Improving Ova Charged to be Tested in Unbridled Sidney

It's been more than a year since the Louisiana-bred Ova Charged  didn't win, and the Star Guitar   mare looks to keep that streak going in the May 3 $400,000 Unbridled Sidney Stakes (G3T) at Churchill Downs.

The 6-year-old mare hasn't missed the winners' circle since an allowance optional claiming race at Keeneland in mid-April of last year. It was part of a proverbial low point for her as it was the second time in as many races she missed the top two in her 15-start career.

She came out of that sixth-place finish and took an almost eight-month break. Since then, she's been running with a vengeance. Ova Charged has won four straight including posting career-best Equibase Speed Figures her last two times out, culminating with a 123 in the Page Cortez Stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots March 24, winning by 12 1/2 lengths.  

Among the other fillies and mares 3-and-up looking to snap Ova Charged's streak in the 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint are Stone Silent , who has used her knack for fast starts to win three straight; Elm Drive , whose 12 graded stakes starts are easily the most of any in the field (the rest have 14 combined); and Monrovia Stakes (G3T) victress Ag Bullet .

MODESTY STAKES

Returning from a five-month-plus hiatus, Heavenly Sunday  will try to add to her graded stakes-laced résumé in the 1 1/8-mile Modesty Stakes (G3T).

She's 2-for-2 at Churchill Downs, both times running a slightly shorter distance than the Modesty—1 1/16 miles. After winning the Edgewood Stakes (G2T) by three-quarters of a length a year ago, she capped her 3-year-old campaign with a five-length triumph in the Mrs. Revere Stakes (G3T), a sign that she can more than handle the greater distance. 

While Repole Stable might be eyeing a bigger prize May 4, its 5-year-old mare Surprisingly  has a knack for doing well in graded company. She has seven top-three finishes in eight graded races. 

The Todd Pletcher-trained daughter of Mastery  has gone 1 1/8 miles three times with mixed results. Her first attempt, at 3, resulted in a seventh-place effort that saw her five lengths back in the 2022 Virginia Oaks. But last year, she made strides, first finishing third by 1 1/2 lengths in the Hillsborough Stakes (G2T), and then narrowly falling to Consumer Spending  by a half-length in the Matchmaker Stakes (G3T). Surprisingly even challenged at a mile and half, coming up a half-length short in the Orchid Stakes (G3T) March 30 at Gulfstream Park. 

Worth watching is Irish import Aspen Grove , who won the Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes (G1T) in her North American debut last year.