Trainer Laura de Seroux hopes to repeat the memorable Memorial Day weekend she experienced last year when Azeri won the Milady (gr. I) on Saturday and Astra captured the Gamely Breeders' Cup Handicap (gr. IT) for fillies and mares on turf on the following Monday. With Astra retired, de Seroux will send out highly regarded Dublino in the $350,000-added Gamely."It's going to be a glorious weekend," said de Seroux optimistically. "I'm delighted with both Azeri and Dublino." Dublino won the Wilshire Handicap (gr. IIIT) at Hollywood Park in her last start April 27.De Seroux remembered the Milady-Gamely sweep vividly. "Azeri romped, but Astra's race was one of the best of the year," recalled de Seroux of a stretch kick that gave Astra a head victory over Starine, with Voodoo Dancer another length back."She was a real violin to train; nothing was simple," said de Seroux of Astra, who would be retired and bred to Giant's Causeway.Trainers de Seroux, Bobby Frankel and Christophe Clement, who finished one-two-three, respectively, are assured of splitting the Gamely pot again. Expected to join Dublino are the Frankel-trained trio of Tates Creek, Megahertz and Miss Terrible and the Clement-conditioned Dress To Thrill.
The probable lineup: Dublino, Kent Desormeaux, 122 pounds; Dress To Thrill, Jose Santos, 122; Tates Creek, Patrick Valenzuela, 122; Megahertz, Alex Solis, 118; and Miss Terrible, David Flores, 117.Dress To Thrill, unraced since winning the Matriarch Stakes (gr. IT) at Hollywood in December, was scheduled to be flown in from New York on Friday.Desormeaux, who won a record sixth Gamely last year aboard Astra, was scheduled to arrive from Japan, where he has been riding, on Sunday.Argentine superstar Miss Terrible will make her United States bow in the Gamely after winning her last seven races, all Group I, in her native land last year.
