Multiple fillies with good form in Mother Goose
The Grade 1, $300,000 Mother Goose at Belmont Park on Saturday has attracted a competitive field of 10, with many of the runners rounding into their best form.
Include Betty, the winner of the Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn Park, is the only graded stakes winner in the lineup, but Wonder Gal enters off a hard-fought third-place effort in the Grade 1 Acorn, and Eskenformoney and Danessa Deluxe have both run well in graded company.
There are also three promising, lightly raced runners in the group – Embellish the Lace, Munasara, and Chide. The 95 Beyer Speed Figure that Embellish the Lace earned in winning an optional claimer June 4 at Pimlico is the highest in the field.
Eskenformoney finished 10th in the Kentucky Oaks in her last start. She had an odd trip that day, dropping much farther back than usual. After working her way through a crowd of horses on the far turn, she was moving well when she was bumped in the stretch while racing in tight quarters along the rail. In the end, she was beaten 7 3/4 lengths.
[bc_playlist_id:255123:]Following the Oaks, trainer Todd Pletcher sent her to Saratoga, where she has worked four times.
“I was pleased with her effort in the Oaks,” Pletcher said. “She closed very well after encountering some traffic.”
Prior to the Kentucky Oaks, Eskenformoney had shown tactical speed while finishing second in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks and third in the Grade 2 Davona Dale. In the Kentucky Oaks, she came out of the gate a bit slowly and was last in the 14-horse field on the backstretch, trailing the second-to-last runner by several lengths. Look for her to be much closer early in the 1 1/16-mile Mother Goose.
Mother Goose, Race 9
Key Contenders
Eskenformoney (Last 3 Beyers: 81-87-85)
◗ She is out of the stallion Eskendereya’s first crop. Eskendereya won the Fountain of Youth and Wood Memorial in 2010 for Pletcher and Zayat Stables.
Wonder Gal (Last 3 Beyers: 90-76-81)
◗ The question going into the Acorn was if she would be ready for a top effort after not having raced in two months. She was. The question now is can she come back in three weeks? We will find out.
◗ After placing in three Grade 1 races and a Grade 2, she is overdue for a graded win.
◗ The 1 1/16 miles of the Mother Goose is better for her than the mile of the Acorn, in which she earned a career-best Beyer.
Danessa Deluxe (Last 3 Beyers: 87-86-76)
◗ Was boxed in along the rail for a long while when fourth in the Black-Eyed Susan. Showed a nice burst to split horses in upper stretch of that race. She’s a sleeper in this field and likely will be overlooked in the betting.
◗ Was only beaten three-quarters of a length by Eskenformoney when third, beaten two lengths, in the Gulfstream Oaks.
Include Betty (Last 3 Beyers: 89-82-86)
◗ Long-winded daughter of Include lacks early speed but has a strong late kick. As always, her move will be somewhat dependent on pace, which could lean to the slower side in this race.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 2 Include Betty. She’s 3-1-1-0 in dirt graded stakes. Trainer Tom Proctor is 19-0-0-1 with all others over the past five years in graded stakes on dirt. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Embellish the Lace (Last 3 Beyers: 95-72-50)
◗ The runner-up in her 13 3/4-length optional-claiming romp at Pimlico was in for the $50,000 claiming tag. This is a big step up in class.
◗ Her Pimlico win was her first start since a blowout maiden win at Parx in December.
Munasara (Last 2 Beyers: 80-71)
◗ Is 2 for 2 for Shadwell and trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. The filly she beat in her optional-claiming win, So You Say, came back to win an allowance by 9 1/4 lengths.
Money’soncharlotte (Last 3 Beyers: 70-78-17)
◗ Will be reunited with Eric Cancel, who guided her to a third-place finish in the Gazelle in April. Look for her to settle early and do her best running late at a big price.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 6 Pleasant Tales. Trainer Dallas Stewart is 50-1-7-7 with a $0.34 ROI over the past five years in dirt route graded stakes. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan