Underdogs try to play spoiler to Splendora in Molly Pitcher

Several trainers are entering the Grade 2 Molly Pitcher Stakes with immensely high hopes, but all are prepared for them to be dashed by Splendora. The reigning Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint champion has won six of her last seven starts and will be an overwhelming favorite on Saturday at Monmouth Park.

“We’re just looking to have her ready in the fall for the Breeders’ Cup,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “I don’t know what race we’ll be in yet. She’ll dictate where, based on how she’s doing. I want her fresh for that, so we’re just having fun with her.”

Baffert said he was disappointed to not have a runner in the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell this year, but Splendora could give him plenty of reason to celebrate in New Jersey. In the Grade 2 Shawnee at Churchill Downs last month, she stretched out to 1 1/16 miles and pulled clear by 2 3/4 lengths, picking up her first victory beyond a mile.

Her Breeders’ Cup plans at Keeneland this year remain unclear, but the 5-year-old will run back at the same 1 1/16-mile distance Saturday. Her one dull effort in the past year came when she first shipped to Churchill for the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff in May, giving Baffert the slightest reason to fret ahead of the trip to Monmouth.

“I shipped in there, and for some reason she just didn’t she didn’t show up,“ Baffert said. “So we’ll find out how she ships into Monmouth Park, but so far everything’s good. But I don’t know – I was really puzzled by her performance [in the Derby City Distaff].”

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Three contenders in the field of seven fillies and mares are coming off listed stakes victories. Lost Horizon arguably earned the most impressive of these when she kicked clear by 8 1/2 lengths in the $100,000 Serena’s Song at Monmouth in May.

“I skipped the [$100,000 Lady’s Secret last month] to give her some more recovery time,” trainer Chad Brown said. “It was a real breakthrough performance. She’ll have to step up against much higher quality fillies this time.”

Nerazurri, a 4-year-old trained by Mark Casse, shipped to Thistledown last month and pulled 4 3/4 lengths clear in the $250,000 Lady Jacqueline. Casse said he picked the spot in search of class relief after two distant finishes in Grade 1 races at Oaklawn Park and Churchill.

Dry Powder, who finished second in the Grade 1 Cotillion last year, ended an erratic stint for Chad Summers when she dug in to win the Lady’s Secret at Monmouth last month. Summers said the Molly Pitcher will be “the most important race for her,” a chance to get a graded stakes victory ahead of a potential trip to auction in November.

Trainer Brad Cox said he didn’t know how to explain Alpine Princess’s no-show in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps at Saratoga last month, but she has shown no signs of regression in the mornings since. The 5-year-old mare won the Grade 2 Doubledogdare at Keeneland in April.

Regret Stakes

Trainer Rusty Arnold said Echo Sound will ship to Monmouth and make her 4-year-old debut in the $100,000 Regret Stakes on Saturday. It will be the two-time graded stakes winner’s first start since last September when she faded to seventh in the Grade 3 Dogwood at Churchill.

“We ended up being a little disappointed in the end of the year,” Arnold said. “Things didn’t finish up the way we wanted and we gave her some time off. She had a couple of little issues that we didn’t think were that bad, but we gave her the winter off and had a little delay in getting her going. But she seems ready and hopefully we’ll have a good summer and fall.”

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Arnold cross-entered Echo Sound and Kilwin in the $175,000 Twin Bridges on Sunday at Ellis Park with the intent to split the fillies. Kilwin will stay in Kentucky.

After Echo Sound won last year’s Grade 3 Miss Preakness at Pimlico and ran even bigger to win the Grade 3 Victory Ride at Saratoga, Arnold felt more than ready to take the next step with her. Subsequent attempts in the Grade 1 Test and Dogwood proved unsuccessful, however, prompting the trainer to give her time to recover.

If she returns with anything near her best, as Arnold said he expected, she will deliver as the likely favorite in Saturday’s six-furlong dirt sprint. Trainer Gregory Sacco said My Magic Wand will scratch, which will shorten the field to nine fillies and mares.

Ms. Bucchero will make her second start for trainer Casse, who said she didn’t appreciate the synthetic in the Grade 3 Whimsical at Woodbine in May. The 6-year-old mare finished second in the Regret last year and later won the $125,000 Sugar Swirl at Gulfstream Park for trainer Diane Morici.

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