Blue Prize Seeks Second Season Win in DuPont Distaff

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Blue Prize Seeks Second Season Win in DuPont Distaff
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Photo: Coglianese Photos/Chelsea Durand
Blue Prize wins the Top Flight Invitational Stakes at Aqueduct

Merriebelle Stable's Blue Prize will be able to tick off another state in her travel roster May 18, when she travels to Maryland to headline a field of eight in the $150,000 Allaire DuPont Distaff Stakes (G3) at Pimlico Race Course.

Since arriving in North America in 2017, the Argentinian-bred 5-year-old daughter of Pure Prize has stayed busy; running eight races—four of them graded—across three states, finishing off the board only once when she ran seventh in her season debut in the Azeri Stakes (G2) at Oaklawn Park. 

Off an April 15 victory in the Top Flight Invitational Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack, Blue Prize will break from post 7 as the highweight in the 1 1/8 mile test for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up. 

Trained by Ignacio Correas, the 2-1 morning line favorite will square off against a familiar competitor in Friday's race; taking on Kentucky-bred Verve's Tale—who ran third in the Top Flight Invitational—for the second time in just over a month.

Charles Fipke's hombred Verve's Tale will be vying for her first graded victory since she took the Comely Stakes (G3) by a neck in November of 2016. Although she has finished worse than fourth just once in her eight graded attempts since the Comely, the 5-year-old Tale of Ekati mare's last victory came in August, when she prevailed over Blue Prize by a nose in the Summer Colony Stakes. Irad Ortiz Jr. will have the mount. 

In an interesting twist of fate for the contenders, jockey Jose Ortiz—who defeated Blue Prize riding Verve's Tale in the Summer Colony—will be aboard Blue Prize. 

Loooch Racing Stables' Fuhriously Kissed, the third-place runner in the Summer Colony behind Verve's Tale and Blue Prize, respectively, will break from the rail. The Langfuhr  mare has yet to score a win this season, finishing third in her last out in the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) at Oaklawn. 


Entries: Allaire DuPont Distaff S. (G3)

Pimlico Race Course, Friday, May 18, 2018, Race 13

  • Grade III
  • 1 1/8m
  • Dirt
  • $150,000
  • 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
  • 5:57 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1Fuhriously Kissed (KY) Javier Castellano 118 Anthony T. Quartarolo 5/1
2 2In the Navy Now (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Julian Pimentel 120 Michael J. Trombetta 15/1
3 3Power of Snunner (PA) Dana G. Whitney 118 Timothy C. Kreiser 12/1
4 4Katalust (OH) T. D. Houghton 118 Anthony T. Quartarolo 20/1
5 5Song of Spring (KY) Ricardo Santana, Jr. 118 Neil J. Howard 6/1
6 6Verve's Tale (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 118 Barclay Tagg 9/5
7 7Blue Prize (ARG) Jose L. Ortiz 122 Ignacio Correas, IV 2/1
8 8Dorodansa (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Paco Lopez 118 Kellyn Gorder 15/1