NEWS
Flower Bowl Stakes features accomplished field
Posted: Thursday, September 29, 2005
Check out the list of challengers standing between Riskaverse and a second consecutive win in the $750,000 Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes (G1) on Saturday at Belmont Park.
Nine fillies and mares are entered in the 1 1/4-mile turf race, and all but three of are multiple graded or group stakes winners.
One of the lesser-accomplished graded stakes competitors is Melhor Ainda, a Grade 3 winner who must reverse the outcome of her only meeting against Angara (GB) to add another victory to a racing resume that includes four wins in six career starts.
Easier competition in a race for three-year-olds and older would be a welcome change for Riskaverse's trainer, Patrick Kelly. Since winning the 2004 edition of the Flower Bowl, Riskaverse has endured a four-start winless streak while being outrun by Film Maker, Sand Springs, and Wonder Again—rivals she will face again on Saturday.
Angara outran Melhor Ainda and Wonder Again to win the Beverly D. Stakes (G1) on August 13 at Arlington Park. In her previous race, Angara finished third to Sand Springs in the Diana Stakes (G1) on July 30 at Saratoga Race Course, a race in which Film Maker finished fourth.
As the lone three-year-old entered, Melhor Ainda gets a weight break of between four and eight pounds. The winner of the Sands Point Stakes (G3) at Belmont on June 5 will tote 115 pounds.
Sand Springs has won three of her last four starts against graded stakes foes. She also finished second to Miss Terrible (Arg) in the Comp USA Turf Mile (G3) at Churchill Downs on May 7.
Wonder Again is winless in three starts this season. She finished second—one spot ahead of Film Maker—in the New York Handicap (G2) at Belmont on July 2, then was fourth in the Beverly D.
Lune d'Or (Fr) will make her North American debut after winning a pair of Group 2 events in France a year ago.
The field, in post-position order with (sire), jockey, weight and trainer:
1. Secret Charm [IRE] (Green Desert), Corey Nakatani, 119, Neil Drysdale;
2. Lune d'Or [FR] (Green Tune), Thierry Jarnet, 121, Richard Gibson;
3. Wonder Again (Silver Hawk), Edgar Prado, 121, James Toner;
4. Sundrop [JPN] (Sunday Silence), Javier Castellano, 119, Saeed bin Suroor;
5. Angara [GB] (Alzao), Joe Bravo, 123, Patrick Biancone;
6. Sand Springs (Dynaformer), Jerry Bailey, 123, Bill Mott;
7. Film Maker (Dynaformer), Todd Kabel, 119, Graham Motion;
8. Melhor Ainda (Pulpit), John Velazquez, 115, Bobby Frankel; and
9. Riskaverse (Dynaformer), Jose Santos, 121, Patrick Kelly.
