6/15/19
Dancin Renee Stakes tops Belmont card
By Hot List Staff
Sir Winston’s victory in the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes last weekend brought down the curtain another Triple Crown season and ushered in the start of a new season for New York racing.
Welcome to the Waiting for Saratoga phase of the 2019 racing season as we are now just four weekends way from the Spa being back in business.
Opening day at Saratoga is Thursday, July 11 and until then the action at Belmont Park will be relatively slow with an occasional burst of energy like the July 6 Stars and Stripes Racing Festival.
As for Saturday’s card, the featured race is the $100,000 Dancin Renee Stakes, a six-furlong sprint for fillies and mares who were bred in New York State.
Only six turned out for the race with the two favorites sharing a common bond.
Both Holiday Disguise, the 9-5 morning-line favorite, and Midnight Disguise, the 2-1 second choice, are daughters of the broodmare Thin Disguise.
Holiday Disguise, a 5-year-old mare, is by Harlan’s Holiday and is a multiple stakes winner who has compiled earnings of $568,875 for trainer Linda Rice.
Rice also trains Midnight Disguise, a 4-year-old daughter of Midnight Lute, with earnings of $424,600.
In her last start, Midnight Disguise was second in the Critical Eye Stakes at a mile against state-breds, while her half-sister was last seen finishing fifth in the Vagrancy Stakes, a grade 3 affair for open company.
About Holiday Disguise, Rice said, “We were looking to try to get some class relief for her coming out of those graded stakes. She’s coming into this well and she’s been training forwardly since the Vagrancy, so we hope it all works to her benefit on Saturday.”
As for Midnight Disguise, she said, “She seems to appreciate one-turn races and she’s also training into this race well. It might be a little short for her distance wise, but we like her enough going one-turn to take our shot.”
The field also includes Pauseforthecause (7-2), a 4-year-old filly who was second in an open allowance race in her last start and was second in the Broadway in her last stakes appearance, finishing 4 ¼ lengths behind Holiday Disguise in the Feb. 16 race at Aqueduct.
Rounding out the field are Jc’s Shooting Star (6-1), Out of Orbit (10-1) and Leah’s Dream (9-2), who was a front-running 5 ¼-length winner of an allowance race at Monmouth Park in her last start.