White Frost Looks to Continue Momentum in Locust Grove

Six days before trainer Bill Mott delivers a lethal four-way punch on Belmont Stakes weekend with grade 1 stars Cody's Wish , Casa Creed , Elite Power , and War Like Goddess , he'll saddle the improving White Frost  in the Locust Grove Stakes (G3T) June 4 at Churchill Downs.

The lightly-raced daughter of Candy Ride   put it all together to land a graded victory as a 3-year-old in Gulfstream Park's Sweetest Chant Stakes (G3T) in 2021 but was then unraced until a runner-up finish in that November's Winter Memories Stakes before taking a lengthy trip to the sidelines.

A homebred for Anthony Beck's Gainesway Stable, White Frost returned to action this past January at Gulfstream, posting a scintillating 2 1/4 length tally against allowance company after a 14-month layoff. In her next outing, in the March 4 Honey Fox (G3T), she exhibited a completely different dimension to her forwardly placed ways, rallying from ninth to miss the win by a neck.

Facing two monsters in the April 15 Jenny Wiley (G1T), she was third to In Italian  and With the Moonlight in a race where the 1 1/16 miles was scorched in 1:39.71, only three ticks off the Keeneland course record.

Ridden for the first time by Flavien Prat in Saturday's $225,000 1 1/16-mile grass test for older fillies and mares, White Frost won't face any monsters in the Locust Grove, but she will face proven stakes winners New Year's Eve , Kate's Kingdom , and Gam's Mission  among her rivals.