Spa Day for This ‘Miss’

A competitive field of five is slated to line up in Friday’s GII Lake Placid S. at Saratoga, including Allen Rosemblum, Sagamore Farm and The Club’s Miss Temple City (Temple City). The Graham Motion trainee annexed her first two career starts and finished third behind Consumer Credit (More Than Ready) in theGIII Sweetest Chant S. Jan. 24. She was just 2 1/2 lengths behind Lady Eli (Divine Park) in the GIII Appalachian S. at Keeneland Apr. 12, and took Pimlico’s Hilltop S. May 15. Most recently, she was a credible fourth in Royal Ascot’s G1 Coronation S. June 19.

“She’s doing great,” Motion said. “I wasn’t in a hurry to run her. She’s had two months, so I think that should be fine. It’s a tough trip coming back. We have to go to Amsterdam to fly back to the States. It makes for a long trip. She got beat two lengths against the best fillies in Europe.”

“It’s a shame that it set up a little awkwardly,” Motion continued about Miss Temple City’s run in the Coronation S. “She just didn’t settle early because she was kind of hung out on the outside. It’s a little awkward the way you come out of a chute into a straightaway there, and what you don’t realize unless you’re there is you go a quarter of a mile and then it’s uphill all the way to the wire. It’s grueling. She keeps improving. Even since she got back from England, I think she’s improved. I think she’s maturing. She keeps getting better, she really does,” he said.

“I wish she could have hit the board, because it would have been great for the owners to get the black type in England. I think it was a success. I’m going to keep trying. She’s a really good filly.”

Conditioner Chad Brown will send out a duo of Strict Compliance (Into Mischief) and Consumer Credit. The former won four consecutive races this season, including the Penn Oaks May 30 before dead-heating for fourth with Sentiero Italia (Medaglia d’Oro) in the GI Belmont Oaks Invitational July 4 behind stablemate Lady Eli (Divine Park). Stablemate Consumer Credit, winner of Gulfstream’s GIII Sweetest Chant S. Jan. 24, was second in the GIII Florida Oaks at Tampa Mar. 7 before annexing the yielding Big A’s Memories of Silver S. Apr. 23. She rallied to get third in the GI American Oaks at Santa Anita May 30 and was sixth in the Belmont Oaks.

Godlophin’s Sentiero Italia is the 5-2 second choice on the morning-line. The bay miss never factored with seventh behind Strict Complaince on debut at Gulfstream in March, but wired her second try, going 1 1/18 miles at Aqueduct Apr. 19. She rallied to take a Belmont allowance May 28 and dead-heated for fourth in the Belmont Oaks Invitational.

“She’s training very well,” trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said. “She’s a very nice filly. We’re looking forward to running her.”

As for her last effort, McLaughlin explained, “She ran great. She was in the 11-hole and ran wide, the only one that ran further than the winner. It was just unlucky not to be third and get Grade I placing, but she’s doing fabulous and we thing that she’s got a big chance.”