Spiced Perfection Tops Inside Information Stakes

It would be a nice touch if Pink Sands won the $200,000 Inside Information Stakes Presented by Runhappy Matchmaker Series (G2).

She is, after all, trained by Shug McGaughey, the Hall of Famer who handled Inside Information's career and has not won the stakes that was renamed in her honor in 2009.

Racing, though, is not scripted, and Pink Sands and 10 other fillies and mares figure to have a tough time handling the likely favorite, Pantofel Stable, Wachtel Stable, and Peter Deutsch's multiple grade 1 winner Spiced Perfection, in the seven-furlong stakes on the Jan. 25 Pegasus World Cup Day card at Gulfstream Park.

Spiced Perfection, a 5-year-old Smiling Tiger  mare, won the 2019 Madison Stakes (G1) and 2018 La Brea Stakes (G1) and was last seen taking the one-mile Go for Wand Handicap (G3) at Aqueduct Racetrack.

A winner of nine of 20 starts with $1,214,405 in earnings, Spiced Perfection was best in the six-furlong Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes (G2).

"She's doing very well," trainer Peter Miller said. "She's very sharp, so we're looking forward to getting her out there. She's a little dynamo. She's just got a big heart and fires every time. She handles every racetrack she's been on, so we expect a good effort from her."

In her most recent start, Spiced Perfection beat Saguaro Row, who rebounded to win the Jan 20 Interborough Stakes.

"I think seven-eighths is probably her best distance. She's good. She's tactical—she can win from anywhere. She's a very, very special filly," Miller said about the daughter of the Pleasantly Perfect mare Perfect Feat.

She will break from post 7 with jockey Javier Castellano.

McGaughey, who won this race three times when it was the Shirley Jones Handicap, will pin his hopes on Pink Sands, a recent grade 3 winner.

Owned by Gainesway Stable and Andrew Rosen, Pink Sands rallied from 10th to record a half-length win in the Dec. 14 Rampart Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream and was third behind Saguaro Row in the Pumpkin Pie Stakes one start before that. Pink Sands was fourth in last year's Inside Information, which was contested in March.

Nonna Madeline will take aim at her first stakes win after returning from a 14-month layoff to take a Dec. 20 allowance race at Gulfstream by 5 3/4 lengths. Owned by Teresa Viola Racing Stables and St. Elias Stable, Nonna Madeline was second in the 2018 Schuylerville Stakes (G3) for trainer Todd Pletcher.

"We thought about (coming back) in a two-other-than (allowance)," Pletcher said, "but the fact that she's been tipping us in the morning, we're going to go ahead and give this a try."

Cleber Massey's Blamed will turn back to seven furlongs after posting a 1 1/4-length frontrunning victory in the Royal Delta Stakes (G3). Trained by Bill Mott, the 5-year-old Blame  mare has won seven of 10 starts with a pair of seconds. Three starts ago, she landed her first graded stakes win in the Comely Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct.

A Bit of Both brings an affinity for Gulfstream. In six tries at the Hallandale Beach, Fla., track, she has four wins and a second. In her previous start, that fondness wasn't much of a help as the Paynter  filly trained by Jason Servis finished fifth in the six-furlong Sugar Swirl Stakes (G3) for owners Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables, Darsan, Bethlehem Stables, and David Simon.