Somali Lemonade works half-mile over Oklahoma turf course

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Michael Matz received a phone call last week from a racing department official at Arlington Park to remind him to pre-enter Somali Lemonade in the Grade 1 Beverly D to be run next Saturday.

After watching his Grade 1 Diana Stakes winner work Sunday morning in Saratoga, Matz was grateful to have received the call.

Somali Lemonade, who has gone from near retirement to among the leaders of the older filly and mare turf division, cruised through a half-mile in 47.21 seconds over the Oklahoma turf course Sunday morning. She got her final quarter in 23.23 and galloped out five furlongs in 59.62 and six furlongs in 1:12.70.

“She looked like she worked nice,” Matz said. “She looked like she did it pretty easy.”

Somali Lemonade is 3 for 5 this year with victories in the Grade 3 Gallorette at Pimlico and Diana. Matz said that Somali Lemonade, a 5-year-old daughter of Lemon Drop Kid, would likely run three more times this year with hopefully her final start being in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita.

“As a 2-year-old, she went to the Breeders’ Cup,” said Matz, whose filly finished sixth behind Stephanie’s Kitten in the Juvenile Fillies Turf. “It’d be nice to see her there as a 5-year-old.”

Coincidentally, it was Stephanie’s Kitten whom Somali Lemonade beat by a neck in the Diana and whom she will face again in the Beverly D. On Saturday, Stephanie’s Kitten worked five furlongs in 1:01.44 over the Oklahoma turf course.

Somali Lemonade, Stephanie’s Kitten, Alterite, and Emollient, who finished eighth and ninth, respectively, in the Diana, will be on a Tuesday plane from upstate New York headed to Chicago. Real Solution, who will seek a repeat victory in the Arlington Million for trainer Chad Brown, Tourist, Divine Oath, and Sheldon, all for the Grade 1 Secretariat, also are booked on that flight.

Emollient, trained by Bill Mott, worked five furlongs in 1:01.70 over the Oklahoma turf Sunday. Divine Oath, trained by Todd Pletcher, worked four furlongs in 48.45 over the dirt Sunday in company with Harpoon.