Pierce has two for Dance Smartly Stakes
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Malcolm Pierce never expected to hook Grade 1 winner Tannery when he sent Overheard to Monmouth Park for the Miss Liberty Stakes on May 26, but Overheard gave last year’s E.P. Taylor Stakes winner all she could handle that day.
That was Overheard’s first outing in seven months, and it should set her up nicely for Sunday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Dance Smartly, a nine-furlong turf stakes on the Queen’s Plate undercard at Woodbine.
Overheard was beaten only a head in the 1 1/16-mile Miss Liberty by Tannery, who came back to finish second in the Grade 2 New York at Belmont.
“It was a very good race,” Pierce said. “The pace was very slow, and she has absolutely no speed. She came home very strongly.”
Pierce also sends out Deceptive Vision, who saw her three-race win streak end when she finished third after dueling up front in the Grade 2 Nassau here May 25. Pierce said he was shocked to see her running rank on the lead then in her first start in three months.
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“She’s never been like that in her life,” Pierce said. “Saddling her in the paddock, I was getting a little worried. She was more nervous than usual. She got excluded out of an allowance race at Keeneland and missed that start in April. I just trained her up to [the Nassau], and maybe she was too fresh. She hung in there good for third. I know the talent is there. We’ve just got to get her to relax and sit off the pace a little.”
Industrial Policy is making her first start for trainer Mark Casse off a close fourth in the Miss Liberty. She was previously victorious in a nine-furlong allowance at Keeneland.
“She’s training really well,” Casse said. “We think she’ll enjoy the mile and an eighth.”
Following a 10-month absence, Surtsey finished a respectable fifth in the one-mile Nassau, an effort trainer Kevin Attard was pleased with.
“We had a hard time getting her into a race beforehand,” Attard said. “We shopped around for a spot and couldn’t get one to fill, so we had to run [in the Nassau]. I thought she ran lights-out. She was only beaten 3 1/2 lengths first time against open company.”
English Class faded to fifth after pressing the pace in the Grade 3 Beaugay at Belmont on May 3.
Theatre Star ships in from Santa Anita off a second in a third-level allowance, while Precarious was competitive in first-level allowance company at Belmont in May. The consistent and versatile Savvy Hester completes the field.