Miss Temple City Takes Hilltop Stakes

Miss Temple City took the lead at the top of the stretch and steadily edged clear to her first career stakes victory in Friday’s 43rd running of the $100,000 Hilltop Stakes.

The 1 1/16-mile Hilltop for 3-year-old grass fillies was the first of seven stakes, four of them graded, on the 14-race Black-Eyed Susan Day program at Pimlico Race Course.

Favored at 6-5 in a field of seven, Miss Temple City ($4.40) rated in second behind pacesetter Lady Zuzu through fractions of 23.44 seconds, 46.86 and 1:11.35 before assuming control after turning for home. She hit the wire in 1:41.94 over a firm turf course under John Velazquez, 2 ¾ lengths ahead of All in Fun. Lady Zuzu was third.

Narrowly beaten in a pair of graded stakes earlier this year, Miss Temple City is owned by Glyndon, Md.-based Sagamore Farm, Allen Rosenblum and The Club Racing LLC.

                               HILLTOP STAKES QUOTES

Winning trainer Graham Motion (Miss Temple City): “I am really high on this filly. She just keeps getting better and better. We really felt confident coming into this race because she just missed in her last two. We’re going to aim her for the Coronation at Ascot (June 19th).”

Winning jockey John Velazquez (Miss Temple City): “She was going so well that I was real comfortable with where she was early. She was going at it really easy. Once I passed the horse on the lead, I had to keep her a little busy because before the race she was looking around and not really paying attention. During the race she was a professional.”

Source: Maryland Jockey Club