Missmizz buzzes with blinkers

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y – Trainer Michael Stidham felt Missmizz wasn’t putting out a full effort in many of her first six races, so he equipped her with blinkers for her seventh start in hopes of getting a better result.

Stidham got the desired outcome in the Blue Sparkler Stakes last month at Monmouth Park when Missmizz, wearing blinkers for the first time, finished full of run to win the 5 1/2-furlong turf stakes by 1 1/4 lengths.

Sunday, Missmizz will try to build off that race when she meets tougher foes in the $100,000 Galway Stakes for 3-year-old fillies going 5 1/2 furlongs on turf at Saratoga.

“It was her best race to date,” Stidham said of the Blue Sparkler. “She looked like she was hanging a bit the last part of it, so we were looking for something to give her a little more zip at the end of the race and it definitely made her punch forward. We’re hoping that trend continues.”

Tyler Gaffalione rides Missmizz from post 4.

Stidham also entered Elsa in the Galway, but was not totally committed to running her. Elsa has not run since finishing eighth in the Grade 3 Florida Oaks going 1 1/16 miles at Tampa in March. In two starts at 5 1/2 furlongs, Elsa won a maiden race at Laurel and finished third in the Bolton Landing here last summer.

Trainer Wesley Ward entered both Abyssinian and Chelsea Cloisters in the Galway. Abyssinian is coming off a fifth-place finish against males in the opening-day Quick Call Stakes, a race run over yielding turf.

“The rail wasn’t a help and as you see she just didn’t like the soft turf at all,” Ward said. “She should be much better on firm ground.”

Abyssinian did draw the rail again.

Chelsea Cloisters has four seconds and a third in her last five stakes tries. Most recently, she finished third behind Mentality and Brooke Marie in a first-level allowance race at Belmont on May 25.

Brooke Marie is in this field coming off a solid three-length allowance win at Monmouth on July 19. Trainer Christophe Clement was originally going to wait for the $100,000 Christiecat Stakes going six furlongs on Sept. 6, opening day of the Belmont fall meet, but said Brooke Marie is doing very well, so he decided to run her back on short rest.

“I have not worked her. She’s fit, and as long as we don’t get any more rain I’ll run her,” Clement said.

There does appear to be ample speed in the race in Karama, coming off a front-running score in the Stormy Blues Stakes at Monmouth on July 14, and O’Keefe, a front-running allowance winner over the synthetic surface at Presque Isle Downs on July 23.

Sister Peacock, who beat Missmizz in a stakes on synthetic at Woodbine in April at Woodbine, and Eyeinthesky and Bohemian Bourbon, second and third to the undefeated Break Even in the Coronation Cup, complete the horses in the body of the race. Tobago and Peaceful need scratches to run.