By Ben Massam
Catch a Glimpse (City Zip), reigning Canadian Horse of the Year and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf champion, seeks to strike while the iron is hot Saturday evening at Penn National, taking on male rivals in the lucrative GIII Penn Mile. The chestnut turfer brings a six-race winning streak to the Grantville oval, and figures to make use of her characteristic tactical speed in an event with a number of other quick horses signed on.
Undefeated over the turf, Catch a Glimpse used a decisive score in Woodbine's GII Natalma S. as a precursor to her Breeders' Cup triumph in late October, a victory that landed her three Sovereign Award honors and a spot as a finalist for the Eclipse Award for champion juvenile filly. The $75,000 Keeneland September yearling buy returned in equally sharp form this year, parlaying a trio of pace-stalking trips into three consecutive Grade III tallies in the Feb. 27 Herecomesthebride S., Apr. 14 Appalachian S. and May 6 Edgewood S.
Trainer Mark Casse was previously noncommital as to whether Catch a Glimpse would run in the Penn Mile or the Penn Oaks for fillies earlier in the card, but by the time entries were taken a decision was made to shoot for the more substantial prize. There is plenty of recent precedent for females defeating males in top-level turf events, most notably Casse's campaign of champion Tepin (Bernstein) to a score in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile.
Catch a Glimpse's stiffest competition could come from another stablemate who will be joining her on the trip to Penn National, MGSW & GISP Airoforce (Colonel John). Like his female counterpart, the gray colt enjoyed a stellar 2-year-old season last fall, winning Keeneland's GIII Bourbon S. and coming up a neck shy when second in the GI Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf. A win in the Nov. 28 GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. on dirt gave Airoforce's connections hope that he could become a player on the GI Kentucky Derby trail, but a pair of dull efforts to begin 2016 landed him back on the lawn for a fourth-place finish after setting the pace in the GII American Turf S. at Churchill May 7.
Airoforce was outfinished by second-place finisher Beach Patrol (Lemon Drop Kid) in the American Turf, and the pair will meet again Saturday. The dark bay reeled off two consecutive wins over the sod at Santa Anita prior to his stakes debut at Churchill and has since been privately purchased by James Covello, Sheep Pond Partners and Head of Plains Partners and transferred to the care of trainer Chad Brown [click here for TDN story]. Beach Patrol's effort in the American Turf was flattered when third-place finisher Surgical Strike (Red Giant) returned to capture the GIII Arlington Classic last weekend.
Two runners who stand to benefit if a fast pace materializes are GIII Spiral S. hero Oscar Nominated (Kitten's Joy) and 'TDN Rising Star' Unbridled Daddy (Scat Daddy). Although Oscar Nominated's rallying Spiral win came over a synthetic surface, the chestnut is also a stakes winner on turf by virtue of his success in the Black Gold S. at the Fair Grounds in February. He returns to the lawn on the heels of a 17th-place finish in the GI Kentucky Derby May 7. Meanwhile, Unbridled Daddy, third in the GII With Anticipation S. last summer, kicked off his 2016 campaign with an authoritative score over the Gulfstream turf Mar. 19 and recently closed belatedly to report home third in Aqueduct's Woodhaven S. Apr. 23.
Robert C. Baker and William L. Mack's Giant Run (Giant's Causeway), second in the GIII Palm Beach S. prior to a win in the Mar. 26 Cutler Bay S., figures to be a major pace factor in the Penn Mile, while longshot Silent Waters (Silent Name {Jpn}) completes the field of seven.
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