Gabe Grossberg’s two-year-old filly Reiterate, trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, will contest her second consecutive added-money event when she goes postward in Saturday’s $100,000 My Dear Stakes at Woodbine.
Bred in Florida by John Penn, Reiterate comes into the open race for two-year-old fillies off a fourth-place performance in the Astoria Stakes, on June 6 at Belmont.
Under Jose Ortiz, the dark bay finished fourth at 9-1 in the 5 ½-furlong main track feature won by Maryanorginger in a time of 1:03.94.
“It was a little bit disappointing,” said Casse of the outcome. “We thought she’d run a little better. She ended up staying on her left lead. But you have to expect those kinds of things from youngsters. Hopefully, she’ll run a good one on Saturday.”
Reiterate made her career bow on April 11 at Gulfstream Park in a 4 ½-furlong main track maiden special weight race.
Sent on her way at 3-1 – second choice on the tote board – Reiterate applied pressure to mutuel favourite Marva (who’ll also run in the My Dear) in upper stretch and then dueled with her to the wire. The race ended in a dead-heat for win honours.
Casse, who’ll have Woodbine’s leading rider, Eurico Rosa Da Silva, in the irons, was pleased with the effort of his filly.
“That first race was a really good one,” he said. “She dug down and really fought hard right to the wire.”
The conditioner, who is closing on 2,750 wins for his career, is no stranger to success in the My Dear. He won the 2001 edition with Jealous Forum, the 2004 running with Quite a Ruckus, and watched Midst takes all the spoils in 2009.
Reiterate will once again meet up with fellow Florida-bred Marva. The Wesley Ward trainee followed up her shared win with an eighth in the Kentucky Juvenile Stakes on May 1 at Churchill Downs. Ward won the 2010 My Dear with Final Mesa.
Alexander Patykewich, who won the 2013 My Dear with Skylander Girl, sends out the pair of Saratoga Vision and The Good Witch.
Last year, Stifling ($40.10) inherited the win in the My Dear when first-place finisher My Gal Betty was disqualified and placed third for causing interference in the stretch.
The My Dear is slated as Race 8 on Saturday’s 11-race card. First post time is 1:05 p.m. Fans can watch and wager on all the action via HPIbet.com.
FIELD FOR THE $100,000 MY DEAR STAKES
POST – HORSE – JOCKEY – TRAINER
1 – The Good Witch – Daisuke Fukumoto – Alexander Patykewich
2 – Justleaveitalone – Ismael Mosqueira – Nick Gonzalez
3 – Copper Gem – Huber Villa-Gomez – Ron Potts
4 – Fast Scene – Rafael Hernandez – Timothy Hamm
5 – Reiterate – Eurico Rosa Da Silva – Mark Casse
6 – Bayerly Seen – Jesse Campbell – Brad Cox
7 – Saratoga Vision – Jeffrey Alderson – Alexander Patykewich
8 – Marva – Patrick Husbands – Wesley Ward
9 – Nite Brite – Arienne Cox – Wayne Rice
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