Thursday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: Quiescent switches back to turf in career-best form
Belmont at the Big A | Race 6 | Post Time 3:39 p.m. (ET)
Only one horse in this entire field raced in a turf sprint in its most recent start, that being morning line favorite Linarite (#10). She is arguably the horse to beat based on her overall body of work racing, having hit the board in several turf sprints last season before getting the winter off. Following a prep on dirt, she got back on track facing New York-breds over this course and distance last time. Reserved at the back of the pack early, she made a nice late rally into third while navigating some traffic. Her deep-closing style makes her a little tough to trust at a short price, but I do expect her to run well against a field of rivals that all have something to prove.
Four fillies in this field are trying grass for the first time, and two others have only made one prior start over the surface. Among those lacking turf experience, I’m most intrigued by First Class Cat (#6). It seems like there might have been some intention behind Linda Rice claiming this filly in May and switching her right over to grass. She’s by West Coast, who has actually had some success as a turf sire, his progeny winning 12% of their turf starts according to DRF Formulator. The dam was strictly a turf horse, making all 11 starts on the surface, winning 3 times. None of her foals have yet won on the grass, but this filly is the best one she’s thrown. Rice doesn’t have great statistics with this move, but this seems like the right kind of spot to try something new.
Another horse who may appreciate the switch to gras is Pebble Lane (#11). Upstart’s progeny have won 11% of their turf sprint starts, and the dam has produced 3 turf winners. The problem is that she hasn’t raced in over a year and is stuck in the far outside post position.
My top pick is switching back to turf after having previously tried it. Quiescent (#2) put in a couple of decent efforts on grass last season, running well of a layoff in her turf debut last April. After a couple of disappointments, she then got some class relief on Aug. 23 at Saratoga and ran better than the result might suggest, dueling through some quick fractions. She went to the sidelines after that and produced more of the same when she returned on dirt this past winter. However, she made her first start off the claim for Orlando Noda last time, and looked like a different horse for the new barn. In a race rained off the turf, she encountered a legitimate dirt rival in Shop Lifting, who had finished just a head behind champion Just F Y I on debut. Yet Quiescent shot to the lead and never gave that heavy favorite a chance, earning a towering 110 TimeformUS Speed Figure. Now she has to repeat it on grass, but I actually like her getting back to this surface based on her prior form. She’s one of the best gate horses on the circuit, which should keep her out of trouble from the rail draw.