Sister Troienne starts over in Winter Memories
:quality(75))
ELMONT, N.Y. – Nearly 54 weeks ago, Sister Troienne won a maiden race on turf at Churchill Downs, the first of what would become five consecutive victories, three in stakes.
Her streak came to an end with a head loss in the Grade 3 Herecomesthebride at Gulfstream Park in February, and her 3-year-old campaign got derailed after she was found to have bone bruising following a fifth-place finish in the Grade 2 Appalachian at Keeneland in April.
After a summer to recover, Sister Troienne looks to start anew in Thursday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Winter Memories Stakes going one mile over the Widener turf at Belmont Park. Ten of the original 11 3-year-old fillies entered when the Winter Memories was scheduled for Sunday entered back, Victory Hall being the lone dissenter. A newcomer to the group is Hand Over Heart, while Peppermint Twist was cross-entered in an allowance on Friday and will have to run in that spot.
Trainer Brian Lynch has been looking forward to running Sister Troienne for some time.
“She’s been working great,” Lynch said. “I’ve worked her with decent horses. I think we got the right amount of work in her. I expect her to run really good.”
Lynch would have been content to run Sister Troienne on the Tapeta track had NYRA officials decided to transfer the race from the turf rather than postpone the race by five days.
“Hopefully, if she stays in the mood she’s in right now, she doesn’t care what surface they run on,” Lynch said.
Sister Troienne, a daughter of Munnings, has enough tactical speed that she should be able to get a good position from post 8 under Junior Alvarado.
Trainer Chad Brown, a three-time winner of this race, originally entered Shelzawa and Crossover Capital. With the re-draw, Brown also entered Hand Over Heart, the latter having made a successful turf debut dead-heating for win in an allowance on Aug. 8 at Saratoga.
Shelzawa fared better at the re-draw moving to post 7 from her original draw of 11.
Brown said Shelzawa “needs pace to run at. She has a nice turn of foot.”
Crossover Capital is 2 for 2, having won a maiden at Monmouth in June and an allowance at Saratoga in July.
“I like what I’ve seen from her. She’s an improving horse well suited to keep on developing,” Brown said.
Kokomotion was an eye-catching debut winner at Tampa Bay in February but is 0 for 3 since then. Trainer Whit Beckman lamented her two races at Saratoga, an allowance in which she finished eighth after breaking from post 12 and the Grade 2 Lake Placid, where she finished sixth from an inside draw. Kokomotion went from the rail to post 9 on the re-draw.
Beckman said that in the Lake Placid, where Kokomotion was beaten only 2 1/2 lengths, “she was inside, covered up the whole way around. Any room opened up way too late.”
Lovely Grey returns to the races after being involved in a scary-looking spill in the Wild Applause Stakes on July 3 at Saratoga, a race in which Lovely Grey had moved into contention at the head of the stretch under Dylan Davis. Though her lone win from nine starts came on turf, Lovely Grey does have three solid runs on Turfway Park’s Tapeta, including a runner-up finish in the Bourbonette Oaks.
She also has been firing bullet works at Turfway for Kelsey Danner, who trains Lovely Grey for Dave Portnoy’s Go Go Greys Stable.
Ultimate Love finished second, beaten a half-length by Naomis, in the Grade 2 Lake Placid. She won her first three starts last year and was sent off the favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, where she finished fifth.
Queen of Hawaii was only 1 1/4 lengths behind Ultimate Love when running fifth in the Lake Placid.
Alone Time, a troubled-trip third in allowance company at Saratoga for Cherie DeVaux, went from post 10 to the rail. Flowerhead looks like a longshot in this group.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.