Mean Mary to Make Seasonal Debut in Gallorette

After a 2020 season in which she rolled to three straight victories in graded stakes, Mean Mary  is scheduled to make her 5-year-old season debut May 15 in the $150,000 Gallorette Stakes (G3T) at Pimlico Race Course.

A homebred for Alex G. Campbell Jr., Mean Mary is one of six fillies and mares 3-and-older entered in the 1 1/16-mile turf test. 

A daughter of Scat Daddy, front-running Mean Mary opened 2020 with a five-length score in the La Prevoyante Stakes (G3T) on the Gulfstream Park turf and followed with a clear victory over grade 3 winner Gentle Ruler  in the Orchid Stakes Presented by Rood and Riddle (G3T) there. After a break, Mean Mary returned with a 5 1/4-length victory in the New York Stakes (G2T) on the inner turf at Belmont Park.

Mean Mary nearly secured a grade 1 victory in her next start when she finished a neck behind eventual champion turf female Rushing Fall  in the Diana Stakes (G1T), one of the top races of last season. Mean Mary led early in the Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1T) before fading to seventh in that 1 3/16-mile test.

Since March 19 Mean Mary has worked eight times, with the six most recent on the all-weather surface at Fair Hill. Trainer Graham Motion likes the distance of Saturday's race as Mean Mary returns to racing.

"We gave her the winter off after the Breeders' Cup. My original thought was to go to the New York Handicap (but) it's a tough trip to go a mile and a quarter off a break," Motion said. "I thought this might make more sense for her. She certainly has enough turn of foot to run a mile and a sixteenth."

Mean Mary is one of two horses entered in the Gallorette by Motion as the trainer also will send out Al Shaqab Racing's Tuned , a stakes-placed 5-year-old daughter of Toronado .

Chad Brown also has entered two horses in the Gallorette in recent stakes winner Great Island  and group 1-placed Flighty Lady . 

Alpha Delta Stables' Great Island, a 5-year-old daughter of Scat Daddy, will be making her first start since winning the off-the-turf Suwannee River Stakes Feb. 6 at Gulfstream. Peter Brant's Flighty Lady, a 4-year-old daughter of Sir Percy , finished third in last year's Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac-Criterium des Pouliches (G1) at ParisLongchamp and turned heads in her U.S. debut April 3 in an allowance race at Aqueduct Racetrack when she drew off in the stretch to post a two-length win.

Phipps Stable homebred Vigilantes Way  has the advantage of a start over the course after finishing third in the Dahlia Stakes April 24. Trained by Shug McGaughey, the 4-year-old daughter of Medaglia d'Oro   closed out 2020 with a front-running win in the Tropical Park Oaks at Gulfstream.

Off to a fast start at the Belmont Park spring meet, trainer Christophe Clement has entered Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Tango Uniform Racing's multiple stakes winner Feel Glorious , who finished third to Mean Mary in last year's New York Stakes. Clement has won 10 of his first 32 starts at Belmont this year. 

"She has run and competes with the best fillies and mares out there and she's been so consistent," Dean Reeves said. "She's got the best kick of any horse I believe I've ever been around. When she turns for home, she's so determined. She comes to play every time.

"She's just been a pleasure," he added. "How she hasn't gotten a graded stakes yet I don't know, but she's going to get one, maybe more. She's very, very game every time. I'm excited to see her race this weekend. I think it'll be a good spot for her and we're looking forward to it."

Entries: Gallorette S. (G3T)

Pimlico Race Course, Saturday, May 15, 2021, Race 6

• Grade IIIT
• 1 1/16m
• Turf
• $150,000
• 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 1:28 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Vigilantes Way (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	122	Claude R. McGaughey III	5/1
2	2Great Island (KY)	Javier Castellano	122	Chad C. Brown	12/1
3	3Flighty Lady (IRE)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	122	Chad C. Brown	4/1
4	4Tuned (GB)	UNKNOWN	122	H. Graham Motion	8/1
5	5Mean Mary (KY)	Luis Saez	122	H. Graham Motion	6/5
6	6Feel Glorious (GB)	Joel Rosario	122	Christophe Clement	7/2