SHEEPSHEAD BAY ADVANCE; for Saturday, May 22, 2010

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

 

Contact: Ashley Herriman

(718) 659-2218

 

BUBBLY JANE LOOKS FOR WINNING RETURN IN SHEEPSHEAD BAY

 

ELMONT, N.Y. – In Brazil, Bubbly Jane was a two-time Group 1 winner on turf and though she has yet to win a graded stakes race in America trainer Paulo Lobo hopes that could change in Saturday’s 52^nd running of the Grade 2, $150,000 Sheepshead Bay at Belmont Park.

 

Now 5 years old, Bubbly Jane picked up both Group 1 wins late in her 3-year-old season and was off for eight months between winning the Grande Premio Diana (Brazilian Oaks) on October 4, 2008 and her first start in the United States, a turf overnight stakes at Belmont Park on July 22.  Adapting well to her new surroundings in New York, Bubbly Jane split rivals in the stretch and got up in the final strides to win by a nose. 

 

A non-threatening fifth in her next start, the Grade 3 Glens Falls Handicap at Saratoga Race Course, Bubbly Jane came back to win a second overnight stakes over the Belmont turf course in October, and then ran third behind multiple graded stakes winner Criticism in her final start of 2009, the Grade 3 Long Island Handicap on November 1 at Aqueduct Racetrack.  Saturday’s 1 3/8-mile Sheepshead Bay will be Bubbly Jane’s first start since the Long Island and only her fifth outing in this country. 

 

“She was a very good filly in Brazil and she ran well off the long layoff when she came to the United States,” said Paulo Lobo, who trains the filly for Haras Interlagos.  “We gave her a long break over the winter with that in mind.”

 

Rajiv Maragh, who piloted Bubbly Jane to the win in her first U.S. start last summer has the call from post position 6.  Equipped with blinkers in her two most recent starts, Bubbly Jane will run without them on Saturday.

 

Like Bubbly Jane, Andrew Rosen’s Irish-bred Liberally will also make her fifth start in the U.S. on Saturday for trainer Tom Albertrani, who won last year’s Sheepshead Bay with Criticism.

 

Liberally started the year with a pair of third-place finishes in Florida, an optional claimer at Gulfstream Park on February 4 and the Grade 3 Hillsborough at Tampa Bay Downs on March 13.  The Hillsborough was won by Phola, who went on to take the Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile at Churchill Downs in her next start.

 

“The course was really soft and boggy the day of the Hillsborough and she didn’t really pick up her feet, but she still managed to finish third,” Albertrani said of the 5-year-old daughter of Statue of Liberty, who has finished sixth in her two most recent starts, the Grade 3 Orchid at Gulfstream on March 28, and the Grade 3, one-mile Beaugay at Belmont on May 1.

 

“She got too far back in the Orchid and the Beaugay was just too short for her. She needs to step up a little bit, but maybe this race will set up for her.”

 

Cornelio Velasquez has the call from the far outside in post position 8. 

 

Trainer Barclay Tagg will send out Statehouse Stable’s Nehantic Kat, who exits a seventh-place finish in the Grade 3 Bewitch Stakes at Keeneland on April 22. 

 

A 7-year-old daughter of Tomorrow’s Cat, Nehantic Kat has proven a consistent contender throughout her career, finishing off the board just four times in 20 starts. 

 

Nehantic Kat has been narrowly defeated in two starts this year, finishing three-quarters of a length behind winner Changing Skies in the Grade 3 Very One at Gulfstream on February 27 and missing second by a half-length in the Grade 3 Orchid the following month.

 

Ramon Dominguez will ride from post position 5.

 

Trainer Christophe Clement will send out a pair of 4-year-old fillies, Bloodstock Management Stable’s The Gaillimh Girl, and Castleton Lyons’ Tarrip.  Both horses are recent additions to the barn after beginning their careers in Europe.

 

The Gaillimh Girl, installed as the 5-2 morning line favorite, exits a turf allowance win at Keeneland at the Sheepshead Bay distance on April 22.  Tarrip broke her maiden at Tampa Bay Downs in February and also picked up a Keeneland allowance victory in April.  Alan Garcia will ride Tarrip from post 3 and Javier Castellano has the call aboard The Gaillimh Girl from post 7.

 

Tom Proctor will also send out two, both recent allowance runners at Keeneland.  Pari exits a win on April 18, while Ballynoe exits a seventh-place finish on April 11. 

 

Juddmonte Farms’ Treat Gently – sixth in her most recent start, the Grade 2 Jenny Wiley at Keeneland on April 10 – completes the field. 

 

The field for the Grade 2, $150,000 Sheepshead Bay:

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	Odds
1	Pari (KY)	J K Court	116	T F Proctor	10-1
2	Treat Gently (GB)	K J Desormeaux	116	W I Mott	6-1
3	Tarrip (KY)	A Garcia	116	C Clement	12-1
4	Ballynoe (KY)	C Hill	116	T F Proctor	8-1
5	Nehantic Kat (NY)	R A Dominguez	116	B Tagg	7-2
6	Bubbly Jane (BRZ)	R Maragh	118	P H Lobo	4-1
7	The Gaillimh Girl (IRE)	J Castellano	116	C Clement	5-2
8	Liberally (IRE)	C H Velasquez	116	T Albertrani	10-1

 

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