Wide-Open Pebbles Stakes Draws Nine Fillies
Hope Jones' Party Boat is one of the most accomplished 3-year-old fillies in the field for the $200,000 Oct. 14 Pebbles Stakes at Belmont Park going one mile on the Widener turf course.
The Into Mischief filly owns graded stakes placings in the Aug. 19 Lake Placid Stakes (G2T) and July 21 Lake George Stakes (G3T) at Saratoga Race Course in her previous two starts.
Trained by Graham Motion, all of her starts this year have been on turf, starting with an off-the-board attempt in the Ginger Brew Stakes and a third-place finish in the Herecomesthebride Stakes (G3T) in March at Gulfstream Park. Shipped to Aqueduct Racetrack, Party Boat took the April 23 Memories of Silver Stakes before she finished second in the Penn Oaks at Penn National in June.
Party Boat has a record of 4-3-2 from 11 starts and earnings of $283,025.
Trainer Chad Brown brings two to the Pebbles—stakes winner Rubilinda, a Kentucky-bred daughter of Frankel; and the French-bred and -raced Thais, who was second in her stateside debut—a Sept. 2 optional-claiming allowance at Saratoga.
Thais, owned by Allen Stable and Peter Brant, is the only other filly in the field that has placed at the group/graded level.
The Rio de La Plata filly was second in the Prix Imprudence (G3) in France April 10, and prior to that placed third in the Prix Miesque (G3). In her last start before shipping to the United States she earned a stakes victory in the Prix des Lilas - Prix de la Ville du Mesnil-Le-Roi.
Don Alberto Stable's Rubilinda comes into the race off a victory over the Belmont turf course in the Christiecat Stakes Sept. 8, when she defeated a field of eight other fillies, including fellow Pebbles entrant Adorable Miss.
Rubilinda broke her maiden on debut by 3 1/4 lengths May 27 over the Belmont Widener turf, and finished second behind grade 1-placed Cherry Lodge in her only other start—a July 9 allowance—over the Belmont inner turf.
Ballybrit Stable's Dynatail looks to get back into form in the Pebbles for trainer Michael Dini.
The Hightail filly won the one-mile Penn Oaks over Party Boat and Adorable Miss June 3 on a firm turf course, but came back 10th in the July 8 Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes (G1T).
She finished a distant sixth in Suffolk Downs' Drumtop Stakes going a mile over a good turf course Aug. 5. In her most recent effort, she placed second in the 1 1/16-mile Hall of Fame Stakes at Parx Racing.
The Todd Pletcher-trained Adorable Miss has won three of her five starts. A multiple stakes-winning daughter of Kitten's Joy , her victories all came at Gulfstream. She has finished behind Dynatail, Party Boat, and Rubilinda in her other efforts.
Others in the field include multiple stakes winner Bellavais, a Tapit filly with close to $200,000 in earnings; allowance-level winners Sylphide and Lido; and maiden winner Scheme.
Belmont Park, Saturday, October 14, 2017, Race 9Entries: Pebbles S.
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Adorable Miss (KY) Luis Saez 121 Todd A. Pletcher 6/1 2 2Rubilinda (KY) Jose L. Ortiz 121 Chad C. Brown 8/5 3 3Thais (FR) John R. Velazquez 121 Chad C. Brown 5/2 4 4Party Boat (KY) Joel Rosario 121 H. Graham Motion 5/1 5 5Sylphide (KY) Junior Alvarado 119 Jane Cibelli 20/1 6 6Lido (KY) Nik Juarez 117 Kiaran P. McLaughlin 20/1 7 7Bellavais (KY) Manuel Franco 121 James J. Toner 15/1 8 8Dynatail (KY) Paco Lopez 121 Michael Dini 12/1 9 9Scheme (KY) Joe Bravo 117 H. James Bond 20/1
