine furlongs.
“She ran very well last time out, but Billy’s horse freaked out that day,” trainer Jimmy Toner said, referring to colleague Bill Mott’s Celestine. “She’s been consistent this year, she tries hard every time, and while I have my questions about a mile and one-eighth, she’s always finishing.
“I was going to take her someplace else to run her a mile and one-sixteenth, but it’s only a sixteenth of a mile further, and a sixteenth of a mile is a heck of a lot shorter than 3,000 miles,” Toner said.
Diana, Race 10
key CONTENDERS
Miss Temple City, by Temple City
Last 3 Beyers: NA-108-97
◗ As was the case at Ascot, she must concede weight to the field, this time carrying 121 pounds under the allowance conditions of the Diana.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 2 Miss Temple City. Trainer Graham Motion is 17-2-2-2 with a $0.70 ROI over the past five years in grade one turf races on the NYRA circuit (15-0-2-2 with horses other than Main Sequence). Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Dacita, by Scat Daddy
Last 3 Beyers: 97-93-91
◗ Trainer Brown said he is a little concerned about the track perhaps coming up less than firm Saturday.
“She prefers firm ground,” he said. “It’s supposed to rain Friday afternoon, and a softer course wouldn’t be to her benefit.”
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 1 Sandiva and No. 10 Isabella Sings. Trainer Todd Pletcher is 62-3-4-8 with a $0.37 ROI over the past five years in grade one races on turf. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan