Souper Escape tries to give team a repeat in Hilltop Stakes

One day before they look for a Preakness Stakes victory with Win Win Win, Charlotte Weber’s Live Oak Plantation, trainer Mike Trombetta, and jockey Julian Pimentel look for a repeat victory in the $100,000 Hilltop Stakes. They send Souper Escape in the Hilltop, race 9, which is for 3-year-old fillies going a mile on the turf.

Friday’s card includes seven stakes, topped by the Black-Eyed Susan and the Pimlico Special.

Live Oak, Trombetta, and Pimentel teamed to dominate last year’s Hilltop with Souper Striking, who won by 6 1/4 lengths. Souper Escape and Souper Striking are named as a nod to the Campbell Soup Company, which was co-founded by Weber’s grandfather John T. Dorrance. Like Win Win Win, both fillies are homebreds born in Florida for Live Oak. Souper Escape, by Medaglia d’Oro, is out of Grade 1 winner Cry and Catch Me, whom Weber purchased for $3.5 million as a broodmare prospect in 2012 at Keeneland.

Souper Escape has won twice from five career starts, all in Florida or Maryland. In her first start this season, the filly finished fifth in the Gasparilla Stakes going seven furlongs on dirt at Tampa Bay. She then moved to the turf and won a one-mile optional-claiming race on April 27 at Laurel.

“She’s good, the timing is good,” Trombetta said. “This is the next logical step.”

Souper Escape and Pimentel drew the outside post in a full field of 14 fillies for the Hilltop.

Chad Brown sends out a pair of fillies for the Hilltop. German-bred Nova Sol, who was Group 3-placed in France, is making her first start for his barn and first since October. Also coming off a layoff for Brown is Dogtag, who last raced in September. Dogtag won the P.G. Johnson Stakes last August at Saratoga.

Fashion Faux Pas, a stakes winner on dirt, finished second in the Mizdirection Stakes sprinting on turf at Aqueduct and now goes longer than seven furlongs for the first time. Also making a surface change is Orra Moor, who briefly appeared on the Kentucky Oaks trail for Todd Pletcher. Orra Moor finished third in the Busher Stakes at Aqueduct, beaten less than a length, and then fourth in the Grade 3 Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn.

Jim McKay Turf Sprint

The picture for the McKay Turf Sprint opened up on Thursday when graded stakes winners Bound for Nowhere and Pure Sensation were both announced as expected scratches by their respective trainers.

Bound for Nowhere, the morning-line favorite for Wesley Ward, worked a sharp five furlongs on the Keeneland turf on Sunday morning, the day entries were taken for the race. Coming out of the work, Ward felt it was too quick for his liking five days before a race. He intends to scratch and train the horse up to a start at Royal Ascot next month. On Thursday, Christophe Clement indicated that he planned to scratch second choice Pure Sensation, seeking a firmer turf course. Some rain was expected in Baltimore on Friday morning.

With those two out, some of the attention might fall to Completed Pass. The gelding won four consecutive races before finishing second by a neck in the King T. Leatherbury Stakes at Laurel Park in both his stakes debut and turf debut. Victor Carrasco is named to ride for trainer Claudio Gonzalez, and the duo drew the outside post in this field, which would number seven if the favorites are the only two scratches.

American Sailor, Oldies But Goodies, and Tricks to Doo are the only other members of the field stakes-placed within the last calendar year.

Skipat Stakes

Chalon, last seen finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in November at Churchill Downs, figures to be favored in the $100,000 Skipat Stakes (race 7) for fillies and mares going six furlongs Friday at Pimlico.

Chalon was a Grade 2-placed stakes winner as a 3-year-old in 2017. Last year, she did not finish worse than second in five starts, all in stakes company, with wins in the Primonetta Stakes at Laurel and Regret Stakes at Monmouth. She enjoyed a solid fall in Kentucky, finishing second by a head in the Grade 2 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes at Keeneland and then beaten a head by Shamrock Rose in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. Shamrock Rose earned the divisional Eclipse Award.

Javier Castellano was aboard Chalon for both those fall races. He retains the mount Friday for Arnaud Delacour, who trains the mare for Lael Stables.

“I think the six furlongs at Pimlico should work out very well,” Delacour said.

The field also includes Anna’s Bandit, who has won three straight races, including the Conniver Stakes at Laurel and the Original Gold Stakes at Charles Town.