White Rose should handle distance in River Memories

ELMONT, N.Y. – Following Saturday’s Stars and Stripes stakes smorgasbord, the countdown to Saratoga begins in earnest on this circuit, with only 11 cards remaining at Belmont Park and just six listed stakes left to run at the meet.

Sunday’s $100,000 River Memories at 1 1/2 miles on turf features seven fillies and mares hoping to convince their connections that they are worthy of running at Saratoga in something like the Grade 3 Waya Stakes on Aug. 8.

White Rose is the only member of this field with a win at 1 1/2 miles, that victory coming in last October’s Dowager Stakes at Keeneland. She is winless in four starts this year but ran a decent race when fifth, beaten 1 3/4 lengths, in last month’s Grade 2 New York Stakes at 1 1/4 miles.

In that race, White Rose saved all the ground under Javier Castellano, but things got rather tight when she tried to split horses in the stretch.

“She had a couple of good efforts and some wide trips,” trainer Bill Mott said. “And when we tried to save ground, she got squeezed.”

There does appear to be enough speed in this race to spread out the field a little bit, possibly enabling White Rose to avoid that same trouble.

White Rose, who breaks from post 6 under Junior Alvarado, is the highweight at 123 pounds, conceding two to eight pounds to her six rivals.

Trainer Chad Brown sends out the uncoupled entry of Goldy Espony and Granny Mc’s Kitten, both coming off allowance wins over this course earlier in the meet.

“I think they train like horses who will enjoy going a mile and a half,” Brown said.

Trainer Graham Motion sends out the uncoupled entry of Dido and Jane Peterson. Dido has twice finished second in allowance company at this meet, while Jane Peterson won a second-level allowance at Pimlico before running fifth here June 17. Maximova and Sabbatical complete the field.

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Key contenders

White Rose (Last 3 Beyers: 89-83-88)

* Has competed in four consecutive graded stakes and might find the drop in class to her liking in this spot.

* Since her fifth-place finish in the New York, she came back with a solid five-furlong workout over the Belmont turf course last weekend.

“She really did work good the other day,” Mott said. “On the bridle the whole way.”

Goldy Espony (Last 3 Beyers: 85-77-83)

* Showed improved speed in her last start, a race in which there was a horse who bolted and actually ran ahead of her, but never was a serious threat.

* Does show a win in a Group 3 race in France last year at 1 5/16 miles.

* Brown said she hasn’t run since May 8 because, “I didn’t see anything that made sense to me.”

Dido (Last 3 Beyers: 84-84-85)

* Was making up some ground on Goldy Espony when beaten a length by her in the aforementioned May 8 race, Dido’s first start in 10 months.

* Came back to run second behind good-looking returnee Ticking Katie. That race was run on a yielding turf course over which Dido set pedestrian fractions.