From a Charles Town release
Miss Behaviour wins the Miss Preakness. Photo by Laurie Asseo.
Cal MacWilliam and Neil Teitelbaum’s Miss Behaviour will look to give her owners, trainer and jockey the richest win of their respective careers this Saturday night as she faces a full field of 9 other three-year-old fillies in the $500,000 Charles Town Oaks (G3) at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races. The Charles Town Oaks, which will be run as a Grade 3 for the first time in its history, serves as the marquee race on the track’s sixth annual Race for the Ribbon card.
After a two-year-old campaign that included stakes wins in the Sorority at Monmouth and the lone graded score of her career in the Matron (G2) at Belmont, Miss Behaviour has knocked heads with the top three-year-old filly sprinters in the country this year, banking $260,000 in the process. After opening her campaign with a third place finish on the turf, the daughter of Jump Start won the Miss Preakness at Pimlico before a string of three second place finishes in graded stakes company at Belmont and Saratoga. Despite the 1 3/4 length defeat in the Victory Ride (G3), narrow loss to Sweet Reason in the Test (G1) and second place finish to Stonetastic in the Prioress (G2), trainer Phil Schoenthal isn’t concerned about the runner-up efforts.
“I don’t think there’s any seconditis there,” said Schoenthal. “If that’s the way it goes, there’s no shame in defeat facing that type of horses. A lot of times it’s the trip and the pace and how it shakes out. She’s the kind of horse that gives her best effort and is always right there.”
And despite the only race over the main track where Miss Behaviour has finished worse than third being a two turn race around a bullring in last year’s Delta Princess (G3), Schoenthal believes the setup on Saturday night may play to his filly’s strengths.
“That [Delta Princess] was a mile at the end of a long campaign and shipping across the country and she probably just wasn’t at her best that day. In the Victory Ride and Test she proved her worth against the best fillies in the country going six and a half or seven furlongs. The bullring plays to her advantage. Hopefully she’ll be on or near the lead turning for home and the closers will have to pick up their rally on the turn and weave through traffic on the turn rather than making their move.”
With his filly installed as the 5-to-2 morning line favorite, Schoenthal hopes for an effort that keeps his stable star moving forward in the ranks of the country’s top female sprinters.
“She is without question the greatest horse I’ve ever been around. I want everyone to see how special she is.”
Jevian Toledo has the call aboard Miss Behaviour for the first time on Saturday.
While Miss Behaviour stretches beyond six and a half furlongs for just the third time in her career, Bill Mott hopes a cutback in distance will suit Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider’s homebred filly Size as she seeks her second graded stakes win of the year.
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- Miss Behaviour (5-2)
- Nesso (12-1)
- Executive Allure (8-1)
- Honey’s Ryan (15-1)
- Pixie Dust (15-1)
- Saintly Joan (10-1)
- Kiss to Remember (6-1)
- Size (7-2)
- Agua Regia (10-1)
- (AE) Discreetly Elusive (6-1)
- (AE) Sky Crew (15-1)[/boxify]
After starting her career running in three consecutive races at six furlongs, Mott stretched her out to mile and a sixteenth in her fourth start and watched the First Samurai filly respond with a 1 1/4 length win over Ria Antonia in the Iowa Oaks (G3). That race at Prairie Meadows – along with the money available in the Charles Town Oaks – gave Size’s Hall of Fame trainer all he needed to point her to the race.
“The purse and the distance are the reasons to try the Oaks,” said Mott, whose lone starter at Charles Town was Ron the Greek, who finished third in the 2013 Charles Town Classic (G2). “We think she could be effective. She’s proven that she’s pretty good at a mile and a sixteenth. We think between she could be effective between seven furlongs and a mile and a sixteenth.”
Following the Iowa Oaks, Size went off as the second choice behind Stopchargingmaria in the mile and a quarter Alabama (G1) at Saratoga, but checked in ninth, beaten 15 1/4 lengths.
“I don’t know what happened,” Mott added. “She didn’t want any part of a mile and a quarter. At least on that day she didn’t.”
Junior Alvarado once again has the call aboard Size, who is the 7-to-2 second choice on the morning line.
Saintly Joan and Aqua Regia – the second and third place finishers in the Monmouth Oaks (G3) in August – will also be cutting back in distance from their last starts on Saturday night.
Trained by Tom Albertrani, Aqua Regia served notice of her talent earlier this year when she fell just a half-length short of defeating multiple Grade 1 winner Sweet Reason in a March allowance race at Aqueduct. After three more efforts in allowance company, Aqua Regia made her first foray into stakes company when she tackled Untapable and others in the Mother Goose (G1) at Belmont. While she could do no better than fifth there, the filly owned by St. Elias Stable and West Point Thoroughbreds crossed the wire second in the Monmouth Oaks only to be disqualified and placed third behind Cassatt and Saintly Joan.
Albertrani acknowledges his filly will have to step up to find the winners’ circle on Saturday night, but likes the progress Aqua Regia has made.
“For us, it looks like our filly is coming off a good race,” said Albertrani who will saddle his second Charles Town Oaks starter with Belle of the Hall finishing ninth back in 2010. “We think she could handle the track. We’re taking our chances with her stepping her up a little. But we felt our filly is coming off a nice race and felt this race might set up well for her.”
Eddie Castro will ride Aqua Regia.
After starting her career in California, where she competed against some of the west coast’s best sophomore fillies, Saintly Joan was sent east in May of this year and transferred to Monmouth based trainer Patrick McBurney. The daughter of Northern Afleet, who was bred by her owners Steven Bajer, Gem, Inc. and Dustin O’Hara, won the Little Silver in her first start for her new conditioner. After a dull performance on the turf in the Desert Vixen, McBurney put her back on the main track in the Monmouth Oaks, where she endured a rough trip that ultimately landed her with the place spot.
“She was down on the inside and kind of saving ground and looking good,” said McBurney. “It was almost at the point of the turn where there are a few little trees in there and we lost sight of her. When I picked her back up she was back in sixth place down on the inside. She actually hit the inside rail when the horse came down on her.”
Come Saturday night, McBurney just hopes Saintly Joan not only gets a better trip, but also handles the configuration of the Charles Town oval.
“You never know when a horse shipping in will handle those turns, but we’ll see. She’s a good-sized, big three-year-old filly. Her running style is that she likes to be in the mix. Hopefully, we’ll get a good stalking trip.”
Saintly Joan isn’t the only horse in the Charles Town Oaks field having started her career on the west coast as Amaty Racing Stable’s Nesso also made four of her first five career starts in California, all on turf, including a run in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1).
After being turned over to trainer Sandino Hernandez in southern Florida, Nesso won her first start for her new connections and most recently finished fourth in the Indiana Grand over a sloppy track. However, it was Nesso’s start two races back in the Cash Run at Gulfstream that gives Hernandez confidence. In the six and a half furlong Cash Run, the Florida bred was beaten just three quarters of a length by Little Alexis, who would go on to finish third in the Test, just a nose behind Miss Behaviour.
“That race against Little Alexis was a very good race coming off the layoff,” Hernandez remarked about the Cash Run. “We took a shot running in Indiana, and it was taken off the turf and she ran fourth. Since there were no races in South Florida, I brought her back a bit too soon. I’ve just trained her for this race and we’ll see what happens. She’s doing real well, and she’s going into this race as good as she went into that race with Little Alexis.”
Abdiel Jaen will ride Nesso who breaks from Post 3.
While some of those in the Charles Town Oaks field have changed coasts, William Sorokolit’s Executive Allure will be making her own geographic transition for the race by leaving her native Canada for the first time. The Ontario bred has made all five of her career starts at Woodbine, with three of those coming on the turf. Saturday night will mark Executive Allure’s first start on a natural dirt surface.
The daughter of Bold Executive, who Sorokolit also bred, broke her maiden as a two-year-old in the $150,000 Fanfreluche Stakes at Woodbine – the first victory in a three race winning streak. That winning streak, which also included a win in the $125,000 Passing Mood Stakes, was broken in Bold Executive’s last start when she checked in second, beaten nearly five lengths, in the Ontario Colleen (G3).
Locally based rider J.D. Acosta has the mount on the Darwin Banach trainee.
Trainer John Servis will send out Stormy Novel for owner Cam Allard in hopes of turning the tables on Miss Behaviour who got the best of her by 1 3/4 lengths the last time they faced off in the Miss Preakness.
“To me, she went into the race really, really good, and she ran second out of the one hole, but it proved to me she was a quality filly,” said the Charles Town native about Stormy Novel’s effort in the Miss Preakness. “I ran her back a little soon in the Jostle, and it was home [at Parx], but it was too quick back for her. So I gave her some time, and she ran super in the Monmouth race [winning the Miss Woodford on July 20] and she’s doing great for this race.”
After winning the Miss Woodford at Monmouth, Servis decided to give his filly two months off – a decision he attributes to little else but timing.
“The only other race in our timeframe was the Prioress, but I’d have to ship to Saratoga and then come right back in three weeks and ship to Charles Town. I just figured I’d skip the Prioress and go right to this. My filly’s doing awesome. If I’m not top three, she’s just not good enough.”
Kendrick Carmouche, who won the 2010 Charles Town Oaks on Derwin’s Star has the call on Saturday night.
Maggi Moss’ Kiss to Remember will look to give both herself and trainer Tom Amoss consecutive wins in the Charles Town Oaks after taking the race last year with So Many Ways. The chestnut filly by Big Brown comes in to the Charles Town Oaks off a second place finish on the turf at Indiana Downs and one start removed from a second place finish in the Indiana Grand. Kiss to Remember, who has won her last two on dirt tracks labeled fast, should get those same conditions on Saturday night.
Paco Lopes rides Kiss to Remember for the first time and will leave from Post 8.
Honey’s Ryan and Pixie Dust complete the body of the race with Discreetly Elusive and Sky Crew on the also eligible list.
Post time for the first on Charles Town’s 12 race Race for the Ribbon card is 5:00pm EST, with the Charles Town Oaks slated for 10:30pm. The Charles Town Oaks caps a Pick 4 that begins in Race 8 and includes a pair of $100,000 events in the Wild & Wonderful and Pink Ribbon.
