Sensible Lady seeks three-peat in The Very One
With new connections, Sensible Lady comes to Baltimore on Saturday seeking the same old result when she attempts to win her third consecutive $100,000 The Very One Stakes, scheduled for five furlongs on turf.
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Sensible Lady, a 5-year-old daughter of Street Sense, won this race in 2012 and 2013 when owned by Three Lyons Racing and trained by Tim Salzman. Following her victory in the Buckland Stakes at Colonial Downs last June, Sensible Lady was purchased privately by Richard Santulli and transferred to Alan Goldberg. In two starts for these connections – both last year – Sensible Lady finished last as the favorite in a Grade 3 race at Woodbine and third in the Turf Amazon at Parx last September before getting a break.
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“She fell down in the gate the first time we ran her, and she ran okay the second time,” Goldberg said. “She’s a different horse from last when I got her – she had a couple of issues. Hopefully, that translates into her ‘A’ game.”
The forecast for Friday was for one to three inches of rain, creating a less-than-firm turf course. Though Sensible Lady has won on yielding turf, Goldberg gets the feeling that she’s better on firm ground.
Sensible Lady, who overall is 3 for 3 over Pimlico’s turf, will break from post 12 under Joel Rosario.
Among her 13 challengers is Madame Giry, who would be running back six days after finishing fourth in the License Fee Stakes at Belmont on Sunday. Trainer Cam Gambolati said he plans to run if the turf is good.
“I’m taking a chance, but everybody does it nowadays. You got to change your style,” Gambolati said. “I knew there’d be a lot of speed in there, which is one reason why I’m doing this.”
Tizgale, a winner of both of her turf-sprint starts, and Knit One Purr Too, the winner of a sprint stakes for 3-year-old fillies, are among the contenders in a competitive field.