Trainer Leigh Bentley took the
high road and said nothing but good things when talking about the excellent
runner-up performance of Green Lantern Stables’ Sea Level Drive in Saturday’s Grade III Pucker Up Stakes.
“She came out of her race
yesterday just super,” said Bentley, who was saddling her first stakes horse
listed in her own name in Saturday’s nine-furlong grass test for 3-year-old
fillies. “She ate up everything last night and is still looking super
this morning.”
Although Sea
Level Drive was dismissed at 25-1 in the Pucker Up,
Bentley had anticipated a big run by her filly prior to Saturday’s effort.
“I’ve said right along this is
a very nice filly and she showed everyone how good she is yesterday,” Bentley
said. “She’s just getting better every day. Her race yesterday was
very exciting for me.
“Most likely, we’ll take a
look at that Keeneland race (the Grade I Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup) for
her next start,” Bentley said about future plans for Sea
Level Drive.
TRAC N JAM COMPROMISED BY TRAFFIC PROBLEMS
Jean and Ted Barlas and Mike
Porcaro’s Trac N Jam, fourth choice in the wagering for Saturday’s Grade III
Pucker Up but ninth under the wire, came out of the race in good order, trainer
Andy Hansen said Sunday.
“She’s fine this morning,”
Hansen said. “She was dragging the hot walker around this morning like
she hadn’t even run yesterday, and she really didn’t. She never got a
chance to run. She had a really rough trip yesterday and was forced to
check several times.
“She’ll get another chance to
prove herself down the line,” said Hansen of the filly who won the $125,000
Indiana Distaff July 13 and was fifth in Saratoga’s
Grade II Lake Placid on Aug. 21 in another traffic-troubled run. “She’s
going to be a good one.
“I would say we’ll look for an
allowance race at Keeneland to help her get her confidence back, although we’d
probably have to run her against older horses and I’m not too thrilled about
that,” said Hansen. “Ultimately, I’d like to shoot for the (Grade III Pin
Oak) Valley View (Stakes Oct. 21) with her down there. That’s what I’ve
got my eye on right now.”
DON’T TELL SOPHIA VICTIM OF ROUGH TRIP
Phil Sims and Jerry Namy’s
Don’t Tell Sophia, third choice of the fans in the Grade III Pucker Up
wagering, finished an unlucky 13th after a rough trip but was doing well Sunday
morning, according to trainer Sims.
“She came out fine,” said Sims
Sunday morning. “She just had a really rough trip yesterday. It was
pretty disappointing. She had a horrible trip.”
PUCKER UP PACESETTER LOVE DARE HEADED BACK TO LOUISIANA
Louisiana-based trainer Al
Sider was already hauling Pete and Barb Horton’s Love Dare back home to
the Pelican State when reached Sunday morning during training hours.
“She was fading a little when
she got brushed and then she just gave way,” said Sider of his Pucker Up
pacesetter. “I’m going to give her a little break and bring her back at
Fair Grounds going a shorter distance. She’ll do better at seven furlongs
or a mile.”