Weekend Watch: Queen's Plate leads diverse Saturday of stakes

Gulfstream Park Race 6: 2:15 p.m.

The $75,000 Carry Back is worth a mention given the presence of Well Defined, who won the Sam F. Davis (G3) on the Kentucky Derby trail but hasn’t been seen since eighth in the Tampa Bay Derby (G2). Here, the Kathleen O’Connell trainee cuts back to seven furlongs — a distance the speedster should like — and has the outside post No. 8 at 7-5 on the morning line.

Woodbine Race 8, 4:18 p.m.

The 2017 Queen’s Plate winner Holy Helena is back on the scene in the Grade 2, $175,000 Dance Smartly, and the 9-5 top choice has the rail in a field of eight. Her toughest challenge in the 10-furlong turf race, other than the inside draw, comes from Starship Jubilee, who sold for $425,000 last November but remains in training with Kevin Attard. He tuned up the 2017 Dance Smartly heroine with a second in the May 26 Nassau (G2) at Woodbine.

Belmont Park, Race 7: 4:45 p.m.

Chad Brown-trained Uni has lost just once in her last six starts, in Grade 1 company, and when last seen on Dec. 2 at Del Mar won the Matriarch (G1). The 5-year-old daughter of More Than Ready will get her 2019 season started in the $100,000 Perfect Sting going a mile on the turf. This won’t be an especially easy field of five to top with Todd Pletcher’s Bellavais, a past graded winner herself, in to challenge and coming second off a layoff.

Woodbine, Race 9: 4:51 p.m.

We’re used to seeing Caribou Club and the Glen Hill Farm colors in Southern California, but the 5-year-old gelding will make his second straight out-of-state start in the Grade 1, $300,000 Highlander. A non-factor when shipped to Dubai for the Al Quoz Sprint (G1), the son of City Zip, trained by Tom Proctor, won back to back graded races out West beforehand. Wet Your Whistle may stand an upset chance after climbing conditions through the winter with three straight wins, most recently in Monmouth Park’s Get Serious, which on May 19 marked his stakes debut.

Belmont Park, Race 8: 5:18 p.m.

The Grade 2, $250,000 Mother Goose Stakes runs through Dunbar Road, who’s 2-for-3 in her career, with that only defeat an ambitiously spotted second out start in the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2). Excluded from the Kentucky Oaks since then, the Chad Brown-trained daughter of quality road prepped for this spot by coasting to a 5 1/2-length allowance win on May 30 at Belmont. Dunbar Road will be odds on with Acorn (G1) third-place finisher Jeltrin and Wings of Dawn, a Mark Casse-trained allowance winner, next on the morning line.

Churchill Downs, Race 10: 5:26 p.m.

The $125,000 Debutante Stakes for 2-year-old fillies could very well be wide open, but most players will focus their money on Magic Dance, a Three Chimneys Farm homebred who debuted a winner over this track on June 7 by a widening 4 3/4 lengths. She goes postward for the team of Steve Asmussen and Ricardo Santana Jr. with Indy Takes Charge, a May 31 first out heroine, next for owners Chuck and Maribeth Sanford, who campaign the daughter of their former star, Take Charge Indy.

Gulfstream Park, Race 12: 5:30 p.m.

Stormy Embrace is odds-on to punch a repeat ticket to the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf in the Grade 2, $250,000 Princess Rooney Stakes, a race she won last season. The 5-year-old Florida-bred was 11th in the Breeders’ Cup but has continued to fire consistently since returning to Florida, winning Gulfstream’s May 18 Musical Romance Stakes in her last start. Michael Stidham’s Maryland-based Saguaro Row, who has won both her allowance starts this season, is next on the morning line.

Woodbine Race 10, 5:36 p.m.

The $1 million Queen’s Plate — the first leg of Canada’s Triple Crown series — attracted a field of 14 bred North of the border, and the favorite, Avie’s Flatter, will have to get it done from the outside post. Keeneland’s Transylvania (G3) winner flopped on soggy turf last out at Churchill Downs but earned the benefit of the doubt. He has won over Woodbine’s synthetic and takes on, among others, California shipper One Bad Boy and Steve Asmussen-trained Tone Broke. Last year’s winning trainer, Mark Casse, has two entries in Federal Law and Skywire.

Churchill Downs, Race 11: 5:59 p.m.

California invader Phantom Boss garnered 9-5 morning line favoritism with two starts, including a second out victory at Santa Anita Park, to his name. But note that the Shackleford colt drew the rail in the Grade 3, $125,000 Bashford Manor, and trainer Jorge Periban has never saddled a horse under the Twin Spires. Rafael Bejarano will be in to ride the Cal-bred in the field of 10 that includes Kentucky Juvenile winner Rookie Salsa and another from the Asmussen barn, Rowdy Yates, an easy winner on debut at Churchill.

Gulfstream Park, Race 13: 6:02 p.m.

Already a graded stakes winner on grass, Proforma will look to do the double on dirt in the Grade 3, $250,000 Smile Sprint, part of Saturday’s Summit of Speed program. He’s trained by Stidham and also in from Maryland’s Fair Hill training center, so consider Saguaro Row’s performance before playing. O’Connell’s Jalen Journey, a Florida-bred who didn’t debut until November of his 3-year-old season, has won three straight to earn morning line favoritism in the field of seven sprinters.

Arlington Park, Race 8: 6:15 p.m.

Owner/trainer Hugh Robertston’s Hotshot Anna, the Presque Isle Downs Masters (G2) winner last September in her previous start, is the one to beat even off the bench in the Grade3, $100,000 Chicago Handicap. The 5-year-old daughter of Trappe Shot enters on a four-race winning streak that includes this race last year. Top challengers are Student Body, a stakes winner on dirt who won her only Arlington start, and Excessivespending, who makes her synthetic debut.

Los Alamitos, Race 8: 7:28 p.m.

The venerable Soi Phet, an 11-year-old gelding and last year’s winner of this race, will make the $100,000 Bertrando Stakes his career finale before heading off to Old Friends farm in Kentucky for retirement. He’s 4-1 on the morning line but not exactly in top form after a pair of off-the-board finishes to start his season. Perhaps a return to one of his favorite tracks will change that. Phil D’Amato’s King Abner is favored, while Jerry Hollendorfer, banned from Santa Anita but cleared to stable at Los Al, will be represented by Grecian Fire and He Will in the field of six milers.