Upperline Back Quickly for Dowager
Stone Farm, John Adger, Oak Crest Farm and trainer Michael Stidham’s Upperline, third two weeks ago in the Juddmonte Spinster (G1) on the main track, tops a field of 11 fillies and mares entered Thursday for Sunday’s 21st running of the $125,000 Rood & Riddle Dowager.
The Rood & Riddle Dowager, run at 1½ miles on the grass, will go as the eighth race on Sunday’s nine-race program with a 4:49 p.m. (ET) post time. First post time Sunday is 1:05 p.m.
Second in the Rood & Riddle Dowager last year to Senada, Upperline won the Grey Goose Bewitch (G3) at 1½ miles here this spring, and a victory Sunday would make her the first mare to win the Bewitch and Dowager in the same year. Regular rider James Graham has the mount on Upperline, who will break from post position 10.
Lael Stables’ Senada, who was third to Upperline in the Grey Goose Bewitch, is seeking to become the first repeat winner of the Rood & Riddle Dowager. Trained by Jonathan Sheppard, Senada will break from post position eight under Shaun Bridgmohan.
One other Dowager entrant comes into Sunday’s race off a Grade 1 try: Michael Tabor’s Ciao Bella, who finished fourth in the Garden City at Belmont Park on September 15 behind a trio of fillies that participated in last weekend’s Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1) here.
Trained by Todd Pletcher, Ciao Bella is one of three 3-year-olds entered in the Rood & Riddle Dowager, which never has been won by a 3-year-old. Ciao Bella will break from post position nine under John Velazquez.
The field for the Rood & Riddle Dowager, from the rail out, is as follows: Bubbly Jane (BRZ) (Rosie Napravnik, 121 pounds), Janicellaine (IRE) (Julien Leparoux, 121), For the Win (Elvis Trujillo, 121), Thislilsoulofmine (Gabriel Saez, 121), Maid of Heaven (Leandro Golcalves, 121), Revelstoke (Corey Lanerie, 121), Heart of Destiny (Miguel Mena, 118), Senada (Shaun Bridgmohan, 121), Ciao Bella (John Velazquez, 118), Upperline (James Graham, 123) and Charming She Is (Victor Lebron, 121).