A compact field will tackle Sunday’s $100,000 Twixt Stakes at Laurel Park, with five likely to face the starter in the one-mile test for fillies and mares.

Morning line favorite Miss Justify is expected to run Saturday at Churchill Downs in the Seneca Stakes, while Saddle Up Jessie, 9-2 on the morning line, was the beaten favorite in Wednesday’s Obeah at Delaware Park and also expected to scratch.

That leaves Mystic Pleasure and Miss New York to vie for favoritism. The former is 5-2 on the morning line, while the latter is 4-1.

Storyteller Racing’s 4-year-old filly Mystic Pleasure, third by two necks in her stakes debut last month, ships in from the Midwest seeking a breakthrough victory in the $100,000 Twixt.

 Mystic Pleasure was sent off at 11-1 in the one-mile Groupie Doll Aug. 11 at Ellis Park and led from the outset into deep stretch before grudgingly giving way late under Florent Giroux. She finished behind fellow long shots Pigalle (23-1) and Fancy (16-1) but three lengths ahead of the favorite, Taxed, winner of the 2023 Black-Eyed Susan (G2) at historic Pimlico Race Course.

“I think she kind of lost focus a little bit when she made the lead. Florent was on her and he told me that she put a nose in front and was going forward and may have hung a little bit,” trainer Rodolphe Brisset said. “I kind of wish the favorite that day who came up on the inside of her, I kind of wish she would have sustained her run and kind of pushed her a little bit more. She kind of lost her focus a little bit and she got surprised from the outside and got nailed on the wire. But at the end of the day, she’s stakes-placed now and we are trying with her pedigree to get the stakes win somewhere.”

A daughter and granddaughter of 2018 Haskell (G1) winner Good Magic and 2005 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Giacomo, respectively, out of the multiple graded-stakes winning mare Disposablepleasure, Mystic Pleasure made her first two starts last spring for previous trainer Brad Cox. She fetched $110,000 at Keeneland’s January sale and debuted for Brisset in a six-furlong optional claimer March 27 on the all-weather surface at Turfway Park.

Mystic Pleasure won an entry-level allowance May 1 at Churchill Downs, where she ran fifth in a second-level spot going 1 1/8 miles before cutting back to 6 ½ furlongs to gain that condition July 7 at Ellis in her prep for the Groupie Doll.

Sheldon Russell is named to ride Mystic Pleasure from the outermost post.

Miss New York and Reclusive were both cross-entered but scratched from Wednesday’s 1 1/16-mile Obeah at Delaware Park. 

Amo Racing USA’s Miss New York ran second at odds of 23-1 in last year’s Twixt behind 2022 Black-Eyed Susan winner Interstatedaydream. She most recently was a 3 ½-length optional claiming allowance winner going 1 1/16 miles Aug. 17 at Laurel. 

Miss New York earned her signature victory in last year’s Boiling Springs Stakes at Monmouth Park and overall has four wins and over $190,000 in earnings from 16 career starts.

 She is trained by Jorge Delgado and will have Daniel Centeno in the irons.

Century Acres Farm’s Texas homebred Reclusive has won her last two stars, the first coming in the six-furlong Regret July 26 at Monmouth Park. Trained by Tina Rena Hurley, the 5-year-old mare is seeking her first stakes win having placed three times previously, twice at Lone Star Park and once at Sam Houston, and has yet to race as far as a mile on dirt.

Princess Indy, winner of the 2023 Sorority at Monmouth Park; and Continentalcongres, first or second in seven of 13 career tries on Laurel’s main track, are also entered along with multiple stakes winner Saddle Up Jessie, who ran third as the favorite in the Obeah.

Twixt was a Maryland-bred champion every year she raced, from 1972-75, retiring as Maryland’s all-time money-winning mare. Her 18 stakes wins were also a Maryland-bred record on the flat. Bred and owned by Mr. and Mrs. John Merryman and trained by their daughter, Katy Voss, Twixt won the Barbara Fritchie (G3) and was named Maryland’s Horse of the Year in 1973 and 1974.

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