Diamondrella, Game Face seek synthetic mastery at Presque
Isle
A trio of fillies and mares who achieved Grade 1 victories over the summer
will descend on Erie, Pennsylvania, Saturday night hoping to punch their ticket
to the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1). To get a feel of whether their
charges might handle Santa Anita’s Pro-Ride surface on November 7, the
connections of DIAMONDRELLA (GB) (Rock of Gibraltar [Ire]), FLASHING (A.P. Indy)
and GAME FACE (Menifee) will get their first taste of running over a synthetic
surface, in this case Tapeta, in the $400,000
Presque Isle Downs Masters S. (G3)
over 6 1/2 furlongs.
Diamondrella, who turned in an explosive stretch kick to beat champion
Forever Together (Belong to Me) in the June 6 Just a Game S. (G1) on turf, might
be a slight choice. The Angel Penna Jr. pupil has had only two starts this
season, preceding her Just a Game score with a similar display in the Giant’s
Causeway S. over the Keeneland turf. Regular rider Rajiv Maragh will again pilot
the five-year-old who breaks from post 2.
Game Face is a four-time graded stakes winner on dirt this year, taking the
Princess Rooney H. (G1) at Calder two back and the Honorable Miss H. (G2) at
Saratoga last time. After going through the motions in May following a solid
winter campaign at Gulfstream, the four-year-old has returned to top form for
Todd Pletcher. Flashing, meanwhile, is undefeated in three starts under a mile,
albeit against fellow three-year-olds. Last time, she rallied from slightly off
the pace to take the Test S. (G1) at Saratoga by 1 1/2 lengths. Earlier in the
spring, the Godolphin colorbearer re-rallied to take the seven-furlong Nassau
County S. (G3) over a muddy Belmont Park strip.
One of the likely favorites based on previous synthetic form is INFORMED
DECISION (Monarchos), who is four-for-four on Polytrack at Keeneland and
Arlington Park. At the former locale, she outfinished last year’s Breeders’ Cup
Filly & Mare Sprint winner Ventura (Chester House) in the April 18 Madison S.
(G1), and later took down the Chicago H. (G3). She will attempt to rebound from
a third in the Ballerina S. (G1) contested in the slop two weeks ago.
Canadian champion mare BEAR NOW (Tiznow) has won or placed in 13 of 14 starts
on synthetic, the lone exception being a distant last-place effort in the
Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic (G1) a year ago. PORTE BONHEUR (Hennessy), a
multi-surface threat, won the First Flight H. (G2) two starts back and is a
stakes winner on Woodbine’s Polytrack. Another graded winner this year is DUBAI
MAJESTY (Essence of Dubai), who landed the Winning Colors S. (G3) at Churchill
in late May.
Longshots NICKS (Salt Lake), SWEET LORENA (Langfuhr), TEQUILAS DAYJUR (Dayjur),
BEAUTIFUL VENUE (Came Home) and ROLLICKING AFFAIR (Black Tie Affair [Ire]) round
out the main body of the field. OLD TIME RELIGION (Buddha) and PREMIER ROMA
(Burning Roma) are the two also-eligibles.