No Fault of Mine returns in allowance feature

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – There have been entire racing weeks this summer at Arlington without four allowance-class events, but on Thursday’s card alone there are four such races as the final week of the Arlington meet begins with a bang.

Late last week, Arlington announced a modest purse increase and expanded cards – Thursday features 10 races – for the few days still left in the season, and the surplus of available purse money evidently has spurred a quality upgrade, too.

Race 3 is merely a first-level allowance carded for 6 1/2 furlongs on Polytrack, but it includes the most noteworthy horse on the program, No Fault of Mine. The 3-year-old filly won her career debut with aplomb last summer at Arlington and stretched out from a Polytrack sprint to a dirt route, finishing second Nov. 29 in the Grade 2 Golden Rod at Churchill.

In the Golden Rod, No Fault of Mine, a Blame filly owned by Bob Lothenbach and trained by Chris Block, raced 11th of 12 down the backstretch before making an excellent run around the turn and into the stretch. She was beaten by West Coast Belle, who has disappointed as a 3-year-old, but finished in front of fourth-place I’m a Chatterbox, the leader of the 3-year-old filly division after a strong win Saturday in the Grade 1 Cotillion.

Last week, Block didn’t think he’d get to run No Fault of Mine at Arlington since her race had been offered by the racing office and failed to attract sufficient entrants to be used on a card. But eight fillies and mares were entered when this card was drawn, with No Fault of Mine the 7-5 morning-line favorite with Jerome Lermyte named to ride.

No Fault of Mine got injured when training for a spring comeback start, but she has posted six Arlington works for this comeback and was training in Florida before returning to the track. DRF Formulator shows that Block excels in situations similar to this. Over the last five years with 3-year-olds returning from a layoff of six months or longer, he is 6-3-2 from 15 starters, with an ROI of $4.93.

Yet the inclination is to try to beat No Fault of Mine at a short price, and Colour Party could be the horse to do it. Colour Party won and finished third in two all-weather starts overseas and was second on the Arlington Polytrack earlier this season in a race she might have needed following a break.

Mike Stidham trains Colour Party and also has General Election in race 5, the card’s other open allowance. Race 5 is a second-level allowance that also is open to $40,000 claimers. General Election was a stakes horse two years ago at age 3, and though he’s not progressed since then and is entered under the $40,000 claiming option, he showed signs of life while making his first start for Stidham on Polytrack last month and can improve enough to win Thursday.