May Day Ready Back at a Mile for Lake Placid

Five of the six 3-year-old fillies that will line up Aug. 23 for the $400,000 Lake Placid Stakes (G2T) at Saratoga Race Course will be looking to win their first graded stakes race, with morning-line second choice May Day Ready the lone entrant to have broken through at that level. A daughter of Tapit trained by Joe Lee and owned by KatieRich Stables, millionaire May Day Ready broke her maiden on first asking at last summer's Saratoga meet, prevailing by a nose in a 1 1/16-mile turf maiden special weight. A next-out winner in the listed Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies Stakes at the Lake Placid's mile distance, she then eked out a narrow nose victory in the 1 1/16-mile Jessamine Stakes (G2T) at Keeneland. That propelled her into the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T), where she ran second, and she was later sent to Japan to run in the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (G1), where she finished 13th. Back in the United States, May Day Ready has yet to find the winner's circle in two races this year, though one of those losses came in a sloppy, off-the-turf event at Saratoga on Belmont Stakes (G1) weekend. She drops in class and distance after finishing fourth in the 1 1/8-mile Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes (G1T) July 5. "The mile distance is what she wants," Lee said. "This race was to give her a distance she probably prefers and to see how she does. We like running in a spot we've known she's liked for her entire life." Jose Ortiz gets the mount on the 5-2 morning-line shot, replacing Frankie Dettori, who was in the saddle for all seven of her previous races. The projected favorite at 2-1 is Play With Fire, who drew post 1 with Flavien Prat in the irons. The Minnesota-bred daughter of Oscar Performance is making her second start for new trainer Chad Brown after being privately purchased by LSU Stables after a win in the Hilltop Stakes this spring at Pimlico Race Course. This will be her third start at the distance, with a first and a second in her first two attempts. The listed stakes winner has made five starts this year with a 1-1-1 record. Brown has won this event a record six times, including the past four runnings. Like May Day Ready, Reining Flowers (Midnight Storm) broke her maiden at Saratoga last summer in her first route race, mastering the 1 1/16 miles over a firm Saratoga inner turf course in late July. The 4 G Racing Stables' homebred is trained by John Ortiz and will be ridden from post 6 by John Velazquez, who was aboard in both of her previous victories. European shipper Eponine (IRE), twice stakes-placed, pairs familiar U.S. owner Repole Stable with French trainer Philippe Sogorb. The daughter of Tamayuz (GB) is also expected to attract attention at anticipated odds of 7-2. Stakes-winning Florida invader Scarlet Sands and Warming, a winner of two of four starts, complete the field.