Tiz So Sweet looks formidable in Summer Colony
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Bill Mott had Tiz So Sweet ready to fire off a 13-month layoff here July 27. He hopes he can have her ready to duplicate that performance while coming back in just four weeks.
Tiz So Sweet could play out as the primary speed in Monday’s $100,000 Summer Colony Stakes going 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga. As was the case in her win here July 27, Tiz So Sweet has the rail. And as was the case July 27, Samantha Nicole, a full sister to Rachel Alexandra, looms as the major threat.
Four others were entered in the Summer Colony: Imposing Grace, Catch My Drift, Montana Native, and Holiday’s Jewel.
Tiz So Sweet, a daughter of Tiznow owned and bred by the Steinbrenner family’s Kinsman Stable, won two of her first three starts before finishing fifth in the Grade 1 Acorn on June 7, 2014. She came out of that race sick, according to Mott, accounting for her lengthy layoff.
Montana Native returns to Saratoga, where she won an overnight stakes going 1 1/8 miles on the front end in 2013.
Key contenders
Tiz So Sweet (Last 3 Beyers: 85-81-85)
◗ Dueled on the lead, dropped back a length, then came on again and galloped to a clear victory in a second-level allowance race at this distance four weeks ago.
“She’s got to be a pretty nice filly to do what she did last time,” Mott said. “The only thing you’d worry about is having enough time. That’s always a factor, and you never know until after you run them.”
Samantha Nicole (Last 3 Beyers: 74-78-71)
◗ Was turned aside by Tiz So Sweet when she went to challenge that mare in upper stretch. She held second by a neck over Star Grazing.
“That day, maybe inside speed was good,” trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said. “Mott’s filly wasn’t on the lead the whole way, but she was close. She ran very well, and you may ask how are we going to make up six lengths? I don’t know that we can. If she would happen to win and we’re second, we’d be happy to get some black type.”
◗ John Velazquez replaces Irad Ortiz Jr., who rides Catch My Drift.
Catch My Drift (Last 3 Beyers: 87-74-70)
◗ Comes off a second-place finish to Hot Stones in a one-mile allowance race at Belmont Park on June 24. Hot Stones came back to win last Monday’s Saratoga Dew Stakes.
◗ Finished second to Grade 1 winner Dame Dorothy in the Grade 3 Turnback the Alarm Handicap last fall at Belmont Park.
◗ Finished seventh, beaten five lengths, in the Grade 1 Alabama last summer.