And that’s what makes this renewal so far. Only seven fillies in it, three with varying degrees of quickness and turn of foot and another that doesn’t mind eating some backstretch dirt.
And wouldn’t you know? The hottest sire in the country this summer, Into Mischief, is the daddy of four of the seven entered in Sunday’s Grade 1 Spinaway.
The four with the best chance are Frank’s Rockette (8-5) who got mugged midway down the straight in the G2 Adirondack, in which Perfect Alibi (7-2) came along and picked up all the pieces.
Then there’s Figure of Speech (4-1), a fast-figure easiest kind of winner on debut but was as green a first-tine starter as we’ve ever seen.
She has two things going for her; the routine second-time-out improvement angle and, the Chad Factor. Nicely drawn toward the outside, Javier is likely to work out a trouble free trip.
And yet we’re going to take yet another, Shippy (9-2) to win. A fast winner going short at Laurel, she was purchased out of her debut and came up here with Doug O’Neill.
O’Neill just happened to win the G3 Schuylerville with his other filly, Comical, after Shippy set the table. She battled near the lead after being bumped at the break, dropped back at mid-turn, re-rallied and fought gamely to the end, finishing third.
All the while, she did all this on a wet, dead rail.
Today, she moves outside which will give Luis Saez options off the break. She’s a cinch to improve. Is she good enough? We’ll find out, and am willing to do so at fair odds, on or about 4-1.
Shippy to win for trainer Kathy Ritvo and boxing the exacta with Frank’s Rockette, and adding Figure of Speech and Perfect Alibi is an exotic cocktail.
YESTERDAY: Tom’s d’Etat had more life on the tote board–overbet–than he had in the running. Not a good day…
