Hollygrove is looking for her second consecutive stakes victory at Turfway Park, but she is by no means a sure thing Saturday night. The stout lineup she faces in the $125,000 Serena’s Song Stakes includes Grace On Grace, also a winner in Turfway’s 3-year-old filly sprint series, albeit one Hollygrove has already bested once; and the comebacking multiple stakes winner Long Neck Paula.
The Serena’s Song is the closing-night feature at Turfway Park, with the eight-race card beginning at 5:55 p.m. Large fields have been the norm at this meet, and this last stakes is no exception, with 10 fillies lining up.
Grace On Grace was an upset winner of the Gowell Stakes, the first race in this division, on Jan. 1 for Larry Demeritte, getting up by three-quarters of a length in the stretch over Les Is Best and My Lil Punky. She returned in the Valdale Stakes on Feb. 8, where new foes included Hollygrove, moving to Tapeta for Whit Beckman after finishing second in the Sandpiper Stakes at Tampa Bay.
Hollygrove set an honest pace – 23.32 seconds for the opening quarter and 47.86 for the half – while rating kindly, giving her enough in the tank to hold sway by three-quarters of a length over My Lil Punky. Grace On Grace could not get up on time, finishing third.
Meanwhile, Long Neck Paula was waiting in the wings. The filly, third in the Schuylerville Stakes last summer at Saratoga, was a front-running 7 1/2-length winner of the Prairie Meadows Debutante. She was most recently seen defeating colts, pressing the pace and then edging up for a half-length victory in the Bowman Mill Stakes on Oct. 26 on the Keeneland dirt. This will be her first try on Tapeta, but the daughter of versatile sire Uncle Mo has worked regularly on this track over the winter for Wesley Ward.
Hollygrove and Long Neck Paula should quickly become acquainted near the front end and will have plenty of company. Those include Turfway debut winner Family, breaking from the rail. Family earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 82, the best in this field, for her effort on March 6 and enters her stakes debut off a bullet work.
Turfway maiden winners Bourbon Memory and Minnesota Munny, and Gulfstream turf maiden winner Bunratty Manor also have posted their best efforts on the lead. A strong pace would suit Grace On Grace.
The final stakes race of this meet is named for Serena’s Song, who, nearly 30 years ago to the day, on April 1, 1995, won Turfway’s signature Kentucky Derby prep when it was known as the Jim Beam Stakes. She is the only filly to win the race.
Serena’s Song went on to win that season’s divisional Eclipse Award, retire with 17 graded stakes wins, and was voted into the Hall of Fame. The mare now resides as a pensioner at Denali Stud in Paris, Ky., and will turn 33 by the calendar on April 4.
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