Morticia 'really good right now,' set for Saratoga's Caress

G. Watts Humphrey Jr.'s Grade 3 winner Morticia, who capped a three-race win streak last year in the Coronation Cup Stakes at Saratoga, will go after her seventh career stakes win and eighth overall in Monday's $200,000 Caress.

A total of 13 fillies and mares 3-and-up were entered for the Caress, set for 5 ½ furlongs over the Mellon turf course. Trained by Rusty Arnold, who co-bred the filly with Humphrey, Morticia drew post position 2 with regular rider Jose Lezcano.

"I was looking at it this morning. This is going to be some kind of race," Arnold said. "There just aren't that many opportunities for these fillies to run for that kind of money, and they're all here. They all showed up."

After going six-for-eight in 2017 including a season-ending victory in the Grade 3 Buffalo Trace Franklin County in October, Morticia went winless in her first three starts this year before breaking through in the Penn Ladies Dash June 2 at Penn National last out. She was second in the Captiva Island in March at Gulfstream Park to kick off her 4-year-old campaign, then ran behind Caress rival Triple Chelsea in successive stakes.

"It was nice to get her back in the winner's circle last time because she had finished last year on a winning note," Arnold said. "We brought her back this year and she got beat, but ran a great race. She ran great again at Keeneland but it was just a tough race. Her and Lady Aurelia hooked up and we probably set it up for [Triple Chelsea]. That filly is really, really good right now. She's just hard to beat. We got a little relief last time and got a win out of it to hopefully get back on track."

Always in awe of her raw talent, Arnold has been impressed with the way Morticiahas continued to develop into her 4-year-old year. The daughter of Twirling Candy has now won at six different tracks, and a victory Monday would only be the second time over the same surface, having broken her maiden and earned her first stakes victory last winter at Gulfstream.

"I don't think it matters where she runs," Arnold said. "She's matured mentally quite a bit. It's funny because she won more races last year, but she was harder to deal with. She was harder to saddle. She took a lot more care. This year she's grown up quite a bit and she has been, knock on wood, a pretty easy filly to run this year. At Penn National she was like a baby in the paddock, and she's always been a handful."

Also in the Caress is Lull, looking to improve off a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Just A Game on June 9 at Belmont Park for trainer Christopher Clement and owners Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider. The 4-year-old War Front filly kicked off her 2018 campaign with a victory in the Grade 3 Honey Fox on March 31 at Gulfstream Park and will reunite with rider Jose Ortiz as the pair are set to leave from post 4. 

Hall of fame trainer Bob Baffert enters Faypien for the Baoma Corporation. The Ghostzapper filly most recently finished second by a neck in the Grade 3 Intercontinental on June 7 at Belmont. Drawing post 5, Faypien will be ridden by Luis Saez.

Rounding out the field is the undefeated Tillie's Lily, who most recently won an optional claming race on June 1 at Belmont, Fire Key, Just Talkin, Girls Know Best, Ruby Notion, Chanteline, Brielle's Appeal, and Bowie.