Belmont: Dr B makes 2023 debut against 7 rivals in Vagrancy

Dr B is set to start her 5-year-old season in Sunday’s Grade 3, $175,000 Vagrancy Stakes going 6 1/2 furlongs for older fillies and mares over the Belmont Park main track.

Owned by Cash Is King and LC Racing, Dr B last saw action when posting a gate-to-wire score in the Go for Wand (G3) on Dec. 3 at Aqueduct. She registered a career best 103 Beyer Speed Figure, according to Daily Racing Form, while also providing four-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., who rides from post 6, with a record 77th stakes win in a single North America season. Dr B contested over a sloppy and sealed track in the one-turn mile test, building her advantage through each point of call to stroll home a 4 1/4-length winner.

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Never worse than second in her last five starts, Dr B picked up stakes placings in the Roamin Rachel on Oct. 3 at Parx Racing and the Pumpkin Pie on Oct. 29 at Belmont at the Big A en route to her Go for Wand score. Last summer she completed the exacta behind subsequent champion female sprinter Goodnight Olive in an allowance race going the Vagrancy distance at Saratoga.

Dr B enters from a winter freshening and has breezed consistently at Parx in preparation for Sunday’s engagement, most recently logging an easy half-mile in 51.77 seconds last weekend.

Trainer Butch Reid said the daughter of Liam’s Map benefitted from the break.

“She’s doing really well,” Reed said. “The time off did her a ton of good. She’s a happy and healthy horse right now, so we’re looking forward to getting her back. She ran fantastic in her last race. It was a lifetime best. The winter was coming, so we decided right then and there to give her a break and gear her up for a very strong year this year. We have some big races in mind with her, and so far she’s been training fantastic coming up to this first start of the year.”

Dr B has a 16: 5-5-2 record and $348,690 in earnings. Bred in Kentucky by Eico Ventures, Dr B is out of the graded stakes-placed Proud Citizen mare Boleyn, who also produced Reid-trained stakes winner Stand Up Comic.

New York-bred Funny How, owned by Adelphi Racing Club and Cutair Racing, will look to get back to winning form after having a five-race victory streak come to a halt with a runner-up effort last out in the Distaff Handicap (G3) on April 7 at Aqueduct.

The Ray Handal-trained Overanalyze filly went on a tear during the winter, beginning her hot streak with an open-company, maiden triumph in September over next-out winners Arrogant Lady and Kitten’s Appeal. She defeated fellow New York-breds in her following two efforts before stretching out to seven furlongs against open allowance company Jan. 7. She made her stakes debut a winning one, defeating stakes victors Bank Sting and Betsy Blue in the Broadway for state-breds Feb. 12 at Aqueduct.

Handal expressed encouragement in keeping her at the graded-stakes level based off her last effort, where she lacked room around the far turn and made a five-wide move to finish 1 1/2 lengths behind the victorious Mommasgottarun.

“It made sense after the last run,” Handal said. “She ran her tail off against open, graded-stakes company, so I think we keep going this route until she says that she can’t or is ready for another test to jump up. These Grade 3 dirt-sprint type of spots are perfect for her. She’s training great coming into this, and I think it should suit her just fine.”

Bred by Hibiscus Stables, Funny How is out of the Distorted Humor mare Heavenly Humor, the dam of graded stakes-placed Funny Guy.

Katie Davis, the pilot in her last three starts, retains the mount from post 1.

Godolphin’s Kentucky homebred Caramel Swirl, breaking from post 3 with Júnior Alvarado, will seek to make amends following a fourth-place finish as the heavy favorite in Tampa Bay Downs’ Minaret on Feb. 11.

The 5-year-old Union Rags mare made two starts last year when second in the Ballerina (G1) in August at Saratoga after an allowance victory at Belmont Park last May for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.

Caramel Swirl will strive for a second graded-stakes triumph, having captured the Raven Run (G2) in October 2021 at Keeneland. She is out of the Smart Strike mare Caramel Snap, who is a half-sister to multiple Grade 1 winner and producer Frosted.

Midnight Stroll, starting from post 8 with Javier Castellano, also pursues a second graded-stakes triumph for trainer John Terranova.

The 4-year-old Not This Time dark bay owned by Gatsas Stables, R.H. Hill Stable and Steven Schoenfeld captured last year’s Delaware Oaks (G3) on July 2 going two turns at Delaware Park. Then she completed the trifecta in the Charles Town Oaks (G3) the following month and the Raven Run (G2) at Keeneland in October. She enters from her 2023 debut, at which she finished sixth in the Royal Delta (G3) on Feb. 18 at Gulfstream Park.

Mosienko, owned by Stacy Lalman and starting from post 4 with Flavien Prat, is the most experienced contender in the field with 35 lifetime starts and field-best earnings of $513,431. She will be making her graded-stakes debut for trainer Dennis Lalman.

The 6-year-old Hat Trick bay mare enters off a win in the one-turn mile Sis City Purse on New York claiming championship day March 25 at Aqueduct. She put together a four-race win streak that kicked off with a pair of state-bred conquests at Saratoga before two open-company victories at Belmont at the Big A in the fall. She made her season debut in February when fourth in an open, optional-claiming event.

Completing the field are stakes-winner Rossa Veloce in post 2 with Manny Franco, graded stakes-placed Beguine in post 5 with Dylan Davis and 10-time winner Easy to Bless in post 7 with Romero Maragh.

The Vagrancy is carded as the eighth of nine races Sunday, and it is scheduled for 4:40 p.m. EDT. The first post at Belmont Park is at 1 p.m.

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