Undefeated Dream Tree Set for Prioress Return
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Photo: Zoe Metz
Dream Tree trains at Santa Anita Park in March
At long last, Phoenix Thoroughbred's Dream Tree is ready for her return to the races.
The undefeated grade 1 winner comes off nearly a seven-month layoff after being taken off the Road to the Kentucky Oaks with an unspecified issue and will return in graded company against nine rival 3-year-old fillies in the $250,000 Prioress Stakes (G2) Sept. 2 at Saratoga Race Course.
Dream Tree is 4-for-4, winning for trainer Bob Baffert from six furlongs to 1 1/16 miles. The Uncle Mo filly will take aim at the Prioress distance of six furlongs for the first time since winning her debut Oct. 27 at Santa Anita Park, and it's her first start since a 3 3/4-length win in that track's Feb. 4 Las Virgenes Stakes (G2).
A $750,000 purchase from Wavertree Stables' consignment to the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Florida Select 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, Dream Tree concluded her juvenile campaign with a 3 1/4-length win over Yesterday's News in the Starlet Stakes (G1) in December at Los Alamitos at 1 1/16 miles. She will make her Spa debut from post 8 with Mike Smith aboard.
Another West Coast shipper, Moonshine Memories, returns to stakes competition after a July 19 allowance win at Del Mar. The victory followed her fourth in the June 9 Acorn Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park, where she briefly held the lead a half-mile in before tiring behind the winner, divisional standout Monomoy Girl.
The Simon Callaghan trainee registered back-to-back top-level wins as a 2-year-old, winning the Del Mar Debutante Stakes (G1) and the Chandelier Stakes (G1) before running seventh in the 14 Hands Winery Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) in November at Del Mar.
Joel Rosario has the call from post 7.
Stonestreet Stables' Dream Pauline also looks to remain unbeaten after posting back-to-back wins to start her career. The Tapit filly won her first race by six lengths Dec. 3 at Aqueduct Racetrack going six furlongs. She returned for the start of her 3-year-old campaign, winning over the same distance Aug. 2 at Saratoga.
"She's doing very well and ran huge last race. She's very fit and doing great," trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said. "She has a great pedigree and a great mind; she's a really nice filly, and we're very excited about her. It's a big step up from an allowance race to a graded stakes, but we feel she's a graded stakes filly."
McLaughlin said Dream Pauline could be stretched out going forward, but he is content keeping her at six furlongs for now. The long layoff between starts, which included a stint in Florida, also helped her come back fresh, McLaughlin said.
"We just felt like she needed a little bit of time and sent her down to Ocala and gave her 45 days off. She came back great, and everything has been going well since," he said.
Dream Pauline initially stayed off the pace in both of her starts before a strong closing kick—a style McLaughlin said he would like to see continue as she steps up in class. Javier Castellano, who rode in her last start, will have the return call from post 5.
"We'd like (to see) her stalking second, third, or fourth off a fast pace, just like last time," McLaughlin said. "She seems to be pretty professional. Javier knows her now and understands her, so hopefully that'll be perfect."
Mia Mischief came within a neck of Separationofpowers in the Aug. 4 Longines Test Stakes (G1) at Saratoga going seven furlongs. She returns to the same track less than a month later looking to notch her second graded stakes win, adding to her score in the seven-furlong, May 4 Eight Belles Stakes presented by Kentucky Trailer (G2) at Churchill Downs.
Mia Mischief has failed to finish on the board just once in nine starts, with a fifth in the July 8 Victory Ride Stakes (G3) at Belmont leading into a strong bounce-back in the Test, where she dueled with Separationofpowers, bumping multiple times before earning runner-up status in her first grade 1 for trainer Steve Asmussen.
Bronx Beauty, a winner of five of her six starts for trainer Anthony Margotta Jr., will make her first graded start off three straight stakes wins, including a two-length score in the June 2 New Start Stakes at Penn National in her seasonal bow and a win by a head in the Aug. 4 Jose L. Flores Memorial Stakes at Parx Racing.
Classy Act, seventh in the Test after leading through the opening quarter, is a stakes-tested veteran who ran second to Monomoy Girl in the Feb. 17 Rachel Alexandra Stakes (G2) at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. After a 10th-place finish in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1), the Bret Calhoun trainee defeated optional claimers June 1 at Churchill and was second in the Victory Ride.
Rounding out the field is Sower, third in the Victory Ride; Win the War, winner of the Aug. 11 Duchess Stakes at Woodbine; Purrfect Miss; and Cathedral Reader.
Saratoga Race Course, Sunday, September 02, 2018, Race 10Entries: Prioress S. (G2)
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1Bronx Beauty (PA)
John R. Velazquez
120
Anthony R. Margotta, Jr.
15/1
2
2Cathedral Reader (KY)
Luis Saez
116
Dallas Stewart
30/1
3
3Sower (KY)
Irad Ortiz, Jr.
120
Linda Rice
8/1
4
4Mia Mischief (KY)
Ricardo Santana, Jr.
120
Steven M. Asmussen
5/2
5
5Dream Pauline (KY)
Javier Castellano
116
Kiaran P. McLaughlin
9/2
6
6Classy Act (KY)
Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.
118
W. Bret Calhoun
12/1
7
7Moonshine Memories (KY)
Joel Rosario
122
Simon Callaghan
8/1
8
8Dream Tree (KY)
Mike E. Smith
122
Bob Baffert
3/1
9
9Win the War (KY)
Manuel Franco
120
Mark E. Casse
6/1
10
10Purrfect Miss (KY)
Jose L. Ortiz
116
Jeremiah C. Englehart
30/1
