Two Woodbine-based fillies are in the 12-horse field for the $200,000 Miss Grillo Stakes (G2) at Aqueduct on Sunday, September 29. The 1 1/16 mile turf race is a ‘Win and You’re In’ event that offers the winner a free berth to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar in November.
Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse sends out D.J. Stable’s stakes-winner Shifty [post 7, Jose Ortiz] off a dominant pacesetting win to graduate at second asking in the Catch a Glimpse on August 23 at Woodbine.
“She ran to the way she trained,” Casse said. “We thought she was one our better fillies and that’s why we ran her as a maiden in the stake.”
The Ontario-bred Medaglia d’Oro bay was never in doubt in the 6 1/2-furlong Catch a Glimpse, taking a two-length advantage early and easily turning back a brief challenge from Bound to Be True. She drew off strongly in the lane to complete the course in 1:15.68 and earned a field-best 85 Beyer for the win. The filly was bred by Anderson Farms Ontario Ltd.
Casse said he had considered running the talented filly in the Grade 1 Natalma on September 14 at Woodbine [Casse won with And One More Time], but opted to skip it to keep her separate from other horses for the same ownership.
“We gave her a little more time. I already had two horses in the Natalma for D.J. Stable with Vixen [2nd] and Nitrogen [3rd] and we didn’t want to run all three together,” Casse explained. “We decided to give her a little bit more time and go to the Miss Grillo. Of all our two-year-old fillies, she’s been as impressive as anybody.”
Shifty has worked at Saratoga twice since her win, including a sizzling bullet in 46.60 seconds over the Oklahoma training turf on Friday.
“She got excited and took off,” Casse said. “I was telling him [the rider] to slow down, slow down, but that’s just the way she does things. She’s pretty impressive. She did that even with saying, ‘hold on, slow down, slow up’ after about a quarter-mile. She got away pretty quick and he was just sitting on her the entire way.”
Shifty was a $350,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale and is a half-sister to graded stakes-winner and stallion Big Runner. She is out of the winning Elusive Quality mare Elusive Luci, who is a half-sister to Grade 1-winner Stormy Lucy.
Trainer Kevin Attard has entered Salt, a Kentucky-bred Tapit filly, for Lanni Bloodstock and Madaket Stables. Salt won her maiden in her second start on the Woodbine grass and then finished fifth behind Shifty in the Catch a Glimpse Stakes.
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