By Alan Carasso
The GIII Pucker Up S. closes out Saturday's blockbuster card at Arlington and there is no shortage of options for gamblers who still have cash in their pockets.
LNJ Foxwoods's Sensitive (Divine Park), a $475,000 Keeneland September acquisition, posted a modest Laurel maiden win at second asking last October, but could not reproduce the effort on two weeks' rest when only ninth of 12 in Belmont's Chelsey Flower S. Transferred from Michael Dickinson to Brad Cox this term, the bay returned with a vengeance, as she made ground from well back, swung out about five wide at the top of the stretch and came home nicely to annex a July 2 Ellis allowance in near track-record time. The shape of this race would seem to flatter her running style and she figures a live chance at bettable odds.
A third of the field exits the July 20 Ta Wee S. at Indiana Grand, and of those, Zayat Stables's Louisiana-bred Dontmesswithjoanne (Pioneerof the Nile) may have been the best despite her fifth-place effort. Settled in the latter third of the field after breaking from the widest gate in the field of 12, she rallied wide on the turn and into the stretch and was hitting the line hard while finishing a little under two lengths behind pacesetting Youngest Daughter (The Factor). Dontmesswithjoanne covered 33 feet (about 3 1/2 lengths) more than the winner, per Trakus data.
Fault (Blame) came with a rally similar to that of the Zayat runner and covered her final eighth of a mile in a race-fastest :12.04, according to Trakus, to miss by a neck while traveling 19 feet (about two lengths) further than the winner. The bay has rounded out the exacta in each of her three starts since being claimed for $50,000 from Preakness-winning owners Klaravich Stables and William H. Lawrence out of a victory at Churchill Downs May 3.
Noble Beauty (Kitten's Joy) was put up to the victory in last year's Pucker Up and her trainer Chad Brown is represented here by Lipstick City (City Zip). The dark bay belied debut odds of 12-1 to graduate at first asking over the Belmont turf last fall and most recently snapped a four-race skid with a 2 1/2-length victory in the Boiling Springs S. at Monmouth July 15. Joel Rosario has the assignment.
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