Yellow Agate ends hiatus in wide-open Alma North

There are some pretty nice 3-year-old fillies patrolling the Mid-Atlantic this summer, including Shimmering Aspen, Sine Wave, Astrollinthepark, and Crabcakes. At Laurel Park on Saturday, when those four line up against Grade 1 winner Yellow Agate and Kentucky shipper China Grove, something interesting is bound to happen.

The $75,000 Alma North, a seven-furlong sprint, has attracted a field of 10. Frizette Stakes winner Yellow Agate, trained by Christophe Clement, is the most accomplished of the group, but she will be making her first start since the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in November, and this race is far from one-sided.

Yellow Agate closed strongly to win a loaded six-furlong maiden race at first asking last September at Belmont Park. Three horses came out of that race to win their next starts, including four-time stakes winner Miss Sky Warrior and Jamyson ‘n Ginger, who finished fifth in the BC Juvenile Fillies and is Grade 2-placed.

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Stretched out in distance to a mile in the Frizette, Yellow Agate raced closer to the pace and got up to nail the front-running Libby’s Tail by a head in deep stretch. In her season finale, Yellow Agate finished 10th in the BC Juvenile Fillies.

Shimmering Aspen will be a strong adversary Saturday. She began her 3-year-old campaign with two lopsided optional-claiming victories at Laurel Park and then stepped up in class and stretched out in distance for trainer Rodney Jenkins in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico.

Heavy rain prior to the Black-Eyed Susan resulted in the 1 1/8-mile race being run over an extremely sloppy track. Shimmering Aspen moved up to take the lead entering the stretch and looked to be in control but tired in the final furlong and finished seventh.

Jenkins has put two bullet works into Shimmering Aspen, and she looks ready to regroup. The seven furlongs is well within her scope.

Sine Wave is 2 for 3 for trainer Ben Perkins Jr., most recently finishing second to Sweet Loretta in the Grade 3 Beaumont at Keeneland. Perkins has carefully selected her races and scratched her from the $50,000 Light Hearted, a mile-and-70-yard stakes at Delaware Park last Thursday.

Astrollintthepark came into the Grade 3 Miss Preakness at Pimlico off three straight victories for trainer Larry Jones, but she didn’t get away from the gate sharply and then was fanned wide to the stretch from post 11. Despite her trip, Astrollintthepark finished fifth of 13 in that six-furlong race. The question Saturday is whether she can handle seven furlongs.

Crabcakes began her career with three wins but has now lost three in a row. She finished second to China Grove in the Wide Country Stakes and then was second to Astrollinthepark in the $75,000 Austintown Filly Sprint at Mahoning Valley.

Crabcakes broke last in the Miss Preakness and finished eighth. She will be a big price Saturday for Penn National-based Bernie Houghton.

China Grove is based at Keeneland with trainer Ben Colebrook. She looked good rallying to win the seven-furlong Wide Country at Laurel Park in February but has since finished fifth in the Grade 3 Bourbonette Oaks at Turfway Park and seventh in the Grade 2 Eight Belles at Churchill Downs.

Like Crabcakes, she offers betting value in the Alma North.