Stablemates happy to be home for rematch in Malvern Rose
?q=100)
Stablemates Thank You Amy and Smooch Up have taken their talents outside of their home state with mixed success, including some dives into the deep end of the pool. They now loom large back in the friendly confines of the $75,000 Malvern Rose Stakes, a 6 1/2-furlong race for Pennsylvania-bred 3-year-old fillies Monday evening over the synthetic track at Presque Isle Downs.
Thank You Amy and Smooch Up are trained by Ron Potts Jr. Last year, Thank You Amy scored her debut win at Presque Isle against open company, finished sixth in the My Dear at Woodbine, and then returned to Presque Isle to win an allowance.
She then finished fifth in a strong edition of the Presque Isle Debutante behind Smooch Up. The third-place finisher in that race, Peach Tie, has come back to be a multiple stakes winner, most recently in the Grade 3 Miss Preakness. To end her season, Thank You Amy bounced out to finish second to next-out winner Strike D’ Oro in allowance company.
Thank You Amy has a recency edge on Smooch Up in the Malvern Rose, having made several starts this year. After opening the season with an open-company allowance win at Gulfstream Park, she finished ninth in the Grade 3 Mamzelle on turf at Churchill Downs, a race won by Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint winner and Eclipse Award finalist Cy Fair.
On May 27, Thank You Amy showed once again she can bounce back from an unplaced effort with a front-running score in which she held on against older horses in a Presque Isle allowance. She earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 75, one of the top numbers in Monday’s six-horse field.
Smooch Up is dangerous as she makes her season debut in the Malvern Rose. She was undefeated in three starts here last year, winning by a combined 15 3/4 lengths. Her only losses came outside of Pennsylvania, when she was fifth trying dirt in the Keswick at Colonial Downs and fifth in the Glorious Song at Woodbine trying seven furlongs.
While those efforts could be dismissed based on surface, distance, and shipping, Smooch Up also broke poorly both times. A clean break in her first start of the year will be key – especially since she has drawn post 2, with Divine Intention, from the rail, and Divine Seeker in post 3, both likely to seek the front end.
Divine Seeker holds this field’s highest Beyer, an 86 for a 4 1/4-length allowance win in March at Parx. She emerged from the career-best effort to finish fourth in another Parx allowance, perhaps bouncing off her prior race and not relishing the seven furlongs. The Malvern Rose will be Divine Seeker’s first race over a synthetic track.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.