by Emily Gullickson – OptixEQ
RACE 6 – LADY CANTERBURY:
#9 URBAN FAIRYTALE She comes into this race with solid form this season as well as the experience over today’s course and distance. That takes us back to the 2020 Northbound Pride Oaks with her place finish, a solid effort on the day just no match getting run down by a strong favorite, the Mike Maker trainee, Ask Bailey. The Maker trainee this year, #8 EVIL LYN figures a logical contender based on her current form and Plot position, however, does not hold a real strong edge over the others in this field. Looking at OptixPLOT, there is not much between the two fillies and Urban Fairytale should offer the value of the pair.
In addition to Urban Fairytale, Wilkes will send out #6 PRINCESS CAUSEWAY to make her first start of the season and off the 284-day layoff another that looks to offer value as a contender. Her class and speed figures to stack up at this level and has shown versatility to run both on the main track and turf course winning at the sprint and route distances. She has been able to run and win off of a similar layoff in the past. She is positioned as a Square in Quad IV, though has shown the versatility to work a trip winning from multiple positions on the Plot. The Quad IV showing today is impacted with the closing of her 2020 season which includes the two turf races in Kentucky last season, both of those races on wet (Soft/Yielding) turf courses.
#5 LADY LAWYER could get a lot of attention for the connections and with the change in circuit. Her form, class, speed lack any edge over the others in this field making her a soft favorite. #4 BEACH FLOWER won this event in 2019 and finished a closing fourth last year. Her running style suits today’s race shape and her current form does not have any knocks coming into this race and returning to the turf, though will need a top effort to win.
#7 BEST KEPT SECRET was able to sneak away on Beach Flower (and #1 APPLE DAPPLE) on the lead over a sloppy sealed track and just enough to hold late as those two finished together. She projects to find pace pressure in addition to the class and surface test this afternoon. #2 SWEET BLINDNESS has some upside from a subtle trip on May 19th and while capable to improve this spot does not look ideal for her to compete as a contender light on both class and speed figures for this stakes level. #3 MY HEART SINGS had the more obvious trouble on June 3rd though also comes into this race light on class and speed to factor as a contender.
Racing begins at 5:10pm CT on Wednesday.
