BALTIMORE – Play With Fire was entered in a pair of stakes this week – on Wednesday in Indiana, and on Friday in Maryland. As of Tuesday evening, owner Fergus Galvin and trainer Brendan Walsh were still deciding where to send the filly from her Kentucky base.
"We were on the phone all day, every day, the last few days trying to decide what we were going to do," Walsh said. "But they helped us at Indiana when they took it off the grass, anyway."
Indeed, as it turned out, Wednesday's $150,000 Horseshoe Indianapolis Handicap was rained off the turf and went with a short field of five. Among the scratches was Play With Fire, who shipped out to Pimlico Race Course and kicked clear in the stretch for a win in the $125,000 Hilltop Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on the turf.
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It was a belated birthday present for Walsh, who turned 52 on Thursday – and there could be more celebrations to come. The trainer's other stakes entrants this weekend include Paris Lily in Friday evening's Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan, San Siro in the co-featured Grade 3 Pimlico Special; and, of course, Gosger in the Preakness Stakes on Saturday night.
But first, it was Play With Fire's moment to shine.
"She ran very well," Walsh said. "Really nice run, she's progressed a lot, and ran a nice race."
Play With Fire, a Minnesota-bred daughter of Oscar Performance, was bred by the late Robert Lothenbach, and came on the market in a dispersal of his stock early last year. Racing for Galvin, she broke her maiden at first asking last November on the Fair Grounds turf. She proceeded to finish fourth in an allowance/optional-claiming race trying dirt; third in the Allen Black Cat LaCombe Memorial back on the Fair Grounds turf; and, more recently, fourth in a Keeneland allowance last month.
Play With Fire was sent away as the second choice in what was ultimately a starting field of eight for the Hilltop. Complexity Jane, a stakes winner at Laurel Park last out, got loose as the field was being loaded into the starting gate and ran off the wrong way down the track, resulting in her late scratch. With the rest of the field taken off the turf course, the outriders ultimately collared Complexity Jane on the backstretch; jockey Sheldon Russell appeared to avoid serious injury, walking back to the jockeys' room, although he took off later mounts.
Complexity Jane's scratch removed some speed from the race, which was good news for post-time favorite Me Governor, a stakes-winning sprinter trying to stretch her speed. Me Governor assumed command from post 3, and, although stakes winner White Rocks, usually a free-running type, sat on her outside hip, she was able to get away with moderate opening fractions of 24.34 seconds for the quarter and 49.43 for the half. Play With Fire was unhurried by Flavien Prat despite the moderate pace, last of eight after the half, and a little less than eight lengths back.
Entering the far turn, Me Governor tried to steal away from the field, opening a little less than three lengths at her largest lead. But nevertheless, the field was upon her turning for home. Princess Attitude made the first run, collaring her and kicking clear to a length clear. But Play With Fire, tipped into the six path into the stretch by Prat, quickly loomed the danger. She collared the new leader near the sixteenth grounds and surged clear in the final yards.
"She showed a very good turn of foot turning for home," Prat said.
Pretty Lavish – who had only Play With Fire beaten at the half – split horses to be second by two lengths over Princess Attitude. They were followed, in order, by Sigh No More – also trained by Walsh – Obeissante, Me Governor, White Rocks, and Pure Majestic.
The final time for the mile on turf officially rated good after rain throughout the preceding days was 1:39.11.
This race derives its name from Pimlico's nickname of “Old Hilltop,” a moniker derived from a small rise in the infield that became a favored spot to watch the action in the track's early history.
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