Buttercream Babe

3-year-old fillies will go one mile on the turf for Friday's $350,000 GII Valley View Stakes at Keeneland in the penultimate weekend before the Breeders' Cup. Last year, in its first rendition run at one mile (the race was previously held going 1 1/16 miles), Chad Brown's Surge Capacity (Flintshire {GB}) spring-boarded from victory into becoming a next-out Grade I winner in the Dec. 3 GI Matriarch Stakes. A full field of 12 (along with four also-eligibles) will look to do the same. Morning-line favoritism lies with the Christophe Clement-trained...

It took the entire stretch, but he got there, and Neat (Constitution) surged in the shadow of the wire to claim the GII National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes at Saratoga on the day the Class of 2024 was officially celebrated. Last seen winning the GIII Manila Stakes June 29 at the Belmont Big A meeting, he'd yielded to seven May 4 two back in the GII American Turf Stakes at Churchill Downs behind eventual GI Belmont Derby winner Trikari (Oscar Performance). Before that he's been the nose...

The once-beaten Cinderella's Dream (GB) (Shamardal) will look to give Godolphin a third winner in the five-year history of the GII Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Oaks Invitational Stakes as she bids to add to her latest success in the GI Belmont Oaks Invitational over the same mile-and-three-sixteenths journey July 6. The homebred ran the table in the first four starts of her career, a pair of victories at two followed by two more this season at Meydan, including a jaw-dropping score in the Listed Jumeirah 1000 Guineas Mar. 2 that defies any...

The undefeated Dreamfyre (f, 2, Flameaway--Appreciating, by Sky Mesa), both stretching out and trying turf for the first time, went straight to the front in Sunday's GIII Surfer Girl S. at Santa Anita. Sent at 9-5, she covered the first quarter in :23.55 and half in :48.59 with her ears flicking back and forth as Kentucky Downs maiden winner and Untapable S. third Buttercream Babe (Twirling Candy) tested her from the outside while under a hard hold. Del Mar maiden winner Soho (City of Light) made a huge, eye-catching move...