Parx: Mikey Likes It tries to build on smash debut in sprint feature

Debut winner Mikey Likes It will spot experience to stakes-placed fillies Select Cat and Union Victory in Monday’s featured ninth race at Parx Racing.

The six-furlong sprint, restricted to 3-year-old fillies eligible for a first-level allowance, carries a purse of $47,000 and attracted a field of eight, including the Ramon Preciado-trained coupled entry of Derwin’s Wildcat and Preach Easy.

As a 2-year-old in training last spring, Mikey Likes It sold for $100,000 at the Fasig-Tipton sale in Timonium, Md. A daughter of Elusive Quality, Mikey Likes It was later privately acquired by a partnership headed by Michael Dubb, whose most prominent horse currently in training is the filly Grace Hall, a Grade 1 winner at 2 who finished second in her 3-year-old debut on Feb. 25 in the Grade 2 Davona Dale at Gulfstream Park.

Unraced until December of her 2-year-old season, Mikey Likes It was no secret when she faced five rivals in a six-furlong sprint at Parx. Sent off at 2-5, Mikey Likes It battled between horses through a contested half-mile in 46.97 seconds and drew clear by 1 3/4 lengths. She earned a 61 Beyer Speed Figure, the second-best last-out figure in Monday’s field.

Trainer Tony Dutrow is 6 for 14 (43 percent) with maiden sprint winners returning after a break of 61 to 180 days and is winning at a 48-percent clip (15 for 31) with the horses he has run since Jan. 1 at Parx.

The best Beyer among Monday’s runners belongs to Union Victory, who got a 74 for her 4 3/4-length score in a restricted optional claimer at Aqueduct on Jan. 26. She has not been worse than second in four career starts, although twice she ran for a claiming tag and was taken out of both races. Union Victory, ambitiously spotted in the $73,000 Xtra Heat after defeating maiden claimers, finished second in her stakes debut while making her first start for new trainer Bruce Levine.

Secret Cat, a dominant winner in her career debut over a sloppy track at Saratoga last July, followed up by finishing a distant third in the $101,000 Sorority at Monmouth Park. She was given an extended vacation by new trainer Eddie Kenneally after flashing high speed and stopping in the Grade 3 Tempted five months ago in New York. Kenneally is just 1 for 10 with female sprinters returning after a break of 61 to 180 days.