by Frank Angst

Acorn Stakes (G1) winner Gabby’s Golden Gal will look for a second straight Grade 1 victory when she cuts back in distance to face top three-year-old female sprinters in the $300,000 Prioress Stakes (G1).

The six-furlong race has attracted nine entries and is one of three graded stakes on Saturday’s Belmont Park card, which also features the $200,000 Dwyer Stakes (G2) and $400,000 Suburban Handicap (G2).

Gabby’s Golden Gal won the Sunland Park Oaks on March 29 before finishing sixth to Rachel Alexandra in the Kentucky Oaks (G1). Trained by Bob Baffert for owner-breeder Arnold Zetcher, Gabby’s Golden Gal then scored a clear victory in the one-mile Acorn on June 6.

“I think she’s going into the race just as good as she did for the Acorn,” said Tonja Terranova, who oversees Baffert’s New York-based horses. “Her last two breezes have been in hand.”

On Saturday, Gabby’s Golden Gal figures to be tested by several other fillies who prefer running near the lead, including Adena Stallions’ Miss Preakness Stakes (G3) winner Heart Ashley. A filly who figures to be coming from just off the pace is On the Menu, who enters off a win in the Just Smashing Stakes on May 16 at Monmouth Park.

“The Prioress is going to deserve its Grade 1 status here,” said On the Menu’s trainer, Larry Jones, who won the Prioress in 2006 with Wildcat Bettie B. “[On the Menu] has been doing very well, and we’ve always been high on her.”

In the Dwyer, a 1 1/16-mile race for three-year-olds, Warrior’s Reward enters off a runner-up finish in the Northern Dancer Stakes (G3) while Kensei has placed in graded stakes in each of his two previous starts, including a third-place finish to Munnings in the Woody Stephens Stakes (G2) on June 6.

In the Suburban, It’s a Bird will try to nail down a third straight graded stakes win after securing a narrow victory in the Lone Star Park Handicap (G3) on May 25 and a six-length win in the Oaklawn Handicap (G2) on April 4.

Some of his top challengers in the 1¼-mile race for three-year-olds and older include Stephen Foster Handicap (G1) runner-up Asiatic Boy (Arg) and Grade 2 winner Cool Coal Man, who enters off a 5 1/2-length May 30 stakes win at Belmont.

Frank Angst is senior writer for THOROUGHBRED TIMES

Dwyer S.

For Equibase entries for Saturday's Belmont card, click here.