The Lead:
An early summer staple since the 1960s, the Mother Goose moved to October last year and the historic race has taken a different importance in the 3-year-old filly division. It's now a last call for those skipping the Breeders' Cup instead of a bridge between the Kentucky Oaks and the Alabama. Churchill Downs raider Xigera won the first Fall foray of the Mother Goose, but this second autumn edition looks to have lured a substantially higher-quality field.
Field Depth:
TARIFA is a multiple Grade 2 winner and Grade 1-placed. GUN SONG and LIFE TALK also are Grade 2 winners with Grade 1-placings. CALL ANOTHER PLAY is Grade 2-placed. TARIFA and GUN SONG have the strongest company lines on paper.
Pace:
The pace looks modest with a field comprised of several fillies who want to press or stalk the pace from the second flight. GUN SONG may have the most natural early foot and be sent forward. CALL ANOTHER PLAY could show some pace if hustled from an inner draw. LIFE TALK showed speed once in a winning effort and speed jockey Kendrick Carmouche might be a great fit. Position on the clubhouse turn will be important for saving ground over 1-1/8 miles.
Our Eyes:
Here are my horse-by-horse notes.
#1-DOROTHY'S DREAM: Since losing her first 5 races, this Finger Lakes-based filly has run off 5 wins in her last 7 starts. Success allowance road trip to Delaware Park last out, but high-percentage trainer Anthony Ferraro steps her way up in class with regular rider Keiber Coa in the saddle.
#2-CALL ANOTHER PLAY: Ex-claimer won 3 straight from her Maryland base this spring before a solid Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan third behind Mother Goose contender Gun Song. Mike Trombetta could call an audible with this slick-named daughter of Audible as she's cross-entered in a Sunday allowance at Laurel. Potential place player if she stays in this race.
#3-TARIFA: Godolphin home-bred by Bernardini was among the Kentucky Oaks favorites after winning 4 of her first 5 races and sweeping a trio of races at Fair Grounds on the trail. Things haven't gone as well since; ninth in the Oaks, second at 6-5 in a minor Ellis stakes and a flattened-out third in the Grade 1 Cotillion against Thorpedo Anna and return rival Gun Song. Brad Cox trainee should vie for favoritism here, but taking a short price on a filly winless since March can make a player squeamish.
#4-PRETTY ANA: Chad Brown trainee makes her first stakes appearance while boasting just 1 win from 7 starts. Brown took over the filly this summer at Saratoga and moved her to turf after she had been dirt routing for Steve Asmussen through her first 5 attempts. Numbers-wise, she was faster on turf and appears rather one-paced on dirt.
#5-GUN SONG (pictured): Debut winner over this track almost a year to the day ago, she returns back to the Big A with a highly admirable sophomore resume. This will be her ninth start, and the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan winner at Pimlico also has performed well at Gulfstream, Monmouth and Parx on the campaign. One blemish at Saratoga in the Acorn has been forgiven with her 3 starts since, including a dynamite runner-up in the Grade 1 Cotillion in a throw-down with certain 3YO filly champ Thorpedo Anna. If that race didn't take too much out of her, she's the one to beat Saturday. Jockey John Velazquez has won a record 6 editions of the Mother Goose.
#6-LIFE TALK: Among the leading 2YO fillies last year, the BC Juvenile fourth-place finisher and Demoiselle winner has had little to talk about this season. Two poor efforts in the Suncoast at Tampa and Gazelle at Aqueduct cut her spring short. Her return effort in the Seneca at Churchill in September was promising, however, and notice the massive move forward she had in her second career start when you consider this second start of her form cycle. A seventh Mother Goose win by Todd Pletcher would pass D. Wayne Lukas in the race's record book for training wins.
#7-HEADLINE NUMBERS: Second of 2 Chad Brown trainees in the lineup and the more intriguing of the pair. Most lightly raced member of the field won both starts this summer in maiden and allowance affairs (the latter by DQ). Jockey Flavien Prat jumps to ride the more accomplished Tarifa on Saturday, but Irad Ortiz Jr. picks up the mount in lieu of riding closing day at Keeneland. Late-blooming Gun Runner filly benefits from a race like this on the calendar later in the year.
#8-JUST MUSTIC: Owner-trainer Linda Rice claimed this one for $50,000 last December and has had a consistent year with her in the maiden and allowance ranks. Big class rise to take on this quality of fillies, but it's a familiar trip for her at 9 furlongs (4: 0-3-1 record at the distance).
Most Certain Exotics Contender:
GUN SONG has finished in the trifecta 8 times and the superfecta 9 times in her 10 career starts.
Best Longshot Exotics Contender:
Not expecting any massive prices here, but LIFE TALK intrigues at what figures square value in the high single-digit odds.
Sending it in ($100 bankroll):
$85 win LIFE TALK. $5 exacta part-wheel GUN SONG, TARIFA, HEADLINE NUMBERS over LIFE TALK ($15).
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