Sparkle Blue drops for Big Dreyfus repeat bid

Sparkle Blue seeks to capture Laurel Park’s $100,000 Big Dreyfus Stakes for the second consecutive year when she starts as the likely favorite against six other fillies and mares racing 1 1/8 miles on turf.

The Big Dreyfus shares top billing on the Sunday program with the $75,000 Miss Disco for Maryland-bred 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs on dirt.

Trained by Graham Motion, Sparkle Blue hasn’t shied away from strong competition since last year’s Big Dreyfus. She’s faced graded company in 5 of 6 subsequent starts, including a gate-to-wire tally in Tampa’s Grade 3 Hillsborough on March 9, followed by a rallying runner-up effort in Churchill’s Grade 3 Modesty on May 3.

Sparkle Blue last raced June 7, finishing ninth in the Grade 1 New York during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga.

“I feel like I threw her to the wolves a little bit last time under not ideal circumstances,” Motion said. “The ground was different. I don’t know if it was soft, but it was definitely different ground, and she just didn’t have a great trip. I wanted to give her some class relief. This race was on our radar.”

Motion said that Sparkle Blue “can do anything,” as it pertains to race tactics, and he will leave plans up to jockey Jorge Ruiz.

Motion also entered Sun Bee, a Calumet Farm homebred exiting a third-place finish in Parx Racing’s PTHA President’s Cup on June 8. Kevin Gomez retains the mount.

“She was very unlucky,” Motion said. “I don’t know if she would have won the race, but she would have been closer. Kevin tried to do the right thing to save the ground. He had nowhere to go, so she really had to stop in the stretch, which wasn’t ideal. I think she’s a filly that’s improved.”

Glittering Lights, a three-time allowance winner overseas, makes her fourth start for trainer Brendan Walsh after being purchased for approximately $107,000 at a French auction in December.

The Kingman filly placed second behind Grade 2 winner Papilio in a second-level allowance on June 20 at Churchill. Papilio was scheduled to compete in Saturday’s Grade 3 Matchmaker at Monmouth.

Cut From Class makes her stakes debut in search of her fourth consecutive win and could be part of the pace picture under jockey Jeiron Barbosa. Trained by Steven Keil, the Maryland-bred recently beat open second-level allowance foes at 1 1/16 miles over the Laurel turf.

Cats Inthe Timber, a stakes winner on dirt for trainer Brittany Russell, adds blinkers and makes her turf debut in the Big Dreyfus.

“We were thinking about trying the grass,” Russell told Laurel track publicity. “She’s not a real big filly and she’s kind of a grinder type on the dirt. We are taking a swing with her, but I don’t think it’s the craziest idea that she could take to it.”

Multiple stakes-placed Tic Tic Tic Boom and Charmed Way complete the lineup.

Miss Disco

Daughter of Time faces statebred company for the first time in the Miss Disco after finishing a solid third in Monmouth’s Maryfield Stakes on June 29.

Trained by Charlie Baker, the Not This Time filly earned a respectable 78 Beyer Speed Figure when winning her second start, a maiden special weight on Feb. 11 at Aqueduct.

Baker then shipped Daughter of Time to Kentucky for a projected start in a first-level allowance on May 3 at Churchill, but was forced to scratch after the filly suffered a cut on her leg.

In the Maryfield, she showed early speed, then tired in the final eighth of a mile while failing to switch leads.

“I don’t know how strong that race came up,” Baker said. “The favorite broke pretty slow before finishing second. I thought she was going into that race a little short [off the layoff]. She was pretty game.”

The one prior time Miss Harriett ran against statebreds, she pulled off a 62-1 upset in her debut, the Maryland Million Lassie on Oct. 14.

The winner of the Wide Country Stakes over the same course and distance on Feb. 24, Miss Harriett moves back to dirt after failing to fire on turf in the Stormy Blues on June 16.

In her last dirt race, Miss Harriett faced three next-out winners when wired by Mystic Lake in the Grade 3 Miss Preakness at Pimlico.

Miss Harriett has speed and can impact the pace under Forest Boyce for trainer Brandon McFarlane.

Russell entered Overly Dramatic, a $300,000 Into Mischief filly owned by Repole Stable. A winner in 2 of 3 starts since being transferred from trainer Todd Pletcher’s South Florida string, Overly Dramatic has the tactical speed to find good position from just off the pace.

Enemynumbernine and Go Sherry Go also entered.

My Brazilian Girl is cross-entered Saturday in a two-turn maiden special weight on turf at Ellis Park.

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