Thursday, August 02, 2007 - 07:20

DARLEY TEST ADVANCE, for Saturday, August 4, 2007

DREAM RUSH THE TARGET IN DARLEY TEST
West Point Stable’s colors are black and gold, but they might as well be red and white as their brilliant filly Dream Rush is the target everybody will be chasing in Saturday’s 82nd running of the Grade 1, $250,000 Darley Test for three-year-olds at seven furlongs.
ESPN will televise the Darley Test (5:14 p.m.), the ninth race of a 10-race card, during its one-hour telecast that begins at 5 p.m. EDT. On-track, Darley Stable representatives will pass out the “Darley Test.” Fans that correctly answer the open-book quiz will be eligible for a draw for a trip to Dubai for the 2008 Dubai World Cup.
Dream Rush comes off a powerful win in the Grade 1 Prioress at Belmont in which she faced heavy early pressure, but was still good enough to draw away from the field and win by 2 ¼ lengths as the 3-5 favorite in 1:09 for six furlongs.
With her tremendous early speed, Dream Rush should be out there on the lead once again with jockey Eibar Coa. Most opposing trainers and jockeys in the Darley Test will view Dream Rush as the filly to beat.
“It’s a poisonous target,” trainer Rick Violette Jr. said when asked if he thought other jockeys would ride the race against Dream Rush. “Hook us at your own peril. I don’t think anybody can reasonably think they can hook us and still be standing at the end. She has her style, she’s fast and she outran some very fast fillies in the Prioress.”
Although Dream Rush already has a Grade 1 victory under her belt, the Darley Test is the most important start of her 2007 season so far.
“If the Prioress had been a Grade 2, we might have passed,” Violette said. “The Test is the premier race for three-year-old filly sprinters, and maybe one of the premier three-year-old filly races. We’ve got the Grade 1 under our belt, now we want to win the special race.”
Dream Rush has only been beaten twice in her seven-race career. Violette shouldered the blame for the first loss, a January allowance at Gulfstream, as he wanted to teach the speedy filly how to rate.
The second defeat for Dream Rush came almost two months ago in the Grade 1 Acorn at one mile when she was cut down by Cotton Blossom after setting the pace. Was it the distance that got to Dream Rush that day or was Cotton Blossom simply better?
“I think Cotton Blossom ran the race of her life that day,” Violette said. “There was no embarrassment running second to her. We got beat a length and were eight in front of the third horse. We got a mile fine, but there was one filly in the race that got there first.”
Cotton Blossom, owned by Dogwood Stable, will be making her first start at a distance shorter than a mile for the first time since September when she finished second to Appealing Zophie in the seven-furlong Spinaway.
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After defeating Dream Rush in the Acorn, Cotton Blossom returned as the 6-5 favorite in the Delaware Oaks where she weakened to finish third, beaten 6 ¾ lengths. Cot Campbell, the president of Dogwood Stable, is hoping the pace scenario in the Test will bring out his filly’s best race.
“There is a great deal of speed in the Test, and while one certainly fears Dream Rush, there should be enough speed to keep her nose to the grindstone and set it up for us to make a big run,” Campbell said.
Even thought the Test may be a bit shorter than Cotton Blossom’s preferred distance, Campbell thinks it is worth taking a shot in here.
“The Test is a great race to have on the record of a potential broodmare,” Campbell said. “It’s a race worth going for.”
Campbell is not the only one with those views on the Test as 13 fillies have been entered in the seven-furlong feature.
Robert Masterson’s Sheets drew a good post for the Darley Test, breaking from post nine. The Scatmandu filly has won her last two starts, a Churchill Downs allowance and the Grade 3 Azalea Breeders’ Cup at Calder last month. Her stalking style should be a good fit for the race with jockey Calvin Borel in the irons.
Time’s Mistress had a two-race win streak snapped when she finished sixth in the Azalea over a sloppy Calder track. Earlier in the year she won the Miss Preakness and a Churchill Downs allowance for trainer D. Wayne Lukas and owner Charles Kidder. She will break just inside of Sheets and likes to rally from farther back, which could work to her advantage if the pace is hot like it should be.
Heiligbrodt Racing Stable’s Appealing Zophie returns to the scene of her biggest triumph Saturday after winning the Grade 1 Spinaway here last year at seven furlongs. Unfortunately for her connections, it does not seem like the Successful Appeal filly has improved much as a three-year-old. Her only victory in seven starts after the Spinaway was in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks earlier this year.

The field for Saturday’s Grade 1, $250,000 Darley Test
PP. HORSE TRAINER JOCKEY WGT.
1 Silver Knockers Nick Zito Javier Castellano 116
2 Akronism Tim Ritchey Tony Black 116
3 Astor Park Todd Beattie Ramon Dominguez 116
4 Down Bobby Frankel Edgar Prado 116
5 Debbie Got Even Nick Zito Kent Desormeaux 116
6a Baroness Thatcher Patrick Biancone Garrett Gomez 118
7 Dream Rush Richard Violette Jr. Eibar Coa 123
8 Time’s Mistress D. Wayne Lukas Jorge Chavez 118
9 Sheets T.V. Smith Calvin Borel 118
10 Boca Grande Shug McGaughey Julien Leparoux 120
11a High Again Bill Mott Cornelio Velasquez 120
12 Appealing Zophie Steve Asmussen Alan Garcia 120
13 Cotton Blossom Todd Pletcher John Velazquez 122