DASHES N DOTS TO TAKE ON MALES
Taken from the Daily Racing Forum
By MARCUS HERSH
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill - Call her Rags to Riches light.
Dashes N Dots (APTITUDE), a 3-year-old filly, was one of
seven horses entered Wednesday in the Round Table Stakes, a
$100,000 race at 1 1/8 miles on Polytrack on Saturday. The other
six horses in the Round Table are males - a fact that does not
necessarily disturb Greg Fox, who trains Dashes N Dots for a
three-man partnership.
"It's that big idea of a filly against colts," Fox said. "I've
never tried it, but it'd be interesting to see." Dominican, whose
3-for-3 Polytrack record includes a win in the Grade 1 Blue Grass,
heads the Round Table. Also entered were Snowblind Friend,
Pavarotti, Mandurah, Time Squared, and Prom Shoes.
Dominican hasn't started since finishing 11th in the Kentucky
Derby, and must carry 123 pounds compared to just 111 for Dashes N
Dots. Fox said his filly would be getting at least five pounds from
all the other horses, and that there are other reasons the Round
Table, while unconventional, might be a logical spot. First, Dashes
N Dots's people have as a goal the Arlington Oaks here next month,
and the Round Table would give the filly a prep under nearly
identical conditions.
"We were kind of working backwards to see what might fit as an
interim race," Fox said. Also, Fox said, Dashes N Dots "obviously
loves Polytrack," having won a Turfway maiden race this past spring
by almost 15 lengths in her only start over an all-weather track.
Since then, Dashes N Dots has kept to turf, easily winning a
Churchill grass allowance race before finishing third in the Grade
3 Regret. There, Dashes N Dots, a front-running sort, set a fast
pace before being passed late, beaten only a neck for second.
Like Rags to Riches, Dashes N Dots, by the young sire APTITUDE,
works against the stereotype of a heavy, strapping, colt-like filly
capable of standing up to the other sex. You'd be surprised to see
her," said Fox. "She's not a really big filly, but she's an
extremely athletic filly, dominant, with a lot of class, and she's
been a really sound horse since I've got her."
Date:
13 July 2007