Sophomore Filly Stretching Out in Search of Seventh Career Stakes Win

LAUREL, MD – After eight sprint races to start her career, seven of them wins, six of them in stakes including five in a row, Lucky 7 Stables’ Street Lute will try something new when she puts her streak on the line in Saturday’s $100,000 Beyond the Wire Saturday at Laurel Park.

The 33rd running of the one-mile Beyond the Wire for 3-year-old fillies is among five stakes worth $450,000 in purses on a nine-race program, headlined by the $100,000 Private Terms for 3-year-olds.

First race post time is 12:25 p.m.

A neck loss in the Maryland Million Lassie last fall remains the only blemish on Street Lute’s resume. She has since reeled off wins in the Smart Halo, Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship and Gin Talking en route to being voted Maryland’s champion 2-year-old filly of 2020, and the Xtra Heat and Wide Country so far in 2021.

All of Street Lute’s wins have come between five and seven furlongs. Her sire, Street Magician, won the six-furlong Hirsch Jacobs (G3) in 2007 at Pimlico Race Course and her grandsire, Midnight Lute, was a three-time Grade 1 winner and the Eclipse Award-winning sprinter of 2007 who also ran second in that year’s Cigar Mile (G1).

“She’s doing really good. We’ll try her long this weekend and find out. I have no reason to think that she won’t go long, but you never know until you try,” trainer Jerry Robb said. “The more you look at her pedigree, the more it’s turf which is scary. Top and bottom are all Ireland horses. But there is plenty of distance in the second dam.”

Robb, who won with Silent Valay in 1999 when the race was known as the Caesar’s Wish, tweaked Street Lute’s training ahead of the Beyond the Wire, which comes just three weeks following the Wide Country, originally carded for Feb. 13 but delayed seven days due to inclement weather.

“Normally I blow her out a week before when I’m sprinting her, to sharpen her up,” Robb said. “This week I didn’t. I just galloped her two miles a couple times, just tried to take the edge off and get her relaxed a little bit more going long.”

Robb was particularly impressed with Street Lute’s performance in the seven-furlong Wide Country, when she rated in third off a blistering pace before coasting past the leaders on the turn and going on to win by a length. Regular rider Xavier Perez will be aboard from Post 2.

“Xavier was just sitting there waiting on her and when he pushed the button, she was very impressive the move she made on that turn,” Robb said. “She just cruised by them and they were going in 44 [seconds] when she did it. She’s something else.”

Street Lute will face a familiar foe in Team Gaudet and Five Hellions Farm’s Fraudulent Charge. A 6 ¼-length debut winner last November, the daughter of 2013 champion 3-year-old colt Will Take Charge came flying but got beat a nose by Street Lute in the Gin Talking.

Fraudulent Charge validated that effort in the Wide Country, steadily closing ground after being carried out wide. Johan Rosado rides back from Post 3.

“It was just so nice to have her come back in the stake race and run the way she did the last one. We know she needs more ground,” trainer Lacey Gaudet said. “I’d like to think that’s going to change a few things.

“I can’t take anything away from Street Lute. I think it would be fantastic if she could go the mile. She’s an unbelievable filly. The way that she ran last time, she’s going to be hard to beat anywhere,” she added. “On our side, we’re just going to hope that she can’t handle the mile. It won’t take anything away from her. I just think they’re two different kinds of fillies.”

The Beyond the Wire will be only the fourth start for Fraudulent Charge, who tuned up for the race breezing five furlongs in a bullet 1:00 March 7 at Laurel.

“We’ve kind of taken our time, not because of anything she’s done wrong. It’s been more the weather and the spots that have come up. She’s done everything right and I think that every step she takes she’s just kind of getting better and better,” Gaudet said.

“She really does seem to be progressing, and I think the ultimate test of how nice she’s going to be is if she can go a little bit further,” she added. “She’s only been beat by one horse, and that one horse is very, very nice.”

Mens Grille Racing’s Buckey’s Charm ran second by a head in the 1 1/16-mile Anne Arundel County, and was fourth in both the Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship and Wide Country for trainer Hamilton Smith, who won the race in 2000 with Case of the Blues.

Joel Politi’s Littlestitious, trained by Tom Amoss, won the seven-furlong My Trusty Cat by 10 ¼ lengths Dec. 1 at Delta Downs and this year has been off the board in a pair of route stakes, most recently the 1 1/16-mile Rachel Alexandra (G2) Feb. 13 at Fair Grounds.

Best A Luck Farm, Cal Lin Racing and Alexander Levengood’s Journeytothemoon earned her shot at stakes company with a four-length optional claiming allowance triumph going one mile Jan. 29 at Laurel, her most recent start. The Tourist filly was also a first-out winner at Laurel last fall.

“She’s won that first-level allowance race, so here we are. It’s what we’ve got to try and we’ll see if she’s good enough to handle it,” trainer Mike Trombetta said. “We’ve always really liked her a lot. She won her first start, her second start was just a little off for some reason and then she came back in her third start and ran much better. She seems to get better each time she runs.”