Proper Discretion must beat entrymates in Scarlet and Gray
Proper Discretion, returning home after a stakes race at Saratoga, is the lone stakes winner in the field for the $75,000 Scarlet and Gray Handicap for Ohio-bred fillies and mares on the holiday Monday card at Thistledown. However, she is by no means a sure thing, and her stiffest competition could come from her two entrymates.
Proper Discretion, the 122-pound highweight for the Scarlet and Gray, is one of three entrants for owner Ron Paolucci, with all three figuring prominently in this six-furlong race.
Proper Discretion won the First Lady Stakes last fall at Mahoning Valley during a productive campaign that also saw her finish second in the Scarlet and Gray to the formidable Justalittlesmoke. This summer, Proper Discretion won an optional-claiming event against open company going six furlongs at Thistledown, then headed to Saratoga to try the turf and take on open stakes company in the De La Rose Stakes. She returns to her home track off an eighth-place finish in that race.
Luis Colon picks up the mount on Proper Discretion, who has never been off the board at the six-furlong distance.
The other two Paolucci entrants are Katalust, like Proper Discretion trained by Anthony Rini, and Put Up With It, trained by Jeffrey Radosevich. Both appear ideally placed on a track and at a distance they favor. Multiple stakes-placed Katalust is unbeaten at Thistledown and comes off a pair of open-lengths allowance victories. She has never been off the board at this distance. Open-company allowance winner Put Up With It most recently finished ninth in the Lady Jacqueline Stakes at Thistledown, won by Money’soncharlotte. That race was at 1 1/8 miles, and she is cutting back to her preferred sprint distance.
Stakes-placed Ali Blue spent the early part of this year tangling with Nikki My Darling, who has emerged as one of the top fillies in the state. Ali Blue comes into the Scarlet and Gray off three consecutive allowance or optional-claiming victories. The most recent of those was a four-length score over open company, with runner-up Mama Splash coming back to win next out.
The field also includes multiple stakes-placed La Nina Bronca and Purple Flowers.