Horologist Can Extend Graded Record in DuPont Distaff

The top three finishers from the Top Flight Invitational Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack face off again May 14 in the 1 1/8-mile $150,000 Allaire DuPont Distaff Match Series Stakes (G3) at Pimlico Race Course.

Top Flight winner Horologist , a 5-year-old daughter of Gemologist  , is the 3-1 morning-line favorite as she vies for a fourth career graded stakes in the DuPont Distaff, which will be her first start at Pimlico but her fourth consecutive trip at 1 1/8 miles. Horologist is campaigned by a partnership that includes There's A Chance Stable, Medallion Racing, Abbondanza Racing, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Paradise Farms, and David Staudacher. She is trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott and will break from post 5 under Junior Alvarado, her pilot for her last three starts that also yielded a win the Beldame Stakes (G2) last fall.

The favorite will be joined by Top Flight runner-up Mrs. Danvers , a speedy daughter of Tapit   who was a length behind Horologist, and Lucky Stride , who rallied for third, a neck behind the place finisher.

A Joseph Allen homebred, Mrs. Danvers became a grade 3 winner last year in the 1 1/8-mile Comely Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct. She has made two starts this year, which also includes an unplaced finish in the Royal Delta Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Park. Trained by Shug McGaughey, the 4-year-old will be ridden by Joel Rosario, who has been aboard for half her lifetime starts and given her two of her three winning rides.

Sonata Stable is hoping its multiple Puerto Rican group stakes winner Lucky Stride will upgrade to North American graded status in the DuPont Distaff. The 5-year-old Declaration of War  mare is progressing in the right direction with two wins and two placings from her previous four starts. She won her first two races of the year in the Wayward Lass Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs and the Nellie Morse Stakes at Laurel Park. Lucky Stride is trained by Michael Trombetta and will be ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr.

Robert and Lawana Low's Spice Is Nice  is seeking her first career stakes win in the DuPont, a race her trainer—newly elected Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher—won with Pool Land  (2006), Super Espresso  (2011), and Stopchargingmaria  (2015).

Second in the 2020 Davona Dale Stakes (G2) off a 12-length debut triumph, both last winter at Gulfstream Park, Spice Is Nice won an allowance optional claiming race at Belmont Park before running sixth in the 1 1/4-mile Alabama Stakes (G1) in what would be her season finale. The daughter of Curlin  , out of the Bernardini   grade 1 winner Dame Dorothy , returned to win a 1 1/16-mile optional claiming allowance April 9 at Keeneland in her first start in nearly eight months.

"She had a nice allowance win at Keeneland. The timing is good for this," Pletcher said. "She's a nice filly that had a good break and came back well from it. So, we're making the step back into the graded stakes ranks and feel good about the way she is doing."

Also in the mix are two from the barn of reigning Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox, who will saddle Dreamalildreamofu  and Getridofwhatailesu . The Elkstone Group's Getridofwhatailesu won the Jan. 23 Pippin Stakes at Oaklawn Park before taking third in the Azeri Stakes (G2) won by 2020 Kentucky Oaks (G1)-winning stablemate Shedaresthedevil . Last out she was fourth in the April 17 Apple Blossom (G1) won by front-running Letruska  with the Cox-trained two-time champion Monomoy Girl  second.

"She's a stakes winner, and, hopefully, we can make her a graded stakes winner," Cox said. "She's doing great and probably is going to get a little class relief. No Letruskas or Monomoy Girls in this group."

Full of Run Racing and Madaket Stables' Dreamalildreamofu exits a three-quarter-length triumph in the one-mile Latonia over Turfway Park's all-weather surface March 27. The Commissioner  filly broke her maiden in March 2020 on the grass and also owns a pair of off-the-turf wins. This will be her graded stakes debut.

"Dreamalildreamofu is coming off a synthetic race," Cox said. "She's performed well on three different surfaces—turf, dirt, and synthetic. So, we have options with her."

BB Horses' Landing Zone, scratched from last year's Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (G2) while on a three-race win streak, finished fourth in the 2020 DuPont after dueling for the early lead. This year she was second by 1 1/4 lengths in the 1 1/16-mile Nellie Morse and most recently sixth following an inside trip in the one-mile Heavenly Prize Invitational March 6 at Aqueduct.

Landing Zone , 4-year-old by Morning Line , comes from the barn of Claudio Gonzalez, Maryland's winningest trainer each of the past four years who sprung a mild upset in last year's historic Pimlico Special Stakes (G3) with Harpers First Ride .

"She hasn't run a race in a long time and she's doing better than ever. She wants to run," Gonzalez said. "She breezed good the other day here and she came back very happy. She had a nice streak going last year; she won here and in Delaware. I feel good about her. The race is going to be tough. She feels good, and when my horses feel good that's when we have to try."

The DuPont Distaff is race 8 on the card headlined by the $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan for 3-year-old fillies. Post time for the DuPont is 3:07 p.m.

Entries: Allaire DuPont Distaff Match Series S. (G3)

Pimlico Race Course, Friday, May 14, 2021, Race 8

• Grade III
• 1 1/8m
• Dirt
• $150,000
• 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 3:07 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Another Broad (MD)	Ricardo Santana, Jr.	122	Steven M. Asmussen	12/1
2	2Dreamalildreamofu (KY)	Florent Geroux	122	Brad H. Cox	10/1
3	3Spice Is Nice (KY)	John R. Velazquez	122	Todd A. Pletcher	7/2
4	4Getridofwhatailesu (KY)	Javier Castellano	124	Brad H. Cox	7/2
5	5Horologist (NJ)	Junior Alvarado	122	William I. Mott	3/1
6	6Mrs. Danvers (KY)	Joel Rosario	122	Claude R. McGaughey III	4/1
7	7Landing Zone (KY)	Angel Cruz	122	Claudio A. Gonzalez	20/1
8	8Lucky Stride (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	122	Michael J. Trombetta	6/1