Flattering Bea Takes Another Crack at Winning Sugar Maple Again

James W. Arrison’s Flattering Bea takes her second crack at becoming the first horse to win the $150,000 Sugar Maple presented by CANTER Mid-Atlantic twice when she takes to the gate with 8 other fillies and mares on Saturday in the most lucrative undercard race on the 13 race Charles Town Classic program.  The Sugar Maple is scheduled as Race 11 on the program that includes 7 stakes and gets underway at a special afternoon start time of 12:45 P.M. EST.

In 2014, Flattering Bea notched the biggest win of her career in the Sugar Maple when she outdueled Quiet Success to win the race by neck.  However, 2015 wasn’t as kind to Flattering Bea as the results were reversed and saw her on the wrong end of a narrow finishing margin as she came up a neck short against Taketheodds in her quest for a repeat

This time around, the Crystal Pickett trainee will be attempting to win the Sugar Maple in a manner she has yet to try – off a layoff.  Last seen finishing third in the $100,000 Pink Ribbon at Charles Town in September 2015, this will be the third time the now six-year-old has run in a stake after a layoff of three months or longer with the previous two resulting in off the board finishes.  Still, Pickett isn’t deterred and has no reason to believe age will factor into how competitive the earner of more than $400,000 will be in 2016.

“She’s doing fantastic,” said Pickett who splits her time between her farm in Florida and the Mid-Atlantic tracks. “She was laid up in Ocala at my farm for the winter because there aren’t any races for her after the Pink Ribbon. But she's sound and lightly-raced, so we felt like she could come back and be successful. She breezed twice with Jose [Montano}. We were hoping for a prep, but it didn't fill.  We know she likes this track.”

Flattering Bea’s record at Charles Town certainly speaks to that affinity as she’s posted 6 wins in 10 starts there with only her only off the board finish coming on an off track in the 2013 Pink Ribbon.

Jose Montano has the mount on Flattering Bea in the Sugar Maple.

Morning line favorite Athena ships up from her Churchill Downs base for trainer Helen Pitts and comes to Charles Town riding a three race winning streak with her most recent victory coming in the Thirty Eight Go Go at Laurel Park the day after Christmas.

After a pair of starts on the turf that didn’t produce the results Pitts wanted, the daughter of Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense was sent back to the dirt where a reversal of form ensued with the three straight victories, including a pair in Churchill Downs allowance races prior to her first career stakes score.  While Athena comes into the Sugar Maple off a layoff much like Flattering Bea, her trainer also doesn’t appear concerned.

“We freshened her up at Churchill, and it seems like the break has really made a difference,” said Pitts who has enlisted the services of jockey Javier Castellano for the Sugar Maple. “She’s really come around in her last three starts. It looks like a very competitive race on paper. Flattering Bea is a tough local filly for Crystal [Pickett], so it should be a good race.”

Others in the field who figure to garner support include recent Aqueduct allowance winner Making Havoc, 2016 What a Summer runner-upRaging Smoke, Walk of Stars who defeated Flattering Bea and others in winning the 2015 Pink Ribbon at Charles Town and Sweet on Smokey, a recent runaway 10 1/2 length victor of the Videogenic at Aqueduct.

Lake Sebago, Dallas Cowgirl and Magnificent Margo, who will be competing at the tenth different track in her last ten starts on Saturday, complete the lineup.

The Sugar Maple presented by CANTER Mid-Atlantic is schedule to go postward at 5:20 P.M. EST and is the penultimate race in a $100,000 guaranteed all-stakes Pick 4 which commences in Race 9.  

$150,000 SUGAR MAPLE PRESENTED BY CANTER MID-ATLANTIC

April 23, 2016

Race 11 – Post time 5:20pm EST

Fillies & Mares 4&up, 7 Furlongs

PP. Horse, Jockey, Weight, Trainer

1. Sweet on Smokey, Jevian Toledo, 123, Claudio A. Gonzalez

2. Lake Sebago, Angel Cruz, 118, John J. Robb

3. Walk of Stars, Horacio Karamanos, 118, Michael J. Trombetta

4. Flattering Bea, Jose Montano, 118, Crystal G. Pickett

5. Magnificent Margo, Kendrick Carmouche, 118, Joe Sharp

6. Raging Smoke, Tyler Conner, 118, Michael W. Salvaggio, Jr.

7. Making Havoc, Jose L. Ortiz, 120, Michelle Nevin

8. Dallas Cowgirl, Oscar Flores, 118, Flint W. Stites

9. Athena, Javier Castellano, 118, Helen Pitts

*        *        *

ROBERT HILTON MEMORIAL PREVIEW;

Amoss Goes for Fourth Straight Hilton Win

Trainer Tom Amoss will go for a fourth consecutive victory in the Robert Hilton Memorial when he sends out Midwest Thoroughbreds’ Quijote against six other three-year-olds in the 7 furlong tilt on Saturday at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races.

After starting the streak in 2013 with Free World, Amoss continued it in 2014 with Rise Up and added a third straight triumph in the Hilton with Control Stake last year.  He now turns to the Florida-bred son of Pomeroy to give him yet another victory on the Charles Town Classic undercard.

Quijote started his career with two victories at Fairgrounds, and would make the leap into stakes company in just his third career start – the Jimmy Winkfield at Aqueduct where he ran into a tough customer in Awesome Gent.  While Quijote was only able to manage a runner-up finish, he did cross the wire ahead of King Kranz who subsequently came back to run second to the very talented Unified in the Bay Shore (G3) on Wood Memorial day.

Quijote figures to go off favored in the Robert Hilton and will have Jose Ortiz in the saddle for the first time.

While a maiden, Serjeant Equine’s Virtual Machine hasn’t performed like one and almost got the first win of his young career in a stakes race last time out when he checked in second, beaten 1 1/2 lengths in the $100,000 Rushaway at Turfway Park.  Trained by West Virginia native Joe Sharp, Virtual Machine sported a string of three close-up defeats in maiden special weights at Fairgrounds prior to giving the Rushaway a try.

The chestnut colt by Drosselmeyer shortens up under a mile for the first time since December and will have Kendrick Carmouche aboard.

Others in the Robert Hilton Memorial field include Easy River from the barn of Hamilton Smith, recent Gulfstream Park maiden winner Dig Deep, West Virginia-bred Siente El Viento and a pair from trainer Gerald Brooks in Huntin’theholidays and I Came to Party, with the latter most recently third in the Federico Tesio at Laurel.

The Robert Hilton Memorial is scheduled as Race 10 on the Charles Town Classic card and is slated to go off at 4:50 P.M. EST.

$100,000 ROBERT HILTON MEMORIAL

April 23, 2016

Race 10 – Post time 4:50pm EST

3YO, 7 Furlongs

PP. Horse, Jockey, Weight, Trainer

1. Easy River, Jevian Toledo, 120, Hamilton A. Smith

2. Virtual Machine, Kendrick Carmouche, 120, Joe Sharp

3. Quijote, Jose L. Ortiz, 118, Thomas M. Amoss

4. Siente El Viento, Katie Crews, 118, Joseph P. Stehr

5. Dig Deep, Javier Castellano, 120, Alan E. Goldberg

6. Huntin’theholidays, Antonio Lopez, 118, Gerald E. Brooks

7. I Came to Party, J.D. Acosta, 118, Gerald E. Brooks

Source: Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races