Hot City Girl looks to keep family streak alive in Iroquois

As the 4-year-old half-sister to 2015 Eclipse Award champion female sprinter La Verdad, Lady Sheila Stable's Hot City Girl will look to keep the family streak going when she steps into the starting gate Saturday at Belmont Park in the $150,000 Iroquois, a race her older sister won in 2014 and 2015, and part of the all-New York-bred Empire Showcase Day.

By City Zip, Hot City Girl was entered into the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom on October 1 but was scratched as she continued to recover from a foot abscess, said trainer Linda Rice, who also campaigned La Verdad to 11 stakes wins in her career. Hot City Girl will be making her first start since winning the Union Avenue on August 18 at Saratoga Race Course.

"When we had to skip the last one, we thought this would be a better spot and it is," she said. "We hadn't trained her as aggressively as we would have, dealing with the foot, but I think she stays pretty tight on her own and her last work was pretty strong, so we thought she'd be good for the New York-bred stakes. Plus, it would be really fun if we could knock it out three years in a row."

La Verdad, meanwhile, is doing well in her new career as a broodmare, Rice reported. Currently in foal for the first time to Medaglia d'Oro, the decorated New York-bred retired as a 6-year-old in early February, following a stellar 2015 campaign that included five stakes wins, including a rated 3 ¾-length victory in the Iroquois, as well as a game runner-up effort in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. In her only start of the year - and the last of her career - she captured the $100,000 Interborough by 2 ¾ lengths on January 9 at Aqueduct Racetrack, improving her career record to 16-3-0 in 25 starts.

"I think she'll have a February 1 foal," Rice said, "and we know she's having a filly, so we're excited."

Matt King Coal, also owned by Lady Sheila Stable, is getting closer to making his return, said Rice on Thursday.

The 3-year-old Cool Coal Man colt was sidelined this summer to recover from a hairline fracture to his pelvis. After breezing four furlongs in 50.21 seconds on the Belmont training track on Saturday, Matt King Coal is expected to work again in the next few days at Belmont when the weather is clear.

"His first work was great, he looks terrific," Rice said.

Modest Maven, the 2-year-old $1 million Fasig-Tipton March sales-topper, will not make her debut until at least the spring after suffering inflammation while training in Saratoga. She is currently at Belmont but will ship to Florida, where she is expected to resume training for 2017.

"We stopped and decided to give her a couple of months to grow up, and we'll pick her up in the spring," Rice said. "She'll train in Florida for a little bit. She's in New York now, but she'll go down to Ocala to train when she's ready."

Source: NYRA Communications