Late in the summer of 2023, the filly Factorbella made the first two starts of her career racing in Monmouth Park dirt sprints. A well-beaten third in her debut, which yielded a mere 38 Beyer Speed Figure, she ran worse second time out, finishing fifth with a 32 Beyer. But it’s her two recent Monmouth dirt sprints that suggest Factorbella can become a stakes winner Sunday in the $100,000 Regret.
Following those first two outings, Factorbella made her next 11 appearances on turf. This past winter, her connections gave up on grass and switched the 4-year-old filly based at Tampa Bay Downs back to dirt sprints. Her form hardly leapt forward, and she returned to Monmouth for the 2025 meeting on a 19-race losing streak.
That became 20 on May 17, but in that six-furlong Monmouth first-level dirt allowance, Factorbella, after losing position going to the half-mile pole and into the turn, found life at the three-furlong marker. Forced some nine paths from the fence for the stretch run, she rallied for second, beaten a neck by Winkiwinki.
June 22, back in the same kind of race, Factorbella suddenly looked like a real racehorse. Instead of losing position into the turn, she raced on the bridle, poised to strike, and when jockey Sonny Leon called on his mount midway around the turn, she gave him an immediate response, pouncing on the two in front of her and drawing clear to a 6 1/2-length score that produced an 86 Beyer.
That race absolutely can win the Regret, carded for six furlongs on dirt and restricted to older fillies and mares. Factorbella, with Leon up again, is one of seven entered and, considering the mushiness of the competition, can give trainer Tony Wilson his first stakes win since 2011.
Two horses she just thumped, Winkiwinki and Awesome Pic, are among her Sunday rivals, but St. Benedicts Prep, a likely short favorite under Paco Lopez, figures to provide the sternest opposition.
Trained in New York by Linda Rice, who scratched the mare from a Thursday race at Delaware Park, St. Benedicts Prep, claimed for $80,000 in April 2024, raced competitively in several stakes, including a couple graded races, but only notched her first stakes victory on June 28 at Laurel Park in the Alma North Stakes.
She did so despite the fact that the mare, at least on Beyers, has gone past her peak. A consistent low-90s performer last fall and over the winter, St. Benedicts Prep hasn’t hit that level in several starts. Beaten almost 25 lengths in the Bed o’ Roses last month at Saratoga, she rebounded in the Alma North but only got back to an 81 Beyer and will struggle to exceed that returning to action just three weeks later.
Pacific Rose and Ms. Bucchero have stale form that’s good enough to win. Factorbella’s the now horse at a fair price.
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