Speedy Grand Love will be one to catch in Honeybee Stakes
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The quick Grand Love will likely be the target for closers Gambling Girl and Wet Paint on Saturday, when all three battle for Kentucky Oaks points in the Grade 3, $300,000 Honeybee at Oaklawn Park.
The 1 1/16-mile race, which drew 12, carries points on a scale of 50-20-15-10-5. It’s one of three stakes on a Rebel Day card in which the infield will be open if the weather permits. AccuWeather is calling for a high of 50 degrees and an 80 percent chance of rain.
The Honeybee is the 3-year-old debut for Grand Love. She’s shown speed in all three of her starts, beginning with a debut win over Rarify, a half-sister to champion sprinter Runhappy, in an August maiden race at Saratoga. Grand Love set fractions of 21.96 seconds for the opening quarter and 44.97 for the half-mile in the sprint, and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 84.
“She’s fast,” trainer Steve Asmussen said. “I think the only under 45 [seconds] half-mile by a 2-year-old last year at Saratoga was her.”
Grand Love went on to run third in the Grade 3 Pocahontas at Churchill Downs before closing her season with a sixth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 4. Grand Love set the pace at 21-1 and finished six lengths behind winner and eventual champion Wonder Wheel.
“She ran in there pretty good,” Asmussen said. “I thought she could win from where she was when they lined up down the backside. I really did.”
Grand Love has worked sharply for the Honeybee.
“I think it’s the right spot,” Asmussen said. “The racetrack is conducive to where she wants to be.”
Joel Rosario has the mount from post 3.
Gambling Girl will start from post 4 under Irad Ortiz Jr. She’s closed well in each of her last two starts, both 1 1/8-mile races at Aqueduct. Gambling Girl was third by a length in the Grade 2 Demoiselle on Dec. 3 and second in the Busanda on Jan. 14.
“I thought she ran well in the Busanda, was just second-best on the day,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “She put in a good move. I thought her Demoiselle was a very good effort.
“I think she appreciates two turns. A mile and an eighth suits her better than a mile and a sixteenth. Part of the reason we’re there is to get around two turns.”
Earlier in her career, Gambling Girl won the Joseph A. Gimma against New York-breds. Pletcher said her subsequent efforts in open-company stakes were another reason the decision was made to ship for the Honeybee.
“She’s been training forwardly,” he said. “We thought we would give her an opportunity in another graded stakes, and it kind of worked out well with Irad able to ride her. He’s familiar with her.”
As for the possibility of a wet track, it would be nothing new for Gambling Girl, having run on off tracks in the Demoiselle and Busanda.
“I don’t think that would inconvenience her,” Pletcher said.
Wet Paint closed from last to win the Martha Washington over five others Jan. 28 at Oaklawn. In the Honeybee, Wet Paint will break from post 7 under Flavien Prat.
“I think she probably needs a pace to run into,” trainer Brad Cox said. “She should get that with a large field – even more so this time than last time. She’s not one with a lot of early foot. She’s a closer. We’ll see how it goes.”
Olivia Twist also exits the Martha Washington. She was one of the top choices as an unbeaten stakes winner. Olivia Twist set the pace and finished fifth, and the stress of racing revealed an excuse in the aftermath of the Martha Washington.
“She ended up scoping with some crud down in her lungs,” trainer Todd Fincher said. “Obviously, she wasn’t feeling great, wasn’t 100 percent. We scoped her the other day and she’s good. Hopefully this time, we’ll get to see what she’s really made of.”
Cristian Torres, who won five races Monday at Oaklawn, has the mount from post 11.
Speed in Carousel
Pretty Birdie and Yuugiri bring a good amount of speed into the $150,000 Carousel, a six-furlong race for fillies and mares. Yuugiri will break from post 5, and Pretty Birdie will start from gate 7.
Pretty Birdie is coming off a win in the Poinsettia on Dec. 17 at Oaklawn. She’s since been working right along for the Carousel.
“She’s doing better than she probably ever has,” trainer Norm Casse said. “It just seems like she’s matured a lot. She’s a much more professional horse.”
Casse feels the newfound maturity and post will be a benefit when taking on a fellow Grade 3-winning speed horse like Yuugiri, who comes off a win in a Dec. 30 allowance at Oaklawn.
“Every time we’ve faced serious speed, we’ve unfortunately drawn inside,” Casse said. “We’ll get to stalk [Yuugiri] if need be. We’d like to be able to do that if we have to.”
Casse is having a dream meet at Oaklawn, where he is 10 for 19 for a 53-percent win rate in Hot Springs.
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