Saturday’s $150,000 Boiling Springs Stakes (G3) for
3-year-old fillies on the turf will be a highly competitive event, matching
locally trained horses, shippers from New York and Maryland, and a surprise
package from Canada, who arrived at Monmouth Thursday morning.
Trainer Brian Lynch has sent Robert Smithen’s Bay to Bay down from Woodbine to
continue her education in the mile and a sixteenth Boiling Springs. The
daughter of Sligo Bay was a graded stakes winner on the grass last year at 2
(Grade 3 Natalma at Woodbine), and this year finished second in the Grade 3
Appalachian at Keeneland and won the American 1,000 Guineas at Arlington last
out, both at one mile.
“There aren’t many spots for 3-year-old fillies at Woodbine,” Lynch said, “so
the Boiling Springs looked like the right spot for her to take another step
forward.
“We’re gradually stretching her out in distance, with the ultimate goal to get
her up to a mile and a quarter by the fall,” the trainer said.
In her 3-year-old debut at Keeneland in April, Bay to Bay rallied wide to
finish a game second after a poor start.
“She had too much to do after a tardy break,” Lynch said, “but she finished
well. At Arlington,
she ran well.
“She seems to be maturing with each race,” Lynch said. “She gets a little more
seasoning with each start.”
Bay to Bay drew the outside Post 10 for Saturday, which does not thrill the
trainer, who will probably have some instructions for jockey Alan Garcia.
“I’m not happy with the post,” Lynch said, “but it is what it is. There looks
to be enough speed in there to guarantee a genuine pace. But I want her to sit
midfield. I don’t want her to be too far out of it.”
The Boiling Springs will go as the ninth race on a 12-race Saturday program.