Queen Picasso and Liguria, who each registered stakes wins at the recent Belmont Park meeting, are scheduled to face one another in the $175,000 Lake George Stakes (G3T) July 21 at Saratoga Race Course.
The two grade 3 winners are among the nine 3-year-old fillies entered in the one-mile test scheduled for the inner turf Friday.
Racing for the partnership of Siena Farm, Michael Kisber, Peter Deutsch, and The Elkstone Group, Queen Picasso landed her second win in as many starts when she tracked the pace early before drawing away from her four rivals in the stretch to win the Soaring Softly Stakes (G3T) May 27 on the turf at Belmont. The daughter of Kingman is trained by Christophe Clement.
About a month later on that same course, Alpha Delta Stables' Liguria rallied from eighth to win the Wild Applause Stakes. The daughter of War Front closed 2022 with a clear victory in the Jimmy Durante Stakes (G3T) on the turf at Del Mar.
"She's in top form right now," said trainer Chad Brown of Liguria, who was bred in Kentucky by Tada Nobutaka and won three of five starts. "She's training outstanding. She's a nice prospect; one of the better 3-year-old turf fillies, I think. She's found her form back in the second start of the year, and she looks pretty good coming into this race."
Liguria is one of five fillies entered by Brown in Friday's race, as he attempts to secure his fifth straight Lake George win and seventh overall. He also has Klaravich Stables' Tax Implications, who enters off a pair of runner-up finishes in stakes, including a second in the Wild Applause; Wise Racing's Revalita, who has placed in graded stakes in her two most recent races; and recent maiden winners for Klaravich Stables Surge Capacity and Utilization Rate.
Princess Bettina started her career in Southern California, where she won this year's China Doll Stakes for trainer Peter Eurton. She was switched to trainer Todd Pletcher ahead of her most recent start—a third-place finish in the Penn Oaks June 2 at Penn National Race Course. Pletcher expects improvement as Don Dizney's homebred daughter of Will Take Charge makes her New York debut.
"She's doing well. We didn't exactly get the trip we wanted at Penn," Pletcher said. "We'll probably employ some different tactics here. She came in to us in excellent condition, and she's a pretty easy filly to train. She's enthusiastic without overdoing it, and she's been pretty straightforward."
Completing the field are two-time winners Tryinmyheartout for trainer Jose Camejo and Secret Money for trainer Brendan Walsh, as well as the stakes-placed Lil Miss Moonlight for Timothy Hamm.
Saratoga Race Course, Friday, July 21, 2023, Race 9Entries: Lake George S. (G3T)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Queen Picasso (GB) Jose L. Ortiz 122 Christophe Clement 6/1 2 2Surge Capacity (KY) Joel Rosario 118 Chad C. Brown 6/1 3 3Tax Implications (GB) Manuel Franco 118 Chad C. Brown 5/1 4 4Liguria (KY) Flavien Prat 122 Chad C. Brown 3/1 5 5Revalita (FR) Tyler Gaffalione 118 Chad C. Brown 5/1 6 6Lil Miss Moonlight (KY) Luis Saez 118 Timothy E. Hamm 30/1 7 7Utilization Rate (FR) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 118 Chad C. Brown 9/2 8 8Tryinmyheartout (KY) John R. Velazquez 120 Jose M. Camejo 30/1 9 9Princess Bettina (FL) Dylan Davis 122 Todd A. Pletcher 12/1 10 10Secret Money (KY) Javier Castellano 120 Brendan P. Walsh 10/1
