Well-rested Shidabhuti shortens up a tad in Boiling Springs

Promiseher America won the Gazelle Stakes on April 9 at Aqueduct and returned to finish last of 14 in the Kentucky Oaks. Gambling Girl came out of her second-place finish in the Gazelle and was second, beaten a neck, in the Oaks.

Probably, the Gazelle was a fairly tough race, which would make its third-place finisher, Shidabhuti, a formidable entrant in the $100,000 Boiling Springs Stakes on Sunday at Monmouth Park.

While the Gazelle’s top two went to Kentucky, Shidabhuti sat tight. Chad Brown, who trains the filly for Peter Brant, has kept her on a steady work pattern since the Gazelle, but only now, nearly three months later, does the filly, by Practical Joke, swing back into action. She’s one of six 3-year-old fillies entered in the Boiling Springs, a mile and 70-yard dirt contest.

Drawn in post 1 with Samy Camacho named to ride, Shidabhuti figures to be favored Sunday. In her start prior to the Gazelle, the Busher Invitational, Shidabhuti ran the homestretch strongly to reel in her stablemate, Asset Purchase, who had opened a lead of several lengths in upper stretch. Asset Purchase did not distinguish herself returning with a fifth-place finish in first-level allowance competition, but the Busher was run over a muddy, sealed track surface, which could have relevance to the Boiling Springs. Sunday’s forecast for the Jersey Shore calls for thunderstorms and heavy rain.

Shidabhuti could benefit from cutting back in distance from the Gazelle’s 1 1/8 miles to the Boiling Springs shorter trip, and with three legitimate pace players entered, she figures to get a favorable setup.

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Seduction will take plenty of betting with Paco Lopez riding for Todd Pletcher and an open-lengths win showing prominently on her form. That win, however, was a one-turn mile over a soft maiden field nearly five months ago at Gulfstream Park.

Seduction, like Shidabhuti, has been breezing during her time away from racing, and her absence clearly isn’t related to consequential injury. In her only other start, Seduction chased the Brown-trained Good Sam, a sharp debut winner, last October in a sloppy-track sprint at Aqueduct. She is bred to handle two turns but probably wants to show speed and is drawn between pace rivals Atthecrossroads and Cairo Sugar.

Another pace player, Crypto Mama, is cross-entered Saturday in the Delaware Oaks. Her trainer, Kelly Breen, didn’t immediately return a text message asking which race the filly was intended for.

Miss New York is the Boiling Springs’s other main player. The filly’s form is all over the place. She began her career in Great Britain and since being sent to trainer Jorge Delgado to campaign in America has made three starts over Tapeta, two on turf, and two on dirt.

Her first dirt race came at Tampa Bay, where she won a seven-furlong allowance race going away. The second was just three weeks ago when Miss New York faced older rivals and finished a creditable third in the Lady’s Secret, another Monmouth dirt route. With Brown and Pletcher involved, Miss New York could be somewhat overlooked.

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