Wenzel looks to recapture success with 3-year-old fillies

AUBURN, Wash. – Trainer Tom Wenzel ran roughshod over Emerald Downs’ 3-year-old filly division last year, sweeping the top three spots in all four open stakes races with his formidable trio of Stopshoppingdebbie, Goin to the Window, and Blueberry Smoothie.

A year later, Wenzel has his hands on two more promising 3-year-old fillies, though this pair, Quiet Wisdom and Timeless Pleasure, has been slow to turn its potential into tangible results. In nine starts to date, the two have combined for a pair of maiden victories and little more.

Against that modest background, Wenzel will push them into the deep end of the talent pool Sunday when they start in the $50,000 Irish Day Handicap at one mile.

Quiet Wisdom is by Pulpit from an Empire Maker mare and is sure to appreciate the extra ground in her first career route attempt. She should attract some interest in the wagering, while Timeless Pleasure likely will be one of the longest prices on the board.

“She’s a mid-sized filly, a nice little filly,” Wenzel said of Quiet Wisdom. “It’s taken a couple of times to break her maiden, but I like the horse. She has a decent chance to go long. But it’s a stakes race – some can make the jump and some can’t. We’re hoping that this one can. My other filly, she did break her maiden routing. They didn’t run that fast that day, but she does need more ground to be competitive against good fillies. So we’ll see what they can do. This filly division is an OK division, but behind Chu and You, it seems like a wide-open division, especially if we think Chu and You might be vulnerable at a longer distance.”