Kitten's Dumplings, Eden Prairie Square Off Saturday in Blushing K. D.

Two talented 5-year-old mares will look to return to their best form on Saturday in the $60,000 Blushing K. D. Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on the Stall-Wilson turf course, which goes as the sixth race and kicks off a sextet of consecutive stakes on the Santa Super Saturday card.

Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey’s Mike Maker-trained Grade I winner Kitten’s Dumplings and Lothenbach Stables’ multiple stakes winner Eden Prairie have collectively lost 10 of their previous 11 tries, but still tower over their 10 turf filly and mare rivals as far as accomplishments. A winner of seven of 19, Kitten’s Dumplings won for the first time since 2013 with a two-length win in the $75,000 Lil Miss Magic Stakes at Gulfstream Park West on Oct. 24. She returned to finish a fading ninth in the Grade III $100,000 My Charmer Handicap over that same course on Nov. 21. Manny Esquivel picks up the mount from post eight.

Eden Prairie has lost four consecutive races since a popular victory in the $60,000 Bayou Stakes over this course and distance in February. A multiple local stakes winner, the daughter of Mizzen Mast exits a runner-up finish in a local one-mile turf allowance in which she set the tempo before being nipped at the wire by Christine and Phil Hatfield’s Zubi Zubi Zu (Mitchell Murrill, rail), who has also been entered. Eden Prairie, who easily wired the Blushing K. D. field in 2014, will defend her title with regular rider Florent Geroux in the saddle from post 10.

Trainers Mike Stidham and Brad Cox have each entered three from their high-percentage barns. In addition to Zubi Zubi Zu, Stidham has entered M & M Thoroughbred Partners’ Masquerade (Colby Hernandez, post five), who was a measured winner last out of an allowance optional claiming event at this course and distance, and Russell Jones, Jr’s Zloty (Brian Hernandez, Jr., post seven), who was second last out to in Kitten’s Dumplings’ aforementioned victory. The latter will be making her first start for Fair Grounds’ leading barn.

Cox has entered a triad of turf females, including the graded stakes-placed duo of Richard and Bertram Klein’s Cash Control (Shaun Bridghmohan, post three) and Elm Racing’s Street of Gold (Robby Albarado, post 12), as well as Centaur Racing USA’s Midnight Sweetie (Francisco Torres, post five). Both Cash Control and Midnight Sweetie have been cross-entered in the $50,000 Tiffany Lass Stakes three races later in the card.

The remainder of the Blushing K. D. field is comprised of Zeta Zody (Patrick Valenzuela, post two), Fccountryday (Kerwin Clark, post six), Haunted Heroine (Richard Eramia, post 11) and Hot Tempo (Jamie Theriot, post nine), who is also cross-entered in the Tiffany Lass.

TEN ENTER WIDE-OPEN TIFFANY LASS

The $50,000 Tiffany Lass Stakes at a mile and 70 yards on the main track has drawn 10 evenly matched fillies and mares looking to end 2015 with some blacktype added to their records. Shipping in from Tampa Bay Downs for the always-dangerous barn of Tom Proctor is Please Explain, a stakes winner in 2014 who has won two of her seven 2015 attempts, including a 1 1/16-miles allowance optional claimer in September. A 2014 Grade I $1,000,000 Kentucky Oaks alum, the Niall Racing-owned daughter of Curlin exits a third-place finish behind fellow entrant Cash Control in a one-turn mile allowance optional claiming event at Churchill Downs on Nov. 11 and should improve going back to two turns. Florent Geroux picks up the mount from post four.

Richard and Bertram Klein’s Cash Control, a half-sister to multiple stakes winners – including Fair Grounds favorite Good Deed – was a gate-to-wire winner last out in what was her second consecutive victory and fifth of her nine-race career. The daughter of Pioneerof the Nile has been cross-entered grassy $60,000 Blushing K. D. Stakes earlier in the card and will be ridden in either race by Shaun Bridgmohan. In the Tiffany Lass she has drawn post nine.

Consistent and swift My Miss Venezuela has drawn the rail under Richard Eramia for owner Orlyana Farm and trainer Bruno Tessore. The daughter of Hold Me Back has placed in three consecutive stakes, including the $75,000 Orleans Stakes last out at Delta Downs on Nov. 21.

The remainder of the Tiffany Lass field is comprised of Tiz Lately (Manny Esquivel, post two), Hot Tempo (Jamie Theriot, post three), Silent Ronin (Jose Valdivia, Jr., post five), Emmajestic (Brian Hernandez, Jr., post six), Streethomealabama(Patrick Valenzuela, post seven), Sweet Basil (Robby Albarado, post eight) and Midnight Sweetie (Colby Hernandez, post 10).

ABOVE FASHION HAS DESIGNS ON LETELLIER MEMORIAL

Brittlyn Stable’s Above Fashion has had a productive 2015 so far, with six placings in the seven starts of her first season of racing, but the 2-year-old daughter of freshman sire Paddy O’Prado has yet to land a stakes victory. Trained by Ron Faucheux, Above Fashion is stakes-placed three times, including a third last out in the Grade III $400,000 Delta Princess and second two back in the $100,000 My Trusty Cat Stakes – both at Delta Downs. Shortening up to the six furlongs ofSaturday’s $50,000 Letellier Memorial, she will have to go through six other rivals when she breaks from post four under Colby Hernandez.

Though still a maiden, Wayne Sanders and Larry Hirsch’s Speightstastic should get plenty of support at the windows based on her three runner-up finishes in as many career starts – all at Churchill Downs – for trainer Bret Calhoun. The daughter of Speightstown has kept tough company, including losing to next-out allowance winners Susies Yankee Girl and Durango in her first two outings and then running into very highly regarded $1.15 million recent sale purchase Royal Obsession in a 7½ furlong maiden event on Nov. 29. Jamie Theriot picks up the mount from post five.

David Thorner’s stakes-winning Princess Kennedy takes a significant drop in distance and class when she makes her first start for new trainer Mike Stidham. The daughter of Sun King was ninth of 10 last out in the Grade I $400,000 Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland at 1 1/16 miles. A winner three back in the $49,000 Barbara Shinpoch at Emerald Downs at 6½ furlongs, she breaks from post two under Florent Geroux.

The remainder of the Letellier Memorial field is comprised of Bellatori (Miguel Mena, rail), Cape Magic (Mitchell Murrill, post three), My Good Venezuela (Richard Eramia, post six) and Flashy Appeal (Francisco Torres, post seven).

Source: Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots