Boiling Springs

TRACK BANDIT PREVIEWS

MELHOR AINDA (Pulpit) will try to keep her perfect record unblemished while
trying graded company for the first time on Sunday in the grassy $150,000
Boiling Springs S. (G3) at Monmouth. The Bobby Frankel trainee began her career
in impressive fashion, taking her maiden debut by 3 1/2 lengths going one mile
over the Belmont turf, where Frankel ran her back the next month in the
nine-furlong Miss Grillo S. That day the bay opened up on her rivals by eight
lengths at the wire and recorded an impressive BRIS Speed rating for a
two-year-old of 91. In her 2005 bow, Melhor Ainda defeated one of her Boiling
Springs rivals, PADDY’S DAISY (King of Kings [Ire]), by 3 1/2 lengths in the
April 24 Appalachian S. That day she received a 102 for her effort and with the
combination of top jockey John Velazquez and a recent bullet five-furlong drill
(:58 3/5) over the Belmont training track, we find it hard to go against this
filly.

Paddy’s Daisy appears to be the only filly in the race that can defeat
our top choice. The Todd Pletcher trainee made her debut on the Belmont main
track before switching to the turf, where the chestnut has never finished worse
than fourth in eight starts, including victories in the Miesque S. (G3),
Jessamine County S. and Salem County S. Unfortunately, all three of those wins
came last year, and Paddy’s Daisy will be one of the many fillies we will have
right underneath Melhor Ainda in the exotic plays.

The Timothy Hills-trained TOLL TAKER (Bernstein) won the Astarita S. (G3)
last fall sprinting over Belmont’s dirt, and the bay was victorious
in the Suncoast S. three back, run at the 1 1/16-mile Boiling Springs distance. This will
be her first start on the turf, though, and we’ll have to let her beat us but
will still have her in the gimmicks.

CLASSY CHARM (Silver Charm) appears to be a different filly since switching
to the turf for John Kimmel, recording the best Speed rating of her life last
time (92) when taking a Keeneland allowance. The bay is stepping up here but
we’ll still use her in the bottom of the exactas and trifectas.

Like Toll Taker, COOL SPELL (Grand Slam) is a classy stakes winner who has
had never raced off the dirt. Most recently the John Hennig-conditioned miss
finished second in the 7 1/2-furlong La Troienne S. (G3), and while the dark bay
may not want any part of 8 1/2 furlongs, we’ll still use her in the exotics.

FROST PRINCESS’s (Waquoit) only two wins have come over the grass, including
a victory against allowance foes last time. The gray may finally be rounding
into stakes form for conditioner Hamilton Smith, but we’ll have to give her a
race to prove it to us.

RUBY MARTINI (Rubiano) broke her maiden last out and would be a surprise to
end up in the winner’s circle with the jump in class she is taking here. That
one at least has experience on the lawn, as fellow maiden winner PLEASANT LYRICS
(Pleasant Tap) has never raced on the sod and appears very ambitiously placed
here.