Mitchell Road faces easier assignment in Ladies Turf

The good news for Mitchell Road on Saturday in the Grade 3, $500,000 Ladies Turf at Kentucky Downs is she doesn’t have to deal with the fearsome Chad Brown-trained duo of Sistercharlie and Rushing Fall or their pacesetter Thais. The bad news is that she’s drawn inside another filly who will want the lead, and her backers will have to eat a short price.

Mitchell Road is listed as the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the one-mile Ladies Turf, which drew eight other entrants. None are in nearly the same league as Sistercharlie and Rushing Fall, who ran one-two in the Grade 1 Diana on July 13 at Saratoga after Thais laid down furious splits. Mitchell Road, who wants to show her speed, chased the rabbit and wound up beating only Thais in the Diana, but she has five wins and two seconds from her other seven starts and will slot in better facing Grade 3 types Saturday.

One of them is Ms Bad Behavior, who was pulled up in the April 6 Royal Heroine Stakes, her most recent start. Trainer Richard Baltas said there was nothing seriously amiss with Ms Bad Behavior coming out of that race, but since the filly had been racing steadily for nine months, she was given time off. Think what you want of her chances in the Ladies Turf, but Ms Bad Behavior is a confirmed front-runner who enters this start sharp.

“She’s a very keen filly,” Baltas said. “I’m sure she wants to go close.”

Mitchell Road has sufficient talent and grit to fend off a pace rival and win anyway, but others are worth considering at longer odds. Viva Vegas will get the firm ground she needs for her best and exits an easy win over slightly lesser at Indiana Grand, while Storm the Hill gets morning-line love at 3-1 after splitting victorious Beau Recall and the win-machine Vasilika on Aug. 3 in the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon at Del Mar.

But in her previous start, Storm the Hill finished third to Simply Breathless, and it’s that filly who’s the pick to capture the Ladies Turf. Four-year-old Simply Breathless should feel right at home over the Euro-style Kentucky Downs course since her first 14 races came overseas. She won the Golden Poppy over 1 1/16 miles and the Wilshire over a mile in her first two starts for trainer Neil Drysdale, and Simply Breathless can easily be excused for her third-place finish July 13 in the Modesty Stakes at Arlington, where she tracked the slow pace of the high-quality Juliet Foxtrot racing a distance longer than her best. She’s 5-1 on the morning-line and worth a play at anything close to that price.

Ladies Turf Sprint

The Grade 3, $500,000 Ladies Turf Sprint will almost certainly come down to racing luck – unless Raven’s Lady continues edging back toward her best European form.

Raven’s Lady is listed at 15-1 on the morning line for the 6 1/2-furlong Ladies Sprint and has a much stronger chance than those odds based on her overseas performances and a flashy last-start allowance win in her first race for trainer Patrick Biancone.

If all that’s a mirage, Raven’s Lady is just one of a seemingly endless list of contenders in the Ladies Sprint, where bettors shouldn’t shy away from taking a shot.

Oleksandra, the 3-1 morning-line favorite, brings strong form into this race but got a great setup scoring her first stakes win in the $100,000 Smart N Fancy Stakes at Saratoga. Morticia got too much of a hot pace fading to fourth in the same race and could easily be on the wrong side of her career peak.

Raven’s Lady actually has the highest-class form in the race as a Group 2 winner in Germany, where she won over six furlongs racing left-handed. There are other performance validating that form, and her first start for Biancone yielded an eye-catching victory.

Juvenile Turf Sprint

Trainer Mark Casse has a hard time separating his two entrants in the $500,000 Kentucky Downs Juvenile Turf Sprint, Super Dormy and Prince of Thieves.

“I think they’re pretty equal right now,” Casse said.

Both horses scored debut wins turf-sprinting at Ellis Park, but Prince of Thieves was the more impressive winner. Breaking slowly from the rail, he raced last in the early stages of that 5 1/2-furlong race before storming home to win going away, galloping out strongly.

Prince of Thieves doesn’t show a workout since Aug. 22, but Casse said the colt hasn’t missed any training time.

There are plenty of other considerations among the dozen entrants, in the 6 1/2-furlong race particularly Axiomo. A fading fifth last out going seven furlongs on dirt in the Ellis Park Juvenile, Axiomo moved more comfortably over turf in his debut win at Churchill Downs and should appreciate the surface switch.

Alcools was a private purchase after a smart debut score over Woodbine’s synthetic surface and appears to possess talent.