Unbridled Sidney Aims for Calder Turf Sprint Repeat

(from Calder release)
Leading sprinter Unbridled Sidney bids for a repeat in the $250,000 Distaff Turf Sprint Championship at Calder Race Course on Saturday.

Norrine and Douglas Devenport’s 6-year-old mare shipped from Kentucky last summer to win the five-furlong grass dash. Trained by Ronny Warner, she'll have leading rider Elvis Trujillo aboard Saturday.

Unbridled Sidney is regarded among the nation’s leading performers in turf sprint stakes with career earnings of $632,000. Her record includes victories against male rivals, notably in the Cherokee Run Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs during Breeders’ Cup weekend last fall.

The Distaff Turf Sprint Championship shares top billing on the 14-race program with the $250,000 Turf Sprint Championship, a companion event open to males. Also to be run are renewals of the $100,000 Dr. Fager and $100,000 Desert Vixen divisions of the Florida Stallion Stakes series for 2-year-olds at six furlongs.

A daughter of Unbridled’s Song, Unbridled Sidney ran at Calder last month on Summit of Speed day July 7, finishing fifth as one of the choices in the $100,000 Distaff Turf Sprint after the race was forced off turf and run on a sloppy track. That race marked her first start since a three-length romp in The Very One Stakes on Preakness weekend at Pimlico in mid-May.

Her nine rival fillies and mares include Roger Smith’s Smitty’s Sunshine and Stanley Seelig’s Ruby’s Grand Slam. Both are stakes-winning 4-year-old fillies shipping in from Louisiana Downs.

Jockey Eddie Castro will ride Smitty’s Sunshine, who is riding a six-race win streak for veteran trainer Morris Nicks going back to last fall that includes stakes victories at Fair Grounds and Churchill. The Louisiana-bred daughter of Seeking a Home won the Mamzelle Stakes at Churchill Downs during Kentucky Derby week and captured the Distaff Turf Sprint at Calder on Summit day last out as the narrow choice over Unbridled Sidney.

Ruby’s Grand Slam won her last two starts for trainer Patrick Mouton at Louisiana Downs, including the $115,000 Hallowed Dreams Stakes on a sloppy track on July 14. The daughter of Grand Slam has finished off the board in her two career appearances on turf, although both were two-turn events in which she set the pace.

$250,000 Distaff Turf Championship Handicap (Race 6, 3:03 p.m.) Fillies & Mares 3 & Up, 5 Furlongs (Turf)
PP. Horse, Weight, Jockey
1. Stolen Prayer (FL), 115, Manoel R. Cruz
2. Whenthedoveflies (FL), 117, Jose Lezcano
3. Flying Circle (KY), 117, Manuel Aguilar
4. Formal Miss (FL), 116, Roimes Chirinos
5. Smitty's Sunshine (LA), 122, Eddie Castro
6. Unbridled Sidney (KY), 121, Elvis Trujillo
7. Shesgoldincolor (KY), 116, Julio A. Garcia
8. Ruby's Grand Slam (KY), 115, Jeffrey Sanchez
9. Twiceasbeautiful (FL), 111, Eduardo O. Nunez
10. El Bank Robber (FL), 114, Jermaine V. Bridgmohan