Quiet Kim starts fresh on the turf

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Quiet Kim was unable to make an impact in the top dirt stakes for 3-year-old fillies during the spring. She switches to turf Thursday at Hollywood Park, where she'll run in an optional claimer at a mile.

Quiet Kim is one of 11 3-year-old fillies entered in the seventh race. The field will be limited to 10 starters, with Star Voyager the lone filly on the also-eligible list. Quiet Kim, who will be ridden by leading rider Patrick Valenzuela, has drawn post 3.

has not started in Southern California since finishing second to Balance in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks in March. She failed to extend that form on the road, finishing sixth in the Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn Park in April and ninth in the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs last month.

Owned by Chris Houchin, Quiet Kim has 1 victory in 11 starts, beating a field of maidens in her eighth career start, at Santa Anita in February. She followed with the runner-up finish in the Santa Anita Oaks at 27-1.

Quiet Kim was beaten 10 lengths by Ready to Please in the Fantasy Stakes before she ran in the Kentucky Oaks.

"We were 8-5 in the Fantasy," said her trainer, Bob Hess Jr. "Maybe the one race we didn't have to run in was the Kentucky Oaks. She ran into a roadblock at the three-eighths pole and lost all chance. She was a little tired after that."

Thursday's race is the second appearance on turf for Quiet Kim, who is by Real Quiet. She finished seventh in a maiden race at Del Mar last summer in the second start of her career. It would be unfair to hold that performance against her since she had trouble at the start and in the final sixteenth.

"She had a nightmare trip," Hess said.

Hess said he thinks Quiet Kim's late kick will be suited to turf.

"I think with her racing style, it should be great," Hess said.

Quiet Kim must beat Zoemeg and Montreux, who were second and third in a similar field here June 1.

The red-hot trainer Julio Canani starts is the lone filly in the field coming off a win, having scored in a maiden race at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf on May 19.