LITTLE ROCK — The $50,000 Carousel Stakes on March 31 at Oaklawn Park produced a starter for the inaugural Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, just not the one most expected.
Instead of the more accomplished Wildcat Bettie B, the local hope in today's $1 million race at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., is Miss Macy Sue.
The Filly and Mare Sprint is one of three new $1 million races on the expanded two-day Breeders' Cup schedule, along with the Juvenile Turf and Dirt Mile.
Post time for the Filly and Mare Sprint is 3:25 p.m. Central.
Trained by Kelly Von Hemel, Miss Macy Sue has been nearly perfect this season, winning 5 of 6 starts and $433,717.
Miss Macy Sue opened 2007 with a sparkling 6-length victory in the Carousel, a race in which multiple graded stakes winner Wildcat Bettie B struggled tofinish third.
Unable to regain her 2006 form as the Filly and Mare Sprint drew closer, Wildcat Bettie B was retired in August with some minor physical issues.
Meanwhile, Miss Macy Sue, a 4-year-old daughter of Trippi, has cranked out five stakes victories this year, highlighted by a record-setting performance in the $400,000 Presque Isle Downs Master Stakes on Sept. 15 at Presque Isle in Pennsylvania.
"After she won the race in Hot Springs, we knew she was a lotbetter filly than we had last year," Von Hemel said. "Then we had to figure out how much better."
Miss Macy Sue subsequently won the $50,000 Prairie Rose Stakes at Prairie Meadows in Iowa, the Grade III Winning Colors Stakes at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., the $100,000 Saylorville Stakes at Prairie Meadows and the Masters Stakes.
In her only loss, Miss Macy Sue finished fourth in the Grade II Honorable Miss Stakes on Aug. 3 at Saratoga in upstate New York.
"Nothing went right that day," Von Hemel said. "It just wasn't pretty."
After spending the mandated six hours in a detention barn before the race, Miss Macy Sue was uncharacteristically antsy in the starting gate, broke slowly and was rank behind a slow early pace, Von Hemel said.
But she rebounded to win the Masters in a track-record 1:08.21 for 6 furlongs over Presque Isle's synthetic surface.
Miss Macy Sue broke from the rail in that race and drew post 1 for the Filly and Mare Sprint.
Von Hemel said he would have preferred to be more outside, but hopes Miss Macy Sue, 6-1 on the morning line, can still assume her normal stalking trip under Eddie Razo Jr.
"The filly's doing great," Von Hemel said. "I think we fit in here. We like our chances."
A victory in today's 6-furlong race would earn Miss Macy Sue an Eclipse Award as champion in the new filly and mare sprint category.
Her value as a broodmare prospect would skyrocket, too.
"Right now we're planning on running her next year," Von Hemel said. "But if we get lucky enough to win the race, all bets are off. I think everybody will sit down and re-evaluate what's going on."
Xchanger, who ran in Oaklawn's Southwest Stakes and Grade III Rebel Stakes earlier this year, is entered in the Dirt Mile.
Breeders' Cup WHEN 3:25 p.m. Central today WHERE Monmouth Park, Oceanport, N.J.
OAKLAWN PARK SIMULCASTING Gates open at 11 a.m.
OAKLAWN CONNECTION Filly and Mare Sprint (Miss Macy Sue, Carousel Stakes, 1st); Dirt Mile (Xchanger, Southwest Stakes, 5th; Rebel Stakes, 7th) SCHEDULE All times Central 3:25 p.m. $1 million Filly and Mare Sprint 4 p.m. $1 million Juvenile Turf 4:35 p.m. $1 million Dirt Mile
Sports, Pages 33 on 10/26/2007