Miss Preakness J

AMERICAN
GRADED STAKES PREVIEWS

Eight sophomore fillies will dash six furlongs in Friday’s $100,000 Miss
Preakness S. (G3) at Pimlico. Grade 1 vixen MANI BHAVAN (Storm Boot) will be
making her three-year-old debut in this test and while we would not be
surprised to see her take this field gate to wire, we’ll look for another with
more recent action.

GATORETTE (Distorted Humor) began her career with a pair of smashing
victories at
Gulfstream Park for conditioner David Fawkes, winning by a combined 15 lengths, and a
return to either one of those efforts should find her in the winner’s circle
following this tilt. The Kentucky-bred bay showed brilliant speed in the
nine-furlong Bonnie Miss S. (G2) last out before retreating in the lane, but the
cutback in trip will surely aid the speedy miss. Regular pilot Eibar Coa
retains the mount.

HEART ASHLEY (Lion Heart) flashed good potential before delivering a strong
performance in her stakes debut last out, powering home a two-length winner in the Cicada S. (G3). The
Steve Asmussen pupil toppled a really nice filly at Aqueduct last time and has
been freshened for this engagement, which should help her avoid a potential
bounce from a career-best effort in which she earned a 105 BRIS Speed rating. Garrett Gomez will guide the filly, who should be just off
the early tempo turning for home.

Mani Bhavan proved to be the dominant sprinting filly in New York as a
freshman, rolling to front-running tallies in the Spinaway S. (G1) and
Adirondack S. (G2) for Steve Klesaris. The brilliant miss didn’t fare well in
her lone route race, however, fading to last in the Alciabiades S. (G1), but we’re
willing to forgive her for that since it was contested on Polytrack. Alan Garcia
will ride the logical win candidate.

BOLD UNION (Dixie Union) looked good in her seasonal debut after a productive
juvenile campaign, and the filly has been working lights out for Kelly Breen.
The bay miss took the Astoria S. last year by 9 3/4 lengths and went off favored
in the Adirondack, so the talent is there. We think that the Kentucky-bred is
another contender in this deep race.

SNOW LASS (Stormy Atlantic) could be any type and is a mystery horse in
here for Lynne Scace. The unbeaten miss has dominated three fields in succession
to start her career, including a convincing triumph in the Sophomore Fillies S.
most recently. We’re a touch concerned that the Florida-bred hasn’t run anywhere
but Tampa Bay Downs in her career, but she is razor sharp and could be the one
from the widest post.

CINDERELLA’S WISH (Speightstown) could turn out to be a sensational claim if
one race is any indication. Snagged for $40,000 from her career debut at
Keeneland, she followed it with an eight-length
allowance score at Pimlico in her last outing. Trained by Mark Shuman, the
unbeaten lass obviously adores this oval, drilling a bullet half-mile in :47
recently, so we must consider her an
exotics threat with slight improvement.

TROPHY COLLECTOR (Strong Hope) jumped up to earn a 99 BRIS Speed figure in
her allowance win last out at Laurel for the ever-dangerous Rodney Jenkins. The
Virginia-bred bay has never been worse than second and is seemingly peaking, but
we have no clue what she has run against and will restrict her usage to the
gimmicks. The once-promising MISS OCEAN CITY (Mineshaft) has gone awry, failing to hit
the board in four straight following a fine maiden win at Saratoga. She can’t be
used in this affair.