Victress can fire fresh in Monashee

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Victress will appreciate the easier company and the move back to dirt when she runs in the $50,000 Monashee at Hastings Saturday. She won the 1 1/16-mile race coming off a lengthy layoff last year, and the way she worked a half-mile in 47.00 seconds with her stablemate Bistraya on Sunday suggests she is up to the task again.

The Monashee drew seven horses and goes as race 6 on a seven-race program that begins at 1:50 p.m. Pacific.

Trained by Rob Gilker, Victress was trying turf for the second time in her latest start, the Grade 3 Red Carpet Handicap at Del Mar on Nov. 23. She finished ninth in the 1 3/8-mile race, but got beat by only five lengths.

Prior to winning the Monashee last year, she finished last in a second-level allowance race on grass at Santa Anita on Jan. 1.

The 2016 British Columbia Oaks winner, Victress can obviously fire fresh, and Gilker is pleased with how she has been training leading up to her first start of the year.

“I am very happy with her,” he said. “She worked nicely with Bistraya. I was looking for them to work in 48, but they had other ideas.”

Gilker said foot issues have kept Victress from reaching her full potential.

“She lost half of her foot in a race she probably would have won,” he said.

Victress does her best running late, and with Indie Rock in the field she should have an honest pace to work with. Amadeo Perez will be aboard when she breaks from post 2.

KEY CONTENDERS

Victress, by Include
Last 3 Beyers 85-65-72

◗ She has been first or second in six of her seven starts at Hastings and she had an excuse when she finished fifth in last year’s Grade 3 Ballerina.

◗ The 5-year-old Kentucky-bred looked better than ever in her latest work, and it is telling that Perez bails on Touching Promise to ride her.

Touching Promise, by Touch Gold
Last 3 Beyers: 63-76-76

◗ The two-time Grade 3 Ballerina winner is the class of the party, and after missing most of last year she could be sitting on a big effort in the third start of her form cycle.

◗ The Barbara Heads trainee may have bounced in the Strawberry Morn after running a big race in the Vancouver Sun, which was her first start in more than a year.

Yukon Belle, by Drosselmeyer
Last 3 Beyers: 72-72-63

◗ Also trained by Heads, she set the pace and held on gamely to finish second in the Strawberry Morn. She is versatile, and she could get a nice trip stalking Indie Rock.

Indie Rock, by Second in Command
Last 3 Beyers: 65-68-65

◗ Not sure if the John Snow-trained 4-year-old wants to go this far, but she is the one they will have to run down, and she could be dangerous running without blinkers for the first time.