Ultimate Love Kicks Off 3YO Season in $125,000 Hilltop

Saturday Flirt Figures Prominently in $100,000 The Very One

LAUREL, MD – Live Oak Plantation’s Ultimate Love looms as the horse to beat when the filly makes her long-awaited 3-year-old debut in Friday’s $125,000 Hilltop at Laurel Park.

Ultimate Love hasn’t raced since October when she finished fifth, beaten three lengths as the favorite, in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1). She has been assigned odds of 4-5 for the Hilltop, a one-mile turf stakes that has attracted a field of seven.

“She ran pretty well,” trainer Michael Trombetta said of Ultimate Love’s Breeders’ Cup performance. “She just didn’t run good enough to beat the top horses in the world.”

As a 2-year-old, Ultimate Love won her first three races, including the listed Selima at Laurel, before falling short in the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar as the 7-2 favorite. Hall of Famer John Velazquez has been named to ride her Friday.

“That was the plan, to try [and] do what we could and then give her a little breather and get ready for spring,” Trombetta said. “These 2-year-olds that run like she did early on and train through the year, you’ve got to pick a time to give them a little bit of a breather, and that was the time to do it.”

JDT Racing LLC’s Use Me enters the Hilltop off a two-length maiden win at Keeneland for trainer Brendan Walsh and is listed as the 7-2 second choice on the morning line. Tyler Gaffalione has the mount. Madaket Stables LLC’s Coach Mazzula (6-1 ML) is the most experienced runner in the field with six previous starts, two of them wins, both coming at Laurel.

“She’s a quirky thing,” trainer Brittany Russell said. “Her last run was really good, but she’s had a couple where we’ve had to add blinkers and she’s a little tricky horse to ride in the afternoon. I’m hoping that she’s kind of got it figured out now.”

Trainer Graham Motion has two horses entered for the Hilltop: Alex G. Campbell Jr. Thoroughbred LLC’s Brat Pack (8-1) and Sierra Thoroughbreds’ Siouxse (12-1). Brat Pack finished third in the Sweetest Chant at Gulfstream in January before returning one month later with an eighth-place finish in the Herecomesthebride (G3).

Expected to complete the field are Damchu Stables’ Unmiztaken (10-1) and Gold Square LLC’s I Love Giraffes (12-1).

Saturday Flirt Figures Prominently in $100,000 The Very One

Following a disappointing performance in the Giants Causeway (G2) at Keeneland, trainer Wesley Ward is expecting a better outcome for Mrs. Fitriana Hay’s Saturday Flirt in Friday’s $100,000 The Very One at Laurel Park.

“I’m looking for her to rebound,” Ward said of the 4-year-old filly, who has been assigned odds of 6-5 to prevail in the 5 ½-furlong turf stakes for fillies and mares 3 and up. “She’s dappled from her nose to her toes and she’s doing really well.”

The 4-year-old Saturday Flirt has won four of six lifetime starts, including the listed Soaring Softly at Saratoga last year. But an eighth-place finish in the Giants Causeway in April at Keeneland left Ward scratching his head.

“Keeneland’s a funny track,” Ward said. “It’s her home track and my home track. It’s a sand-based track, so a lot of grass horses over the last 19 years I’ve been training here, sometimes they’ll disappoint. You take [Saturday Flirt] to other places and she just flies.”

Golden Lion Racing’s Lost and Found (3-1 ML) will be racing for the first time for trainer Brittany Russell. Lost and Found enters the race off of back-to-back wins on the all-weather surface at Turfway Park.

“Mike Golden bought her a couple of days before her last win out of the digital sale,” Russell said. “Now the idea is to get her stakes-placed. I think she could get a piece of it.”

Leverett S. Miller’s Sunna (6-1) is coming off a 3 ½-length win in an optional claiming race at Gulfstream Park.

“Her [Ragozin sheet] numbers are real good,” trainer Kent Sweezey said. “She kind of fits in the race, and we thought we’d take a shot. She runs good numbers against lesser company, but against maidens and allowance horses she sure runs pretty darn good.”

Completing the field are Three Diamonds Farm’s Sporting Lady (6-1), West Point Thoroughbreds and Peter Leidel’s Les Reys (8-1), Elizabeth Merryman’s Somnium (15-1), Twenty-Two Stable and Paul W. Tackett’s Strutsherstuff (20-1), Robert Proulx’s Julee’s Legacy (30-1) and SAB Stable Inc.’s Malibu Hooch (30-1).