Presumptuous makes significant class jump in Beldame

William Clifton's filly Presumptuous, a maiden through 14 starts, will make a significant jump in class in Saturday's Grade 1 $400,000 Beldame. Although the 4-year-old filly by Midnight Lute hasn't visited the winner's circle yet in her career, her affinity for Belmont, and her ability to hit the board with six second place finishes and three thirds gives her and her trainer H. James Bond a chance to prove herself amongst the best.

"To be honest with you, she seems to have 'seconditis,'" said Kevin Bond, assistant trainer and son of James Bond. "She's been kind of coming into her own at Saratoga, and she actually just shipped in a few days ago. Pops is pretty optimistic. It's not like we think we can win it, but we're pretty confident we can maybe hit the board, get a check maybe make her worth something for Mr. Clifton. 

"He's had some luck with turning mares with some sort of pedigree into a bit of a residual value, or taking them to the sale at Keeneland, but we'll see, she seems to like Belmont," he continued. "She ran pretty good against a couple of good fillies back here in May. She's competitive. We're taking a shot. It's cool to be in it, like I said I don't think she's better than anybody else in there, but she's definitely competitive."

Presumptuous has been progressing since the spring, and hasn't finished off the board since April 5, when she improved from her fourth-place finish over the inner track to a runner up finish at a mile against $60,000 maiden special weight company. Since then she repeated that placing at Belmont, and checked in for third before she ran three straight second place finishes at Saratoga, her home base.

"It's like she doesn't know, she likes to run second, or whether she gets tired that last 20 yards but that's what she's been doing, so I can understand why he wants to take the shot, and I guess there's only so many opportunities you get to take to increase their value like that," Kevin Bond said. "I've taken her to the track the last couple of days myself, and she's better than I've ever seen her. I feel like if we were going to take the shot at any time this would be the time to take the shot. We're not scared of anybody, and she can cover the ground."