Modern Love takes on stakes dropper in allowance feature
A first-level allowance with a base purse of $25,500 anchors a nine-race Wednesday card that starts at 12:25 p.m. Eastern. Chad Brown is represented in the mile and 40-yard race by Modern Love (post 1, Samy Camacho), a Curlin filly whose most recent start resulted in a half-length victory in a Jan. 14 maiden race at Tampa at this same distance.
Probably her top challenger among six other 3-year-old fillies in the eighth race will be Personal Pursuit (post 7, Pablo Morales), a Mark Casse shipper with respectable efforts in her last three starts, all in stakes. After winning a September maiden race at Aqueduct, the gray daughter of Tapit was fifth in the Matron, fourth in the Wait a While, and third in the Gasparilla.
One fringe consideration is Frosty O’Toole (post 3, Antonio Gallardo), a last-out maiden winner for Mike Dini. The daughter of Frosted is a half-sister to ungraded stakes winners Lady O’Toole and Sister O’Toole.
“I’ve always thought a lot of her,” said Dini, who was to return Thursday night to Tampa after attending the National HBPA Annual Conference in New Orleans. “She’s coming around, slowly but surely. I wish there was a little more pace in here, but she’ll be in there trying.”
Frosty O’Toole and Pretty’n Awesome (post 6, Jose Ferrer) are Florida-breds and therefore eligible for shares of an additional $6,500 in bonuses in a race scheduled for 3:55 p.m.
Camacho way out top
Samy Camacho, easily the leading rider at a five-month-plus meet that began Nov. 23, had a 14-day win streak snapped Sunday at Tampa when going winless with seven mounts. Before then, Camacho had racked up 26 wins in a span dating to Feb. 10. Camacho enters this week with an 83-45 margin over Pablo Morales atop the local standings.
◗ Kathleen O’Connell begins the week just two wins behind Kim Hammond in her quest to become the all-time winningest female trainer in North America. O’Connell won the Sunday finale with Sir Saffer, giving her 2,383 wins in a career that began in 1981.
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