May Day Ready, Play With Fire Clash in Valley View

Closing weekend of the Keeneland fall meet kicks off with the $400,000 Valley View Stakes (G2T) Oct. 24, which drew an overflow field of some of the top 3-year-old turf fillies in the country. The one-mile Valley View features a rematch of this year's summer's Lake Placid Stakes (G2T) at Saratoga Race Course, with the winner and runner-up, May Day Ready and Play With Fire, set to clash for round two. KatieRich Stables' May Day Ready, a front-running victress of the Lake Placid, will be looking to rebound from a disappointing effort last time out in the Winter Memories Stakes (G3T) at Aqueduct Racetrack. The Tapit filly was extremely rank early, fanning out wide into the first turn and giving jockey Frankie Dettori all he could handle early. When it was time to do the real running, she had no response and checked home in seventh as the post-time favorite. Jockey Ben Curtis has the call aboard May Day Ready. The Joseph Lee trainee was victorious over the Lexington turf course last fall in the Jessamine Stakes (G2T) as a 2-year-old. She will, however, need to overcome the outer 12 hole, which could prove detrimental for the normally forwardly placed filly. LSU Stables' Play With Fire, second by a half-length to May Day Ready in the Lake Placid, has been freshened since that performance. The daughter of Oscar Performance will be seeking her first graded win after taking the Hilltop Stakes for former trainer Brendan Walsh in May. Chad Brown, winner of the Valley View in 2023 with Surge Capacity, has trained the filly for her last two outings. Flavien Prat has the call. Outside of the New York shippers, Juddmonte's Tabiti (GB) appears an intriguing contender stretching out to a mile in her second start for trainer Brad Cox. A multiple group 3 winner in England, the Kingman (GB) filly was a respectable third in the Sept. 6 Music City Stakes (G2T) going 6 1/2 furlongs at Kentucky Downs in her North American debut. Trainer Mark Casse saddles a pair of live runners in Classic Q and Vixen. The former defeated Play With Fire three starts back in a front-running tally in Saratoga's Wild Applause Stakes July 3. She recently finished a half-length behind Tabiti when closing from the back of the pack in the Music City Stakes. The Classic Empire filly is 3-for-4 at the mile trip. D. J. Stable and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Vixen, one of the stars of the Gulfstream Park winter Championship Meet, has failed to win in three starts since her Herecomesthebride Stakes (G3T) victory in March. The Vekoma filly returns off the bench for Casse, having made her last start when third to subsequent Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes (G1) heroine Lush Lips (GB) in the Tepin Stakes June 28.