Several Summit of Speed hopefuls made morning workout appearances at Calder
on Friday, including a powerful half-mile move by champion female sprinter and
likely Grade 1 Princess Rooney favorite Musical Romance, who covered the
four-furlong trip in a bullet :46 1/5.
“She was doing it all on her own,” trainer Bill Kaplan said. “She really gets
a lot out of her work in the morning, so bringing her up to the race this year
without a real prep hasn’t been that much different. She’s perfectly fit for the
race.”
Musical Romance was last seen finishing second in the Grade 1 Humana Distaff
on May 5 where she chased home impressive winner Groupie Doll, who set the
Churchill Downs seven-furlong track record en route to victory that day.
“Being at home for this race takes a lot of the pressure off that comes with
shipping and having to deal with a different racetrack,” Kaplan said. “I’m still
interested in seeing who is coming. There were some good solid horses nominated
to the race, and once you put them in the gate anything can happen. But I am
confident.”
Musical Romance finished second in last year’s Princess Rooney where she was
beaten a neck for everything by Sassy Image. The daughter of Concorde’s Tune
enters this season’s Princess Rooney with just one win on the year in the Grade
2 Inside Information Stakes at Gulfstream Park in mid-March.
Also on track Friday for next Saturday’s races was Trinniberg, who breezed a
half-mile in :50 3/5. The Teuflesberg sophomore rebounded from a 17th in the Kentucky
Derby with an easy 1 3/4-length score in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens Stakes at
Belmont Park last out. Trained by Bisnath Parboo, the dark bay colt is readying
for the Grade 3 Carry Back.
Trainer Stanley Gold sent a trio of Summit of Speed hopefuls to the fast
track Friday morning to log their final morning workouts in advance of the July
7 races.
Fort Loudon, scheduled to contest the Carry Back, worked a half-mile in :49
2/5 while expected Grade 3 Azalea entrants Redbud Road and Awesome Belle covered
the same four-furlong distance, with Redbud Road stopping the timer in :50 2/5
and Awesome Belle clocking in at :52 2/5.
“All three came back good and we’re still on target for next week’s races,”
Gold said.
Fort Loudon will enter the Carry Back on a two-race winning streak, having
won the In Summation and Unbridled Stakes in his two most recent outings. The
Awesome of Course colt is a six-time winner in nine starts at Calder, which
includes a three-race sweep of the Florida Stallion Stakes in 2011.
Redbud Road won the French Village Stakes in mid-May but exits a
disappointing seventh-place finish in the Leave Me Alone Stakes, while Awesome
Belle crossed the wire seventh in the French Village and was fourth in the Leave
Me Alone.
The Eddie Plesa-trained Say a Novena, a three-year-old daughter of
Songandaprayer that was a regular on the Calder worktab for much of the spring
but has yet to compete over the local track, worked five furlongs on Friday in
advance of her first Calder start in the Azalea. The bay miss toured
five-eighths in 1:02.
“She worked this morning and everything went 100 percent well,” Plesa said
when reached by phone at Monmouth Park Friday morning. “I plan on coming down
Thursday.”
A three-time winner in 11 starts, including stakes triumphs in the Brandywine
at Parx Racing and Colleen at Monmouth, Say a Novena exits a distant
fourth-place finish in the It Up Stakes, which was run over five furlongs
on Monmouth’s turf.
“We just wanted to see how she would handle the grass,” Plesa said. “That’s
all it was.”
Plesa confirmed that jockey Manoel Cruz, who was aboard Say a Novena for
Friday’s work, will have the race-day mount.
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