Italian Soiree back at optimal distance in G2 Caress. (Janet Garaguso)
Christian Abdo
Hit The Bid Racing Stable and CMNWLTH’s Italian Soiree is 4-3-1-0 overall at the distance of Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Caress, a 5 1/2-furlong Mellon turf sprint for fillies and mares 4-years-old and up, at Saratoga Race Course.
Italian Soiree made her first 10 starts for trainer John Terranova, including a win in the Grade 3 Coronation Cup last July over course and distance. This year, the 4-year-old Uncle Mo bay has made three starts for trainer Graham Motion, beginning with a 5 1/2-furlong optional claiming win in April at Laurel Park.
Italian Soiree [post 3, Dylan Davis] was next off-the-board in the Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile on May 2 at Churchill Downs, ahead of a rallying 1 1/4-length second to pacesetting stablemate Roja when returning to 5 1/2 furlongs in the Grade 2 Intercontinental on June 4 here. The runner-up finish, under returning rider Dylan Davis, earned a career-best 97 Beyer Speed Figure.
“I blame myself for her previous start at Churchill,” Motion said. “We were asking her to do a lot. Stretching her out for the first time with me, just three weeks after her running such a big race at Laurel Park. I think we’ve determined that sprinting is really what she wants to do. I was pleased with how she ran at Saratoga. I thought she ran a huge race. She got a great trip from Dylan.”
The bay filly, 13-3-2-0 overall with $343,148 in earnings, is winless at distances aside from 5 1/2 furlongs. She won her career debut by 5 1/4 lengths at that distance on dirt in July 2024 at Belmont at the Big A.
“She’s always run well at Saratoga, too,” Motion said. “That is what made this race very appealing. The timing is good as well.”
Leverett Miller’s Kentucky homebred Sunna [post 4, Joel Rosario] is on a three-race win streak of two optional claiming sprints surrounding a one-length score in the 5 1/2-furlong The Very One on May 15 at Laurel Park. Trained by Kent Sweezey, the 4-year-old Dominus dark bay earned 89-plus Beyers in each victory, with a career-best 92 for her last-out win sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs on June 3 at Churchill Downs.
“She came out of her race at Churchill in really good shape,” Sweezey said. “She’s doing great. It’s important to try for graded black type. She’s already got the stakes win, but it would be huge to get some graded black type.”
Sunna is 8-5-0-1 overall, making her first three starts on dirt, before dominating a five-furlong claimer by 6 3/4 lengths in February over the Gulfstream Park turf. She exited to miss the board on Tapeta there in the Captiva Island ahead of her current win streak, which equates to a perfect 4-for-4 on the lawn.
Peter Leidel’s Zeitlos [post 1, Jose Ortiz] has a field-best $1.4 million in earnings via a 27-9-6-3 record for Hall of Fame-trainer Steve Asmussen. The 6-year-old Curlin chestnut is making her fifth start of the year while competing on turf for the first time since last summer when closing from last-of-9 for second in this race ahead of a rallying fifth in the Grade 2 Ladies Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs.
Zeitlos’ last win was the Listed Skipat going six furlongs on dirt last May at Pimlico Race Course. She has made just 4-of-27 starts on turf and seeks her first win on the surface.
“She’s extremely versatile, but she needs a pace set-up that suits her,” Asmussen said. “She needs to pick it up. She needs them to go fast in front, allow her to catch them.”
This will be the Grade 2-winning Zeitlos’ third attempt at the Caress, also rallying from last for a one-length fifth in 2024.
Resolute Racing and Miller Racing’s Grade 1-placed In Our Time [post 6, Flavien Prat] was fifth in the Intercontinental after stumbling at the start under returning rider Flavien Prat. Trained by Saffie Joseph, Jr., the 5-year-old Not This Time dark bay previously captured the 5 1/2-furlong Grade 2 Giant’s Causeway on April 12 at Keeneland, earning a 96 Beyer for the 1 3/4-length victory.
In Our Time posted an 8-1-4-2 record last year, including five graded placings, highlighted by a second in the one-mile Grade 1 Matriarch in November at Del Mar. She has made 9-of-15 starts for Joseph at one-mile or beyond, but left a good account of herself in her latest sprints, as well as when winning a 6 1/2-furlong optional claimer in September at Kentucky Downs ahead of a runner-up effort in the 5 1/2-furlong Grade 2 Franklin in October at Keeneland.
Joseph, Jr. also sends out Kenneth Ramsey’s Movin’ On Up [post 2, Tyler Gaffalione] for a return to 5 1/2 furlongs. The 5-year-old Accelerate gray has made 16-of-19 starts beyond sprint distances, but was third in the Giant’s Causeway beaten 3 1/4 lengths by In Our Time two starts back ahead of a last-out fourth in the Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile.
Movin’ On Up is 19-5-2-5 all-time with $597,470 in earnings, her latest win coming in the 1 1/16-mile Listed Sand Springs last March at Gulfstream Park. She is out of the winning Cairo Prince mare Stifle Yourself, a half-sister to Grade 1-winning turfer Harvey’s Lil Goil, Grade 3-placed Archie the Giza, and Gosger, runner-up to Journalism in last year’s Grade 1 Preakness.
Rounding out the field is six-time winner Obstreperous [post 5, Jaime Rodriguez] for trainer Michael Simone. The 5-year-old Sky Mesa bay’s lone stakes try was a ninth in this race last year.
The Caress is slated as Race 5 on Saturday’s 11-race card, which features the Grade 2, $250,000 Bowling Green presented by Emerald Ecovations in Race 10. First post is 12:35 p.m. Eastern.
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