Miss Behaviour headlines an overflow field of 12 entered to sprint seven furlongs Saturday in the Grade 3, $500,000 Charles Town Oaks, the feature event scheduled for the track's sixth annual Race for the Ribbon program. The Phil Schoenthal trainee is suffering from a case of seconditis lately but could break through with a victory against this group.
The bay daughter of Jump Start is no stranger to the stakes ranks, recording wins in the Matron at Belmont and Monmouth Park's Sorority during her juvenile season. She ran second in the Sharp Cat back at Belmont before finishing fifth, her only unplaced run to date, in the Delta Downs Princess to close out 2013.
Thus far as a sophomore Miss Behaviour has captured the Miss Preakness and placed third in the Stormy Blues as well as second in her past trio of graded efforts -- the Prioress, Test and Victory Ride. The Test, a seven-furlong Grade 1 affair, saw the bay lass rally to just miss by a length on the wire behind Sweet Reason.
"I don't think there's any seconditis there," Schoenthal stated. "If that's the way it goes, there's no shame in defeat facing that type of horses. A lot of times it's the trip and the pace and how it shakes out. She's the kind of horse that gives her best effort and is always right there."
Schoenthal believes the setup on Saturday night may play to his filly's strengths.
"That [Delta Princess] was a mile at the end of a long campaign and shipping across the country and she probably just wasn't at her best that day. In the Victory Ride and Test she proved her worth against the best fillies in the country going six and a half or seven furlongs," he said.
"The bullring [at Charles Town] plays to her advantage. Hopefully she'll be on or near the lead turning for home and the closers will have to pick up their rally on the turn and weave through traffic on the turn rather than making their move."
With his filly installed as the 5-2 morning-line favorite, Schoenthal hopes for an effort that keeps his stable star moving forward in the ranks of the country's top female sprinters.
"She is without question the greatest horse I've ever been around," he praised. "I want everyone to see how special she is."
Miss Behaviour will get a new pilot in jockey Jevian Toledo on Saturday.
Size is something of a puzzle in this race following a resounding defeat in the Alabama, but could return to form on the cutback to seven furlongs.
"The purse and the distance are the reasons to try the Oaks," trainer Bill Mott remarked. "We think she could be effective. She's proven that she's pretty good at a mile and a sixteenth. We think between she could be effective between seven furlongs and a mile and a sixteenth."
The First Samurai filly opened her career with three wins and a second over the spring and early summer, including victory in the Iowa Oaks on June 28. She was given seven weeks off following that contest and returned August 16 for the Alabama at Saratoga.
Unfortunately, Size was ninth and last in that 10-furlong contest, her first time running farther than 1 1/16 miles. The chestnut miss might enjoy Saturday's cutback in distance and keeps Junior Alvarado in the irons.
"I don't know what happened," Mott added. "She didn't want any part of a mile and a quarter. At least on that day she didn't."
Saintly Joan and Aqua Regia faced off in the Monmouth Oaks last out with the latter finishing second, 1 ¼ lengths in front of her third-place running rival. However, once the race had been declared official, their order had been reversed by the stewards. That gave Saintly Joan, winner of the Little Silver two races prior, the runner-up spot while Aqua Regia was forced to settle for third in just her second stakes attempt.
The Tom Albertrani-conditioned Aqua Regia will be cutting back to less than a mile for the first time since December and gets Eddie Castro returning to the saddle.
"For us, it looks like our filly is coming off a good race," Albertrani said of Aqua Regia. "We think she could handle the track. We're taking our chances with her stepping her up a little. But we felt our filly is coming off a nice race and felt this race might set up well for her."
The versatile Saintly Joan, who comes from trainer Patrick McBurney's shedrow, has competed short and long, on dirt, synthetic and turf, thus far in her short career. Angel Serpa was aboard the Northern Afleet filly for the Little Silver and has the call on Saturday.
"She was down on the inside and kind of saving ground and looking good," McBurney described Saintly Joan's troubled trip in the Monmouth Oaks. "It was almost at the point of the turn where there are a few little trees in there and we lost sight of her. When I picked her back up she was back in sixth place down on the inside. She actually hit the inside rail when the horse came down on her."
Come Saturday night, McBurney just hopes Saintly Joan not only gets a better trip, but also handles the configuration of the Charles Town oval.
"You never know when a horse shipping in will handle those turns, but we'll see," he added. "She's a good-sized, big three-year-old filly. Her running style is that she likes to be in the mix. Hopefully, we'll get a good stalking trip."
Stormy Novel ran second to Miss Behaviour in the Miss Preakness on May 16 and hasn't been seen in competition since taking the July 20 Miss Woodford. The John Servis charge will break from the rail while making her return in this spot under Kendrick Carmouche.
"To me, she went into the race really, really good, and she ran second out of the one hole, but it proved to me she was a quality filly," Servis said of Stormy Novel's effort in the Miss Preakness. "I ran her back a little soon in the Jostle, and it was home [at Parx], but it was too quick back for her. So I gave her some time, and she ran super in the Monmouth race [winning the Miss Woodford] and she's doing great for this race."
After winning the Miss Woodford, Servis decided to give his filly two months off -- a decision he attributes to little else but timing.
"The only other race in our timeframe was the Prioress, but I'd have to ship to Saratoga and then come right back in three weeks and ship to Charles Town," he explained. "I just figured I'd skip the Prioress and go right to this. My filly's doing awesome. If I'm not top three, she's just not good enough."
Also of note in the Charles Town's feature contest Saturday are Executive Allure and Nesso. The former scored her opening two races this year and exits a runner-up effort in Woodbine's Ontario Colleen. Nesso won the seven-furlong Gasparilla at Tampa Bay Downs in January and is already on her fourth trainer.
Stakes vixen Kiss to Remember and dual stakes-placed Pixie Dust complete the main body of the field. Discreetly Elusive, a half-length third in the Miss Woodford two back, and Saratoga maiden-claiming romper Sky Crew need defections to draw in from the also-eligible list.
There are five other stakes on the Race for the Ribbon card. Pants on Fire faces seven rivals in the $100,000 Wild and Wonderful going seven furlongs off a neck second in the Left Bank at Belmont Park on September 5. That followed a half-length second in the Philip H. Iselin and a third to open his seven-year-old season in the July 27 Monmouth Cup.
One race later, an overflow field of 12 distaffers has been entered to go the same distance in the $100,000 Pink Ribbon. Multiple Grade 2-placed Strike the Moon, the 2011 Charles Town Oaks heroine, finished second in this event 12 months ago and will take on multiple stakes queen Geeky Gorgeous and Flattering Bea, who is 5-4-0-0 over the track including the April 19 Sugar Maple.
There are three $50,000 stakes also scheduled, each carded at 4 ½ furlongs and restricted to registered West Virginia-breds -- the It's Only Money for three-year-olds and up, the Henry Mercer Memorial for juveniles and the Rachel's Turn for two-year-old fillies which will kick off the stakes action for the day.