Merry Meadow Seeks Third Straight in 'Bertie

William Parsons Jr. and David S. Howe's homebred Merry Meadow, winner of the Sugar Swirl Stakes (gr. III) for trainer Mark Hennig, is the 121-pound highweight in a field of seven entered for the $150,000 Hurricane Bertie Stakes (gr. III) Feb. 14 at Gulfstream Park.

The 5-year-old daughter of Henny Hughes will have to fend off several recent winners, including one from the barn of trainer Marty Wolfson, who sends Centrique and My Pal Chrisy in the 6 1/2-furlong event for older fillies and mares.

Merry Meadow, a multiple grade III winner, defeated Hurricane Bertie rival Wildcat Lily by 1 1/4 lengths after that one's rider lost the whip in the six-furlong Sugar Swirl Dec. 13. Hennig said the mare on a two-race win streak is training well toward her 2015 debut. 

"I keep threatening to give her a vacation, but she doesn't act like she wants one," Hennig said. "She continues to do great. She's been wonderful."

The Hurricane Bertie will be the 26th career start for Merry Meadow and her third in South Florida. 

"This race has been on the radar. When we came to Florida, the idea was to run her a couple times down here," Hennig said. "After her last race it was such good spacing for her. She does well with time between races and you don't have to train her too hard. It just seemed like a logical spot."

Both of Merry Meadow's recent victories, including the Sky Beauty Stakes Nov. 1 at Gulfstream Park West, came at six furlongs. But she is also proven at the Hurricane Bertie distance with six top three finishes in seven tries, including her first graded stakes triumph in the 2014 Vagrancy Handicap (gr. III) at Belmont Park.

"I've always felt 6 1/2 (furlongs) was probably her best distance," Hennig said. "Six sometimes comes up a little short for her and seven sometimes comes up a little long for her. I would anticipate that the distance is right in her wheelhouse."

Merry Meadow tuned up for the Hurricane Bertie with an eye-catching half mile breeze in :47.10 Jan. 31 over Gulfstream's main track, the fastest of 100 horses that day at the distance.

"We generally work her a couple weeks out," Hennig said. "That day she broke off and I had told the girl who gets on her that I wanted her to get a decent work, go a half in :48 or :48 and change. She broke off and two horses broke off right in behind her, probably three or four lengths behind her. She knew they were there and Merry Meadow knew they were right behind her and she worked more aggressively than normal. With the two weeks going into the race, it was fine."

Jockey Javier Castellano, a winner of seven graded stakes already this winter including the Sugar Swirl, gets the return call from post 4. Hennig will also start Merry Meadow's half sister, Blithely, in the $100,000 Broadway Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack the same afternoon. 

Wolfson sends out a pair of Miller Racing mares, Centrique and My Pal Chrisy, in the Hurricane Bertie. Grade II-placed Centrique, the 2013 Claiming Crown Glass Slipper winner who is 5-for-9 lifetime at Gulfstream, enters the race off a pair of starter optional claiming victories at the meet, most recently Jan. 9.

"She won her last couple and she's doing good. She likes this track," Wolfson said. "We bought her kind of cheap because she was eligible for these starter races and she's really developed. I just really like her."

A bay daughter of Malibu Moon  , Centrique finished fifth behind Merry Meadow in both the Sugar Swirl and Sky Beauty. She cuts back from a mile off her latest win; both her recent victories came in gate-to-wire fashion.

"She doesn't have to be (on the lead). She stalks or goes to the front, but there's a lot of speed in the race which I like," Wolfson said. "She'll go up to about a one-turn mile; that's about as far as I would want to run her."

Now 7, My Pal Chrisy was off the board in the Sunshine Millions Distaff Jan. 17 at Gulfstream, her first start in nine months following a third-place effort in the Distaff Handicap (gr. II) last April at Aqueduct.

"She needed that race. She had just come off the farm three weeks before that," Wolfson said. "She had colic; no surgery, but she had already had such a long campaign we gave her four or five months off. When she came back they just took their time with her. She's doing well now."

A multiple grade II-placed daughter of Alex's Pal, My Pal Chrisy has not found the winner's circle since stringing together three consecutive stakes victories between August and November 2013 at Gulfstream Park. She has hit the board in 29 of 48 lifetime starts including 11 wins and $857,668 in purse earnings, and has a record of 14-3-3-3 at  Gulfstream.

"She's got no pedigree, but she's earned almost a million dollars," Wolfson said. "She's just one of those kinds of fillies, and she likes it here, too."

Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez has been named aboard Centrique from post 6, while Julien Leparoux will ride My Pal Chrisy from the 3 hole. Along with the rest of the field, they both carry 117 pounds. 

Narrowly beaten in a pair of grade I stakes two summers ago at Saratoga Race Course, Rontos Racing Stable's Wildcat Lily wheels back in the Hurricane Bertie nine days after her 9 1/2-length romp in a six-furlong starter optional claimer at Gulfstream.

After jockey Paco Lopez lost his whip in the Sugar Swirl stretch, the 5-year-old daughter of D'wildcat   gets Rajiv Maragh aboard from post 5 for trainer Everton Harris.

Rounding out the field are Galiana, a multiple stakes winner at Delaware Park making her graded stakes debut for Triple R Stable and trainer Rodolfo Romero; More Than a Party, who has won two straight sprint allowances at Gulfstream, most recently Jan. 10; and Streethomealabama, making her fourth start of the championship meet. 

On the undercard, multiple grade III winner I'm Already Sexy steps out of graded stakes competition for just the second time since 2013 in the $60,000 Cooper City Handicap for older fillies and mares going one mile on the turf.

Trained by Wayne Catalano for Hit The Board Stables, I'm Already Sexy has made 10 of her past 11 starts in graded stakes, including each of her previous three. Most recently she was seventh, beaten 2 3/4 lengths, in the Endeavour (gr. III) Jan. 31 at Tampa Bay Downs.

Winner of the 2014 Modesty Handicap (gr. III) and 2013 Pucker Up (gr. III) at Arlington International Racecourse, I'm Already Sexy finished fifth in the 2013 Ginger Brew in her only other start at Gulfstream.