On Thursday at Fair Grounds, the featured race is the $50,000 Blushing K.D. Stakes. Named after the Kentucky Oaks winner from 1997, the race will be contested at about a mile and a sixteenth on the turf and has drawn a field of eight fillies and mares.
Headlining the field at morning line odds of 7-2 is Eden Prairie for trainer Neil Pessin. A four-year-old daughter of Mizzen Mast, the dark bay filly has won five of her nineteen starts. She has one win from eight outings this year which came on the turf at Fair Grounds in January. She was last seen finishing third on the main track at Delta Downs in the Treasure Chest Stakes. Florent Geroux will be back aboard and they will break from post position three.
Tom Amoss will saddle the second choice, Malibu Yankee, at odds of 4-1 on the morning line. A five-year-old daughter of Malibu Moon, she is trying to rebound after finishing eighth and last against allowance competition at Keeneland on the turf in October. Prior to that, she had two wins this year including a victory against stakes company. James Graham, aboard for her runner-up effort two back, will be back in the irons from post six.
Also in the field at morning line odds of 8-1 is One Time Only who will be making her first start for trainer Michael Stidham. Purchased as a yearling for $375,000, the bay daughter of Lemon Drop Kid will be trying to earn her first stakes victory. She has won three of her fourteen starts and is trying to improve after finishing eleventh against stakes company at Belmont last time out. She has been training steadily since then and will break from the rail under Forest Boyce.
The field is set for the $1 million Haskell, where Nyquist will be trying to re-stake his claim as the top three-year-old in the country.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $300,000 United Nations Stakes. Scheduled to be run at a mile and three-eighths on the turf, the Grade 1 event has drawn a field of ten colts and geldings.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $150,000 Pegasus Stakes, a key prep race for the Haskell Invitational (G1). The Grade 3 event will be contested at a mile and a sixteenth and has drawn a field of seven three-year-olds.
With five grade 1 races and a grade 2, the undercard for the June 11 Belmont stakes could be the best single day of racing on the calendar outside of the Breeders’ Cup.
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