Tulsa Queen, Rose Tree make for intriguing matchup in Malvern Rose
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On paper, Tulsa Queen is the queen of Sunday’s $100,000 Malvern Rose Stakes at Presque Isle Downs, standing out as the only multiple stakes winner in the field and with the group’s best speed figures.
However, the one-mile race for Pennsylvania-bred 3-year-old fillies still provides an intriguing matchup, as the lightly raced Rose Tree gets a chance to step up.
Tulsa Queen didn’t miss the board in five starts last year for Ryan and Anne Walsh but had just one win in 2016. She made it count though, winning her maiden in the Mrs. Henry D. Paxson Memorial Stakes at Presque Isle, where she has shown an affinity for the synthetic surface.
The filly comes into the Malvern Rose off back-to-back victories. She won an allowance race by 2 1/4 lengths at Presque Isle before defeating open company in the listed Duchess Stakes at Woodbine. She earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 83 for that last effort, the top number in this field.
Veteran jockey Mario Pino, aboard Tulsa Queen for her three most recent outings, retains the mount.
Rose Tree won her first three starts by open lengths for Hall of Fame trainer Jonathan Sheppard, taking a maiden special weight by 9 1/4 lengths, the Blue Mountain Juvenile Fillies Stakes by 3 3/4 lengths, and, off a layoff of more than five months, an optional-claiming event by 4 1/4 lengths to start this season.
Rose Tree then finished second in the New Start Stakes, beaten a length by Grand Prix, a half-sister to champion Finest City who is stakes-placed against open company in California. In her first loss, Rose Tree earned a career-best 76 Beyer, the second-highest number in this field.
Andrew Wolfsont, aboard for all of Rose Tree’s races, is in the irons as the filly runs at Presque Isle for the first time.
Ianthe is the only other filly in the field with solid stakes form, having finished second to Rose Tree in the Blue Mountain Juvenile Fillies. Citrine Harbor began her career this year with wins in two of her first three starts but hasn’t won since then and was well beaten in her lone stakes outing. She finished second in an allowance race in July at Presque Isle in her first outing on synthetic.
