Red Carpet Ready faces two unbeatens in strong edition of the Victory Ride
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Munnys Gold was undefeated, untested, and seemingly invincible when Red Carpet Ready defeated her in game fashion in the Grade 2 Eight Belles on Oaks Day at Churchill Downs. On Saturday, Red Carpet Ready will face not one but two such opponents, Maple Leaf Mel and Dazzling Blue, when returning to Belmont Park for the second time in four weeks as part of an outstanding field of 3-year-old fillies in the $175,000 Victory Ride Stakes.
Red Carpet Ready’s first trip to New York went for naught when her race, the Jersey Girl, was postponed 72 hours after the June 8 racing program at Belmont Park was canceled due to unhealthy air quality resulting from wildfires in Canada. Her trainer, Rusty Arnold, opted not to re-enter when the race was redrawn and instead put her back on the van to Kentucky to await the Victory Ride.
“Obviously, it was just circumstances that caused her to skip her last start,” Arnold said. “I always say nothing good ever happens on a van ride and she’s had to make the 15-hour trip three times now in a month, but fortunately she looks great and never really missed any training time.”
Arnold also is cognizant of the fact the field for the Grade 3 Victory Ride is a lot stronger than the one she was scheduled to face in the Jersey Girl.
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“It’s obviously a little different group than last time, but the water always gets deeper when you come to New York this time of year,” Arnold observed. “Two of them have not been beaten, and she has. But they are both speed types, and I like our post better than last time (Red Carpet Ready had drawn the rail for the Jersey Girl) being on the outside.
“It seems like the scenario is for her to sit off and chase the other two, but I’ll leave that up to Luis [Saez]. He’ll know how fast they’re going and what position to put her in.”
Maple Leaf Mel has won her four starts in gate-to-wire fashion by a combined margin of 17 3/4 lengths, including the Grade 3 Miss Preakness on May 19 at Pimlico by 1 1/2 lengths over Topsy, who also has returned for the Victory Ride. That effort might be stronger than the final margin of victory indicates, according to Melanie Giddings, who took over from Jeremiah Englehart as trainer of record for the New York-bred filly after that race.
“It was pretty good considering she was pretty wound up in the paddock,” said Giddings, for whom Maple Leaf Mel was named. “There was a whole lot of commotion on the way to the paddock and it stirred her up a little bit, but she carried on her business like it was nothing.”
Like Maple Leaf Mel, Dazzling Blue has yet to be challenged or headed at any call in her three career starts, which include a three-length stakes win at Fair Grounds in her 2-year-old finale. Dazzling Blue will have to improve from a numbers standpoint to compete with most of the others in the Victory Ride, as her top Beyer Speed Figure is the 78 she received for an easy, 8 3/4-length allowance win on May 19 at Churchill Downs in her lone start this season.
The expected lively pace scenario should prove a plus for several others in the lineup, including Interpolate, who rallied to finish second, beaten a neck by Key of Life, in the Grade 2 Beaumont in her most recent start on April 16 at Keeneland while posting far and away her career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 91.
Vahva, who has improved dramatically with a win and a second in her last two starts, also figures to be running on at the end as should Topsy, who made up a half-dozen lengths on Maple Leaf Mel through the final half-mile before settling for second money in the Miss Preakness.
The stellar lineup also includes the once-beaten New York-bred Downtown Mischief and Adeliese’s Smile.
– additional reporting by David Grening
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