Six Swift Fillies For March 16-22

This week's list starts with a venerable 7-year-old, but gets younger as it goes.

6. GOLDEN EIB MICRPHN, PRX, 3/17-Allowance, 1 mile 70 yards (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure-85
(m, 7, by Keen Ice–Annabill, by Outflanker)
O-Super C Racing and Jagger. B-Calumet Farm (Ky). T-Jamie Ness. J-Mychel Sanchez.
Flashing “talent on loan from God” in earning a career-high Beyer, the former $4,000 yearling continued her upward track since being claimed Dec. 28 by Parx perennial leading trainer Jamie Ness for $12,500. In 39 starts prior to the claim, she topped 70 on the Beyer scale twice; for Ness she's done it three times in four races. Also, longevity runs in the family: her dam started 56 times (winning eight stakes), and one of her dam's half-sisters ran 85 times.

5. STYLISH SUE, TP, 3/21-Latonia Stakes, 1 1/16 miles (Tapeta) (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure-88
(m, 5, by Nyquist–Maria Maria, by Curlin)
O-Highlander Training Center. B-Curtis C. Green (Ky). T-Joe Sharp. J-Irad Ortiz Jr.
Sent off at 8-1, the betting public didn't know what to make of her terrible race last month in her Tapeta debut. Turns out, the key to her first stakes victory was controlling the pace, her preferred tactic that Ortiz engineered right away. It also didn't hurt that she pilfered an opening half in :49.18, or that 1-2 favorite Literate failed to fire.

4. GRAND SLAM SMILE, SA, 3/21-Irish O'Brien Stakes, 6 1/2 furlongs (downhill turf) (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure-89
(m, 5, by Smiling Tiger–Royal Grand Slam, by Grand Slam)
O/B-Larry and Marianne Williams (Cal). T-Sean McCarthy. J-William Antongeorgi III.
The Cal-bred mare has been on a roll lately, especially down the hill: three wins and a photo-finish loss in four starts, all in state-bred stakes. And she gets along well with Antongeorgi, who recently relocated to Turfway Park but flew back to Santa Anita to ride her Saturday. The two hooked up last July at Del Mar and have teamed for $361,720 in purse earnings since. Antongeorgi credits her with keeping him “afloat” as he struggled for mounts.

3. IRISH MAXIMA, AQU, 3/21-Allowance, 7 furlongs (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure-89
(m, 5 by Maximus Mischief–Palace Pier, by Out of Place)
O-Irish Three Racing. B-Pillar Property Services (Ky). T-John Servis. J-Frankie Pennington.
Spot Irish Maxima an early lead going 7 furlongs on dirt, and it takes a fast one to catch her. This Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling grad has won five of her six starts at the distance, all on the front end with Pennington in the irons, and by an average margin of 5 1/2 lengths. Her nine siblings to race each competed in claiming races–she's the freak of the family.

2. TRUE PASSION, OP, 3/22-Allowance, 6 furlongs (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure-90
(f, 4, by Audible–Fortune Pearl, by Mineshaft)
O-Norman Stable. B-SF Bloodstock & Hartwell Farm (Ky). T-Lonnie Briley. J-J.C. Bealmear.
Thanks to Coal Battle, 73-year-old Briley was revealed to the racing world last year as a folksy hardboot–who knows what he's doing at sales and in the barn. More evidence: Briley had True Passion, a TDN “Five Fastest Maiden” last May at Churchill Downs who races for his primary owner Robbie Norman, cranked up after a 7 1/2-month vacation to zip 6 furlongs in 1:09.53 and win decisively. As for Coal Battle, he is scheduled to start his 4-year-old campaign in the GIII Oaklawn Mile on the Arkansas Derby undercard Saturday.

1. MODO, HOU, 3/21-Yellow Rose Stakes, 6 furlongs
Beyer Speed Figure-97
(f, 4, by Liam's Map–Academy Road, by Lemon Drop Kid)
O-Joel Politi. B-Stoneview Farm Inc (Tex). T-Tom Amoss. J-Lane Luzzi.
Amoss has announced plans to retire as a trainer effective April 1, and if his 369th stakes win turns out to be his last, it was done in style. Modo trounced Texas-bred rivals by 4 3/4 frontrunning lengths in a sizzling 1:09.22, the fastest time at the distance at Sam Houston in at least four years. This was her second start against Texas-breds, and it one-upped her 4 1/2-length score as a 3-year-old in the Bara Lass Stakes.