Queue better longer

MIAMI - Vinnie Blengs won his first La Prevoyante Handicap in 1981 with Judgable Gypsy. Twenty years later, he stands a pretty good chance to take another when he sends out 116-pound highweight Queue in Calder's $150,000 1 1/2-mile test of endurance for fillies and mares.

The La Prevoyante was run at only nine furlongs when Judgable Gypsy rallied to win the opening division in 1981. The race was lengthened to its current distance two years later, and neither Blengs nor Queue will mind the added ground of the Grade 2 race.

Queue comes off the most impressive performance of her career, a stretch-running 2 1/2-length victory in Aqueduct's Grade 2 Long Island Handicap on Nov. 10. The race was the the first time that Queue, a 4-year-old daughter of French Deputy, had ever gone 12 furlongs, a distance which is obviously right up her alley.

"The further she goes the better and she couldn't be any sharper than she is right now," said Blengs. "In fact she was second in her two starts prior to the Long Island and probably could have won those except she had rough trips.

"My only reservations are her style and the lack of pace in this race. She comes from way out of it and this course doesn't play to that style. And there isn't that much speed in this field."

Five of Queue's nine rivals in the La Prevoyante also exit the Long Island Handicap. The best of them may be Sweetest Thing and Summer Solstice, who ran second and sixth. The others back for another shot at Queue are Bowl of Emeralds, Krisada and Lady Dora.

Sweetest Thing was the only member of the Long Island field who raced near the pace and was still around at the finish. A lightly raced 3-year-old, Sweetest Thing challenged for the lead turning for home before proving no match for Queue's closing surge.

Summer Solstice was pinched back at the start, then moved to easy striking distance around the final turn before coming up empty through the stretch in the Long Island. The outing was the first for Summer Solstice since she won her United States debut at Gulfstream Park in February.

"She probably wasn't 100 percent fit for the Long Island," said her trainer, Christophe Clement, who will be after his fifth La Prevoyante victory on Saturday. "I think she deserves another chance."