Devious Dame headlines $150K Astoria on Opening Day of Belmont Stakes Racing Festival

By Keith McCalmont —-

ELMONT, N.Y. – John C. Oxley’s Devious Dame leads a promising field of six juvenile fillies in Thursday’s $150,000 Astoria, a 5 1/2-furlong sprint at Belmont Park.

Thursday’s card lifts the curtain on the three-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival which features three stakes races, including the Grade 2, $200,000 Wonder Again at nine furlongs on turf for sophomore fillies; and the $150,000 Tremont at 5 1/2-furlongs on the main track for juveniles.

Devious Dame, trained by Norm Casse, drew off to a 5 1/2-length debut score under Joe Talamo, sprinting five furlongs in 58.09 seconds over a fast main track on May 5 at Churchill Downs.

“We knew she was talented, but we never get overly excited with first-time starters until they run. She seems like she has all the tools to be a talented horse,” said Casse.

Casse said it was impressive that the dark bay was able win going short being by multiple graded-stakes winning router Girvin and out of the Quality Road mare The Shady Lady.

“She does train and act like a two-turn horse, but she’s obviously quick enough to win sprint races. Usually, that’s a pretty potent combination,” Casse said.

Devious Dame’s score marked the first for Casse and Oxley in tandem.

“When she won it was really a dream come true to see one of our horses win in Mr. Oxley’s colors. We’re really excited to have the opportunity,” Casse said.

Devious Dame has breezed back three times since her impressive score, including a bullet half-mile in 47.40 on May 26 at Churchill.

“She’s doing well,” Casse said. “She’s a beautiful filly. She’s well-balanced and super athletic.”

The $240,000 OBS March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training purchase will exit the outermost post 6 under Joel Rosario.

“Mr. Oxley and I spoke about it and decided it would be best to use somebody that’s based at Belmont full time. Joel Rosario is a world-class rider and he’ll suit her really well,” Casse said.

Shadybrook Farm’s Florida homebred Girl Bye posted a frontrunning 6 1/2-length debut score sprinting 4 1/2-furlongs on April 21 over the main track at Gulfstream Park.

The Cajun Breeze chestnut, with returning rider Marcos Meneses up, marked off splits of 22.33 and 46.20 en route to a facile score in a final time of 52.75.

“She ran very well. I thought she was very professional,” said trainer Michael Yates. “It’s always a bit of a guess when you’re running early, but she had worked well prior and I expected her to do what she did with those horses.”

Girl Bye has worked back twice out of her maiden score, including a half-mile effort in 48.98 over the Gulfstream main track on May 28, prompting Yates to look for another opportunity to run the talented filly.

“She’s had a couple of nice works back-to-back after running and tipped her hand that she was doing well and moving forward. So, rather than give her time off I started hunting through condition books,” Yates said.

Yates said he will let Meneses work out the trip, but noted the filly has shown an ability to rate if needed.

“She acts like she has a lot of class,” Yates said. “When she works, she waits on the rider. She’s not just a run off. She’ll wait for her cue. But that’s in the morning, so we’ll see how that translates to the afternoon.”

Girl Bye will leave post 5.

Matthew Schera’s Alexis’s Storm, by Race Day, was a ridden-out 4 1/4-length winner in her April 30 debut at Laurel Park in a 4 1/2-furlong maiden special weight sprint.

The Kentucky homebred, with apprentice Jeiron Barbosa up, showed speed from post 4 and outdueled Cocktail Dreaming to the half-mile in 47.41 en route to a sharp score in a final time of 54.27.

Alexis’s Storm will emerge from the inside post under Trevor McCarthy.

Rounding out the field are maidens Magic Beauty [post 2, Jose Gomez], Born Dapper [post 3, Luis Saez] and Shaymyname [post 4, Eric Cancel].

The Astoria is slated as Race 6 on Thursday’s nine-race card. First post is 3:05 p.m. Eastern.

America’s Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the spring/summer meet at Belmont Park on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule.

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