ARLINGTON: SIMPLY BREATHLESS LOOKS TO MAKE IT FOUR IN A ROW IN THE GIII MODESTY HANDICAP
By Grant LaGrange —-
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (July 11, 2019) –
Cloros Bloodstock’s Simply Breathless will look to extend her win streak, which began last September at Ascot, to four wins in a row as she takes on nine others in the GIII Modesty Handicap at Arlington on Saturday.
Trained by Neil Drysdale, Simply Breathless made her North American debut in the Golden Poppy stakes at Golden Gate in September where she stalked the pace and powered home for her first win of 2019. In her next start, she took on graded stakes competition in the GIII Wilshire at Santa Anita in June where she ran down her competitors and defeated the field of ten that day by just over a length.
Simply Breathless comes into Saturday with a lifetime record of 15-6-2-4 and will be stretching out to the 1 3/16th-miles distance for the first time in her career. She will be ridden by regular rider Flavien Prat and will break from post 3.
The Calumet Farm owned and Jack Sisterson trained Vexatious will be making her third start of her 2019 campaign. The 5-year-old daughter of Giant’s Causeway is exiting the GII New York in June at Belmont Park where she ran an even fifth in the field of eight that day.
“I think she’s ready to run the best race of her career, honestly,” said Sisterson on Thursday. “I think her New York was a good race being that she had to try to close into such slow fractions. I think if we were a little closer she could have had a better chance. I expect us to be in the race a lot earlier on Saturday.”
Vexatious comes into Saturday’s Modesty Handicap as the leading career earner of the field with just over $340,000 in lifetime earnings. She will be ridden by Adam Beschizza and will break from post 9.
Rounding out the field will be Juliet Foxtrot (Florent Geroux, post 2), Cascanueces (Jose Valdivia Jr., post 4) Oh So Terrible (Jose Lopez, post 5), Remember Daisy (Mitchell Murrill, post 6), Na Pali Spirit (Drayden Van Dyke, post 7), and Always Believe (Pedro Cotto jr., post 8)
The GIII Modesty Handicap is carded as the sixth race of the Saturday nine, with an expected post time of 4:12 PM CDT