Uni, Blue Prize could be Maryland bound

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown will have a difficult time keeping his plethora of female turf stakes runners separated, but that won’t stop him from trying.

A short time before he ran 1-2-3 in the Jenny Wiley at Keeneland on Saturday, Brown ran 1-2 in the Plenty of Grace Stakes at Aqueduct, with Uni beating Fifty Five by a length.

Uni from age 3 to 4 “has come back a little stronger, a little sharper, a little sounder,” Brown said.

Brown said Monday that Uni could be headed for the Grade 3, $150,000 Gallorette at Pimlico on Preakness Day, or the Grade 1, $300,000 Gamely Stakes at Santa Anita on May 26.

Fifty Five will likely await the $125,000 Mount Vernon for New York-breds at Belmont on May 28.

Brown said that Ticonderoga, sharp winner of an allowance race last Wednesday at Aqueduct, could be a candidate for the Grade 3, $150,000 Fort Marcy at Belmont on May 5 or could wait two more weeks for the Grade 2, $250,000 Dixie at Pimlico on May 19.

Blue Prize, who won Sunday’s $200,000 Top Flight Invitational here by a neck over Frost Wise, will most likely make her next start in the Grade 3, $150,000 Allaire DuPont Distaff at Pimlico on May 18.

Trainer Ignacio Correas IV said Blue Prize prefers races at 1 1/8 miles such as the Top Flight, for which she earned a 90 Beyer Speed Figure, and last November’s Falls City at Churchill Downs, a race she won by 8 1/2 lengths. The Allaire DuPont is at 1 1/8 miles.

“She needs at least a mile and an eighth,” said Correas, who mentioned the Personal Ensign at Saratoga as a possible summer target.

Out of the Flames, who won Sunday’s Mizdirection Stakes here by a head over Africa, will likely get a freshening after winning two races in 17 days and shipping cross country, trainer Simon Callaghan said from California.

“We’ll probably give her a break and get her ready for the summer,” said Callaghan, mentioning Del Mar as where she would make her next start.

Out of the Flames earned an 82 Beyer Speed Figure for her victory.