Either $150,000 Miss Preakness (G3) on Dirt, $100,000 Hilltop on Turf
Both Stakes on Undercard of 100th Black-Eyed Susan (G2) May 17
First Preakness (G1) Horses Expected to Arrive Sunday Afternoon
LAUREL, MD – While he has yet to pick a spot for multiple stakes winner Miss Harriett, there’s one decision trainer Brandon McFarlane won’t have to make when it comes to his stable star.
McFarlane is based year-round at historic Pimlico Race Course, where his 3-year-old filly trains daily but has yet to race. That will change next weekend, when the Maryland homebred runs in either the $150,000 Miss Preakness (G3) or $100,000 Hilltop, the latter on grass, May 17.
The six-furlong Miss Preakness and one-mile Hilltop, both for 3-year-old fillies, are among six stakes, three graded, worth $1 million in purses headlined by the 100th running of the $300,000 George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan (G2).
Miss Harriett, bred and owned by David Baxter’s Narrow Leaf Farm, was also nominated to the 1 1/8-mile Black-Eyed Susan, but McFarlane said he has already ruled that out for the gray or son daughter of Blofeld.
“I’m between the short six furlongs and the mile on the turf. I’m going to kind of gauge on seeing who’s actually coming. Sometimes you get one of those bears that come for [trainers Steve] Asmussen or [Brad] Cox or one of those guys. So, it’s hard to see,” McFarlane said. “Honestly, I’d rather go in the six furlongs but for her sake I want to find her the easiest spot.”
Miss Harriett tuned up for her next start with an easy half-mile breeze in 50.10 seconds Thursday at Pimlico, her lone work since setting the pace before finishing third in the 1 1/16-mile Weber City Miss April 20 at Laurel Park. An automatic qualifier to the Black-Eyed Susan, the Weber City Miss was her first race around two turns and first longer than seven furlongs.
“There was an allowance race going short the same day that I entered for that stake. I kind of wanted to go there and it didn’t go, so I didn’t exactly have her trained to go that far,” McFarlane said. “If I knew I was going to go in that [stakes], I would have worked her a little further and galloped her a little bit more, but since I was trying to go short I didn’t want to do that. Still, she ran real big. I was real happy the way she ran. She came out of the race real good.”
Miss Harriett has yet to race on turf. Also on the Black-Eyed Susan undercard is the $100,000 The Very One for fillies and mares 3 and up sprinting five furlongs on the grass.
“I did want to try her on the turf. She does have some big turf feet,” McFarlane said. “I don’t think there’s any reason why she couldn’t get over the turf at all. I’d rather go in the turf sprint if I could pick, but I’m not going to run her against older yet unless I have to. If I can run against straight 3-year-olds, I’ll do that all day long.”
Miss Harriett has three wins from six career starts, springing a 62-1 upset in her debut, the six-furlong Maryland Million Lassie last fall at Laurel. This year she won a 5 ½-furlong optional claiming allowance Jan. 14 and the seven-furlong Wide Country Feb. 24 at Laurel and was fourth in the six-furlong Cicada March 16 at Aqueduct, her lone race outside of Maryland.
“When we went to New York that day, you can toss that race out. She’s such an easy horse to do everything with, but she washed out in the paddock that day. She was fine except for washing out and all,” McFarlane said. “That trip, that wasn’t her that day. [Jockey] Kendrick [Carmouche] told me she wanted to go get them and she couldn’t grip the track. We left that morning, 4 ½-hour drive, it just was a long trip for her.
“We got them at our own track now. It’ll be nice,” he added. “This time we’re coming right out of her own stall, walking right over. It’s a different story now. She knows the track better than everyone.”
Notes: Jockey Mychel Sanchez registered back-to-back wins Saturday aboard Eddie Felson ($8.20) in Race 4 and Summerstateofmind ($3.80) in Race 5 … Trainer Jonathan Maldonado also doubled with Kapadokya ($8.60) in Race 2 and Uncaptured Storm ($12.80) in Race 3 … The first Preakness horses are expected by mid-afternoon Sunday at Pimlico. Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mystik Dan, trained by Ken McPeek, and the pair of Seize the Gray and Just Steel from Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas are scheduled to arrive from Kentucky between 2 and 4 p.m.