Miss Temple City won the Hilltop in May. Photo by Laurie Asseo.
From a NYRA release
From one of the world’s most prestigious race meetings to another, Miss Temple City returns from England to the United States to compete in Friday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Maker’s Mark Lake Placid at Saratoga Race Course.
The 1 1/8-mile turf test for 3-year-old fillies will be the first race for Miss Temple City since finishing fourth, beaten just two lengths, in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes on June 19 at Royal Ascot in England.
“She’s doing great,” said Graham Motion, who trains Miss Temple City for Sagamore Farm, Allen Rosenblum and The Club Racing. “I wasn’t in a hurry to run her. She’s had two months, so I think that should be fine. It’s a tough trip coming back. We have to go to Amsterdam to fly back to the States. It makes for a long trip.”
Winner of the 2009 Lake Placid with Shared Account, also owned by Sagamore, Motion praised the effort of Miss Temple City in the Coronation, where she was sent off at odds of 50-1 in her fourth start this year.
“She got beat two lengths against the best fillies in Europe. It’s a shame that it set up a little awkwardly,” he said. “She just didn’t settle early because she was kind of hung out on the outside. It’s a little awkward the way you come out of a chute into a straightaway there, and what you don’t realize unless you’re there is you go a quarter of a mile and then it’s uphill all the way to the wire. It’s grueling.”
To prepare for the trip overseas, Motion worked Miss Temple City over the Fair Hill Training Center’s steeplechase course, which also has a slight incline to the finish. Based at the Maryland facility, he did the same for her last pre-Lake Placid breeze, a half-mile in 49 seconds August 8.
“She keeps improving. Even since she got back from England, I think she’s improved,” said Motion, who finished 11th with Kentucky Derby and Dubai World Cup winner Animal Kingdom in the 2013 Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot.
“I think she’s maturing. She keeps getting better, she really does,” he said. “I wish she could have hit the board, because it would have been great for the owners to get the black type in England. I think it was a success. I’m going to keep trying. She’s a really good filly.”
Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez returns to ride Miss Temple City from post 3 at 118 pounds.
Trainer Chad Brown, winner of the Grade 2 Lake George on Opening Day, July 24, with Mrs McDougal, will be represented by two fillies in the Lake Placid: Gary Barber’s multiple stakes winner Consumer Credit and Klaravich Stable’s Strict Compliance.
Over the winter, Consumer Credit captured the Wait a While Stakes at Gulfstream Park West and Grade 3 Sweetest Chant at Gulfstream Park. Upon returning to New York, she won the Memories of Silver Stakes in April at Aqueduct before finishing third in the Grade 1 American Oaks May 30 at Santa Anita. Most recently, she was sixth in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational July 4 behind undefeated stablemate Lady Eli.
Strict Compliance rallied from last in a field of 14 to dead heat for fourth in the Belmont Oaks, snapping a three-race win streak that included the Penn Oaks May 30 at Penn National.
Consumer Credit will carry Irad Ortiz Jr. and topweight of 120 pounds from post 1, while Strict Compliance drew post 5 and 118 pounds with Javier Castellano.
Godolphin Racing’s Sentiero Italia returns to graded stakes company in the Lake Placid after dead-heating for fourth in the Belmont Oaks, where she posted a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 92. Unraced at 2, she had won her previous two starts, beating older horses to break her maiden April 19 and returning with a two-length allowance victory May 28.
“She’s training very well,” trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said. “She’s a very nice filly. We’re looking forward to running her.”
In the Belmont Oaks, Sentiero Italia broke from post 11 of 14 under Luis Saez and got within 2 ½ lengths of the lead at the top of the stretch before tiring from the wide trip. She was beaten 3 ½ lengths.
“She ran great. She was in the 11-hole and ran wide, the only one that ran further than the winner,” McLaughlin said. “It was just unlucky not to be third and get Grade 1 placing, but she’s doing fabulous and we think that she’s got a big chance.”
Joel Rosario will ride from post 4 at 114 pounds.
Rounding out the field is Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider’s Heath, making her graded stakes debut. Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mot, she was most recently second to Lady Eli in the Wonder Again Stakes May 31. Jose Lezcano has the mount at 114 pounds from post 2.
Alex Lieblong’s Embellish the Lace was entered for main track only.
