Dunbar Road Returns to Graded Company in Mother Goose
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Photo: Chad B. Harmon
Dunbar Road trains before failing to make the field for the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs
Owner Peter Brant and trainer Chad Brown have been playing catch-up with the top 3-year-old fillies since day one for Dunbar Road.
She made her belated career debut March 3 at Gulfstream Park, and the talented 3-year-old daughter of Quality Road put on a nifty display, winning by 8 3/4 lengths in a quick 1:37.34 for a flat mile.
Yet for all of the promise wrapped into that impressive performance, it came roughly two months before the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) and left Brown with only one route to Churchill Downs on the first Friday in May.
A victory in the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) would have assured Dunbar Road of enough qualifying points to run in the Kentucky Oaks, but she finished second by a half-length to Champagne Anyone as a 6-5 favorite in the March 30 stakes. That left her with only 40 points in the Road to the Kentucky Oaks series and positioned her on the outside looking in for one of the 14 spots in the historic stakes.
She wound up on the also-eligible list and was scratched when no dropped out from the main body of the race. Yet in a clear sign of the respect for her, Dunbar Road was listed as the morning line 5-1 second choice for the famed 1 1/8-mile stakes.
"It was disappointing to miss the Oaks. It would have been a tall order because she was lightly raced, but I was looking forward to running her at a mile and an eighth around two turns. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be, so we have to turn the page and go forward," Brown said.
Going forward, in this case, meant working backward. The three-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer targeted the June 29, $250,000 Mother Goose Stakes (G2) at Belmont Park for Dunbar Road's return to graded stakes, and he used a 5 1/2-length victory in a 1 1/16-mile allowance race at Belmont May 30 to prepare the Kentucky-bred for the task of notching her first graded stakes win and putting her name alongside the leaders in the division.
"After we missed the Oaks, we worked backwards from the Mother Goose. She won her allowance race nicely and has really moved forward with her works since then and put some weight on. She breezed very well Sunday," Brown said about a four-furlong breeze in :48.77 June 23. "It was one of the better breezes I've seen from her. We're really excited. It was her final piece of work, and she's ready to go."
Bred by Jeffery J. Drown, Dunbar Road is out of the Bernardini mare Gift List. She was purchased by Brant's White Birch Farm for $350,000 from the Indian Creek consignment at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
A field of six will turn out for Saturday's 1 1/16-mile stakes for 3-year-old fillies, including grade 2 winner Jeltrin, who had little success against another of Brown's talented 3-year-old fillies. The daughter of Tapizar was last seen finishing third in the Acorn Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park, checking in 8 1/4 lengths behind Brown's runaway winner, Guarana.
Jeltrin was ninth in the Kentucky Oaks for owner/trainer Alexis Delgado, but prior to that she captured the Davona Dale Stakes (G2) at 51-1 odds.
A winner of two of eight starts with earnings of $241,088, the daughter of the Successful Appeal mare Song to the Moon was bred in Kentucky by C. Kidder, N. Cole, J.K. Griggs, and Linda Griggs. Sold for $7,000 to Juan Sanchez from the Gainesway consignment at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, she was RNA'd for $27,000 at the 2018 Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training.
Cassies Dreamer, owned by Hayward Pressman and Turf Stable Racing and trained by Barclay Tagg, is also grade 1-placed after finishing third in both the Frizette Stakes (G1) and Spinaway Stakes (G1) at 2.
After opening her 3-year-old season with a fourth in a starter race on the turf, the Kentucky-bred daughter of Flatter posted a 2 1/4-length victory in her most recent race, a May 5 allowance optional claimer at Belmont that was switched from the turf to the sloppy main track.
Bred by Santucket Stables and Indian Creek, the daughter of the War Front mare Chilbolton was claimed Aug. 3 by Turf Stable Racing for $50,000 from Loooch Racing Stables out of a 2 1/4-length victory in her first start.
Cassies Dreamer was originally bought by McKathan Brothers for $90,000 from the Indian Creek consignment at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and then went to Loooch Racing for $85,000 from the McKathan Brothers consignment at the 2018 OBS June 2-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age Sale.
John C. Oxley's Wings of Dawn comes into the Mother Goose off a pair of wins but is untested on dirt. Those victories for trainer Mark Casse came on the all-weather surface at Woodbine following the daughter of Medaglia d'Oro 's dull efforts on turf at Gulfstream Park in her first two starts.
Out of the Mineshaft mare Juanita, Wings of Dawn was entered in the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale as part of the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment and attracted a winning bid of $600,000 from Oxley. Bred in Kentucky by Aaron and Marie Jones, she has earned $60,025.
Nice Guys Stables, Steve Hornstock, Margarita Del Russo, and Jack Bick's recent maiden winner Safta might provide the early pace in the small field.
A winner of one of four starts for trainer Dermot Magner, she was fifth as a maiden in the Gulfstream Park Oaks, four lengths behind Dunbar Road.
The daughter of Dialed In out of the Empire Maker mare Chalonitka was bought by Nice Guys Stables for $150,000 from the Wavertree Stables consignment at the 2018 OBS Spring Sale. One year prior, she went to WCI Investments from the Select Sales consignment at The July Sale, Fasig-Tipton's select yearling sale in Lexington, Ky., for $70,000.
Godolphin homebred Classic Fit makes her 3-year-old debut in the Mother Goose after closing 2018 with a win in the Hut Hut Stakes at Gulfstream Park Dec. 8. The daughter of Bernardini has won her past three starts.
Belmont Park, Saturday, June 29, 2019, Race 8Entries: Mother Goose S. (G2)
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1Dunbar Road (KY)
Jose L. Ortiz
121
Chad C. Brown
4/5
2
2Classic Fit (KY)
Jose Lezcano
121
Michael Stidham
8/1
3
3Safta (KY)
Joel Rosario
121
Dermot Magner
6/1
4
4Jeltrin (KY)
Leonel Reyes
121
Alexis Delgado
4/1
5
5Cassies Dreamer (KY)
Manuel Franco
121
Barclay Tagg
10/1
6
6Wings of Dawn (KY)
Dylan Davis
121
Mark E. Casse
5/1
