The $250,000 Maid of the Mist Stakes October 18 at Belmont Park features a field of nine two-year old fillies going a mile on dirt.
The Favorite, Temper Mint Patty (8/5), draws the outside post position for trainer Dale Romans after beginning her career with consecutive wins including a rousing 13 and a half length demolition of New York-bred stakes company in her last start. Temper Mint Patty will be ridden again by Irad Ortiz who was also aboard for the first two starts. The two year-old daughter of Congrats is drawn ideally to employ the same stalk-and-pounce style she has demonstrated in both career starts. Temper Mint Patty’s Beyer Speed Figures of 74 and 89 are formidable against this field ensuring that she will be a short price.
Quezon (7/2) was in impressive maiden special weight winner on September 17, winning by six lengths to earn an 81 Beyer Speed Figure in her debut. Like Temper Mint Patty’s last start, Quezon’s came on a muddy track. Quezon was flattered by her debut when second place finisher The Lewis Dinner came back to win her next start.
The rest of the field is considerably slower than the top two. Sweetpolypurebrd (5/1) could have an impact on the race by virtue of her impressive gate speed. In winning her last start against maiden special weight foes, the Rudy Rodriguez trainee set fractions of 22 and one fifth seconds for the quarter mile and 45 and one fifth for the half before extending her lead in the stretch to win the six and a half furlong event by four and a half lengths.
The field is set for the $1 million Haskell, where Nyquist will be trying to re-stake his claim as the top three-year-old in the country.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $300,000 United Nations Stakes. Scheduled to be run at a mile and three-eighths on the turf, the Grade 1 event has drawn a field of ten colts and geldings.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $150,000 Pegasus Stakes, a key prep race for the Haskell Invitational (G1). The Grade 3 event will be contested at a mile and a sixteenth and has drawn a field of seven three-year-olds.
With five grade 1 races and a grade 2, the undercard for the June 11 Belmont stakes could be the best single day of racing on the calendar outside of the Breeders’ Cup.
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