FRAUDULENT CHARGE BACK FOR WEBER CITY MISS
While six-time stakes winner Street Lute is sitting this weekend out to await the six-furlong Miss Preakness (G3) May 14 at Pimlico, Team Gaudet and Five Hellions Farm’s Fraudulent Charge will be back for another try in Saturday’s $125,000 Weber City Miss Stakes. The Weber City Miss is a “win and in” automatic qualifier for the May 14 Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan.
Street Lute proved herself Maryland’s dominant sprinting sophomore filly, winning every local stakes at six and seven furlongs, with Fraudulent Charge second in two of those.
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Stretched out to a mile, Street Lute ran out of steam to be a well-beaten third in the Beyond the Wire March 13. But Fraudulent Charge was once again second, this time nipped late by Littlestitious, who returns in the Weber City Miss.
A 6 ¼-length waiver maiden claiming winner on debut Nov. 12 at Laurel, she has been beaten a total of 1 ½ lengths in her three stakes seconds.
All four of her races at come at Laurel with jockey Johan Rosado in the irons. Rosado, engaged to trainer and co-owner Lacey Gaudet, was up for a bullet five-furlong breeze in 1:01.20 April 19 at Pimlico.
“When you just get beat, you can’t take anything away from a horse like that. Street Lute was the only one that had beat her, and she’s an awesome filly, and then she got lucky and beat her last time,” Gaudet said. “I think everything would have to go really right for [Littlestitious] to beat her going two turns.
“[Rosado] likes to be very honest with me and he’s under the impression that this filly will absolutely relish two turns, and she’s shown every bit of that. This is what we were pointing for. It was a little tough getting to this point but I think we’re feeling a little better after her work,” she added. “She had an amazing breeze which lifted a little bit of weight off our shoulders. I worked her in company with a pretty handy horse that we have and she was impressive. Her last work before her last race was impressive, and this was maybe even a little more impressive.”
Fraudulent Charge will carry 118 pounds including Rosado from Post 2. She is 5-2 on the morning line, with Littlestitious the 2-1 morning line favorite.
Magic Oaks’ Hybrid Eclipse (9-2) will look to stretch her win streak to three races while making her stakes debut Saturday. New York-based trainer Linda Rice said the bay filly had been considered for the April 3 Gazelle (G2) at Aqueduct, won by Kentucky Oaks points leader Search Result.
Originally part of Laurel Park’s spring meet, the entire Spring Stakes Spectacular program was shifted to Pimlico due to ongoing evaluation and renovation of Laurel’s main track.
“Frankly we had looked at the Gazelle in New York and we opted to wait for the Weber City Miss,” Rice said. “I was excited about running her back there. She really seems to relish that track. But, we will move over to Pimlico and hopefully she will run well over that course, also.”
Winless in three starts at 2, Hybrid Eclipse broke her maiden in her sophomore debut Jan. 23 at Aqueduct. She stepped up and stretched out to about 1 1/16 miles in an entry-level optional claiming allowance Feb. 25 at Laurel, romping to a six-length victory under Horacio Karamanos, who rides back from Post 4.
“This is the next logical step for her,” Rice said. “We hope that she puts in a good showing and if things go well, maybe we’ll find ourselves in the Black-Eyed Susan.”
BB Horses’ Miss Leslie (15-1) was a head winner of the about 1 1/16-mile Anne Arundel County Dec. 26 at Laurel, her second straight win after being claimed for $25,000 by leading trainer Claudio Gonzalez. This year, the Paynter filly ran second to Street Lute in the six-furlong Xtra Heat Jan. 16 and most recently sixth in the seven-furlong Wide Country March 13, both at Laurel.
Also entered are Exogen, beaten a head when second in the six-furlong Cicada March 20 at Aqueduct; Moonsafe, a 15 ¼-length waiver maiden claiming winner Feb. 27 at Laurel; and Oliviaofthedesert, the 5-2 co-second choice and 2020 Trapeze Stakes winner trained by Ken McPeek racing at her eighth track in 10 career starts.
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