Roussel, Starship Duchess look strong at Arlington

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Owner and trainer Louie Roussel’s record at this Arlington meet, 20-4-1-2, looks solid enough on the face of things. Dig a bit deeper, though, and Roussel’s stats could point the way to a winner in the featured third race Thursday at Arlington.

Entering this racing week, Roussel runs the leading Arlington stable in turf races. All four of his victories here this season have come on grass, where the barn has gone 11-4-1-1, with a blockbuster $6.76 return on investment. And the favorable trend, while not quite as strong, persists through the longer term, since Roussel had a 2013 meet record of 54-10-11-9 in Arlington grass races, with a positive $2.13 ROI.

Carrying the Roussel colors in the Thursday feature is Starship Duchess, who has a good chance to enhance the barn’s meet record, provided the race remains on turf – no sure thing with showers forecast in the area Wednesday. Starship Duchess, purchased privately early in 2012, is 1 for 1 on the Arlington grass course and a fine 5-1-1 from eight turf starts overall.

She missed more than a year of racing but returned last fall at Hawthorne with a solid runner-up finish and easily won a pair of turf starts during the Fair Grounds meet.

It could properly be pointed out that Starship Duchess had favorable trips in both her Fair Grounds wins, but she certainly made the most of them, winning a route race by more than five lengths and a sprint by more than three.

Thursday’s one-mile trip is within her scope, and though the sharp-riding E.T. Baird might have to throttle back Starship Duchess’s natural speed to avoid a duel with Katie the Lady and, perhaps, Goldway, Starship Duchess does not appear entirely opposed to waiting a bit behind a fast-paced leader.

And for what it’s worth, Starship Duchess is one of only two horses among eight entered in a third-level allowance also open to $80,000 claimers who are not Illinois-breds.

The 8-year-old Katie the Lady makes her first start since October, and her best races from 2013 clearly fit the spot. But Katie the Lady needed her first start last year to shake off the rust and might be more of a one-dimensional front-runner than Starship Duchess.

The 2-1 morning-line favorite, Kepi, is not getting any younger, either, and her 6-year-old debut comes after just a four-race 2013 campaign. The 4-year-old I O Ireland, on the other hand, is a potential improver making the second start of her campaign.

A switch to Polytrack would make Goldway the one to beat. In her most recent Arlington main-track start last summer, she won by more than five lengths at this distance and class level.