April 25, 2025
TORONTO — By Matthew Lomon
Set a Course for the Winner’s Circle
When Harbor Springs takes post six in Saturday’s $200,000 Roxelana Stakes at Churchill Downs, it will mark the 3-year-old filly’s first taste of stakes action since last April.
Eight starts have come and gone since Harbor Springs finished second in the Grade 2 Beaumont on Apr. 7 at Keeneland.
While the Gregory Foley charge initially struggled despite the drop in class (0-for-6), she has looked more like her old self recently, rattling off consecutive wins, including a 5 ¼-length decision in her final start of 2024.
Entering the 6-furlong Roxelana at 3-1, Harbor Springs trails only 5-2 favorite Sandy Bottom on the opening line.
Hungry for More
Coming off her first graded stakes victory, Tirupati looks to track down number two as the early 2-1 choice for Saturday’s $100,000 Royal Heroine (G3T).
Returning to the friendly confines of Santa Anita, the very site of her breakthrough Wilshire (G3) score on Mar. 29, Tirupati finds herself in a much different situation this time around.
Instead of squaring off against a smaller field – seven in the Wilshire – the Jonathan Thomas trainee is projected to line up against a significantly larger 13-horse field in the Royal Heroine.
Oddsmakers clearly don’t forecast the increase in numbers to be a problem. However, it is something worth noting.
Buckle Up
The rollercoaster ride that is Our Pretty Woman (5-2) rumbles into Oaklawn Park this Saturday for the $200,000 Dig A Diamond with the goal of being the site’s main attraction.
Mired in a tumultuous four-start stretch that started strong with a second in the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2), stumbled after an 11th in the Kentucky Oaks (G1), rebounded with a victory in the Monomoy Girl Overnight Stakes and faltered again with a fifth in the Houston Ladies Classic (G3), which version of Our Pretty Woman will show up Saturday is anyone’s guess.
What we can expect, however, is that the Steve Asmussen trainee will need to outduel five-time stakes winner Hoosier Filly.
The 2022 Golden Rod (G2) champion and earner of nearly $975,000, opens as the 8-5 favorite.
You Got to Lose to Know…
Dream On has made stops at six different race tracks across his seven lifetime starts.
Those figures will rise to seven and eight, respectively, when the 3-year-old colt lands at Aqueduct Saturday for the $125,000 Woodhaven Stakes.
Inside the numbers is a story of varying success: two wins, both at the lower levels, one second in the Soaring Free Stakes, and one third in the Grade 1 Summer Stakes.
Trained by Mark Casse, Dream On, outside of his last effort (fifth in the Columbia Stakes on Mar. 8) has performed well on the turf.
At 4-1, the Javier Castellano mount eyes his first stakes tally in the Woodhaven.
Changing Gears
Cloe is travelling from Florida to California for the $100,000 Senorita (G3T) following a coast-to-coast victory of her own last time out in the Melody of Colors Stakes.
Making her first start at Santa Anita this Sunday, the Luis Saez mount will try to recapture her most recent form, which yielded a 1 ¾-length triumph on Mar. 23 at Gulfstream Park.
The Melody of Colors performance represented a significant upswing from the sixth Cloe recorded in the Suncoast – her stakes debut on Feb. 8.
Any jet lag or travel-related concerns can be put to rest, as the Jose D’Angelo charge began training at the Palm Meadows Training Center at the start of March.
