Hotshot Anna Seeks Repeat in Presque Isle Downs Masters

Though a withers injury incurred over the winter delayed Hotshot Anna's return this year, it has done little to slow her effectiveness.

In three starts in 2019, she ran second in her seasonal debut in the Chicago Handicap (G3) at Arlington International Racecourse June 29 before responding with victories in an allowance level race at Arlington Aug. 3 and the Satin and Lace at Presque Isle Downs Aug. 19.

Now comes her most lucrative opportunity of 2019: the $400,000 Presque Isle Downs Masters (G2) Sept. 16, a 6 1/2-furlong race she decisively won last year by 4 1/4 lengths. 

Ten rivals are lined up against her in this year's renewal, including fellow graded stakes winners Late Night Pow Wow and Talk Veuve to Me, 4-1 and 6-1 shots, respectively, on the track's morning line behind favored Hotshot Anna at 3-1. The latter has never lost in three starts over the synthetic Tapeta surface at Presque Isle.

Late Night Pow Wow and Talk Veuve to Me, meanwhile, are newcomers to racing on an all-weather track, whether at Presque Isle or elsewhere around North America, having started exclusively on dirt. 

Owner-trainer Hugh Robertson feels fortunate to merely have Hotshot Anna in this position after she flipped over backwards when frightened while receiving a bath in late December at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots in New Orleans. The impact from her fall damaged her withers, though it could have been worse. "If she had hit her head, it probably would have killed her," he said.

Robertson said the initial prognosis he received was unfavorable for a return to racing, but now nearly nine months later, she is healthy and seemingly as sharp last year. The 5-year-old daughter of Trappe Shot  has made $99,800 in her short 2019 campaign, bringing her career earnings to $623,440—a vast return for a filly that Robertson purchased for $20,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale consignment of her breeder Paul Tackett.

"I buy cheap horses, all I can afford," said the Chicago-based Robertson. "If you don't want to spend much money, you're limited. So I try to find a horse that moves well. She was a smooth horse, not very big—still isn't very big—but I liked the way she moved."

Antonio Gallardo, aboard for all three of her Presque Isle wins, has a return mount aboard the Kentucky-bred filly out of the Holy Bull mare Avalos. 

Although Talk Veuve to Me has yet to race on a synthetic surface, the Masters will not represent the first time she has stepped on such a surface. She has galloped on Keeneland's training track, which has a Polytrack surface, trainer Rodolphe Brisset said, and she also breezed on the all-weather surface prior to the Ocala Breeders' Sales 2017 March Sale of 2-year-olds in Training, where she failed to meet her reserve when bidding stalled at $95,000 from the consignment of RiceHorse Stables.

"She breezed extremely well," Brisset said of her OBS workout, in which she covered an eighth of a mile in 10 1/5 seconds. "Of course she was a 2-year-old. Until you try a race, you just don't know."

A 4-year-old Violence  filly, she won the grade 3 Indiana Oaks last year at 3, when she also finished second in the Eight Belles presented by Kentucky Trailer (G2) and Acorn (G1). This year she is 1-for-4 for owners Team Valor International, Stephen McKay and Brisset, taking a second-level allowance over seven furlongs at Saratoga Race Course Aug. 11 in her first start since adding blinkers.

Jose Ortiz, leading jockey at Saratoga and during the recent Kentucky Downs meet, returns in the irons.

In addition to Hotshot Anna, Talk Veuve to Me, and two-time grade 3 winner Late Night Pow Wow, other threats in the Masters include Spring in the Wind, second in the Satin N Lace; speedy Illinois raider Jean Elizabeth; and Mominou, last-out winner of the Caress at Saratoga going 5 1/2 furlongs on turf July 21.

Although not part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series, the influence of the Masters as a prep toward the Filly and Mare Sprint (G1) is unmistakable. Informed Decision, the 2009-10 Masters winner, won the 2010 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, and Groupie Doll won back-to-back runnings of both the Masters and Filly and Mare Sprint in 2012-13.

Post time for the 2019 Masters, the sixth race on a nine-race program, is 7:35 p.m. ET Monday.

Entries: Presque Isle Downs Masters S. (G2)

Presque Isle Downs, Monday, September 16, 2019, Race 6

• Grade II
• 6 1/2f
• All Weather Track
• $400,000
• 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 7:35 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Saguaro Row (KY)	Rafael Manuel Hernandez	117	Michael Stidham	12/1
2	2Spring in the Wind (ON)	Scott Spieth	114	Robert B. Hess, Jr.	8/1
3	3Late Night Pow Wow (WV)	Fredy Peltroche	125	Javier Contreras	4/1
4	4Jean Elizabeth (IL)	Jose Valdivia, Jr.	117	Larry Rivelli	12/1
5	5Darcy Mae (PA)	Pablo Morales	114	Leland Hayes	15/1
6	6Crazy Sweet (KY)	Erin M. Walker	114	Glenn S. Wismer	30/1
7	7Regal Chant (KY)	Willie Martinez	110	Timothy E. Hamm	30/1
8	8Mominou (FL)	Kendrick Carmouche	123	James J. Toner	7/2
9	9Talk Veuve to Me (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	117	Rodolphe Brisset	6/1
10	10Hotshot Anna (KY)	Antonio A. Gallardo	120	Hugh H. Robertson	3/1
11	11Misericordia (GB)	Jevian Toledo	114	Jorge Duarte, Jr.	15/1