Rattle N Roll looks to pick up his second straight graded stakes triumph in the $250,000 Pimlico Special (G3) May 19 at Pimlico Race Course.
The son of Connect won by 1 1/4 lengths at the Special's 1 3/16-mile distance last time out in the Ben Ali Stakes (G3) at Keeneland. That was a far better effort than his fourth-place, eight-length defeat going 1 3/16 miles in the 2022 Louisiana Derby (G2).
The millionaire owned by Lucky Seven Stable was under consideration for the 1 1/8-mile Blame Stakes (G3), but the connections instead chose the Special.
"He's a beast at a mile and three-sixteenths," trainer Kenny McPeek said. "That's the main reason we looked at it. We were originally looking at the Blame, but I decided to go ahead and put him in the Pimlico Special because of the distance."
Also vying for the win Friday is Twin Creeks Racing Stables' homebred Law Professor. He's coming off a win in the Excelsior Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack last time out. Prior to that, the son of the Constitution finished a distant third in the Razorback Handicap (G3).
"He ran great in the Excelsior. He's really done well over that track and the distance. It seems like two turns, a mile-and-an-eighth, right around that range, is really good for him," trainer Rob Atras said. "He's got such a high cruising speed and he just kind of ran them off their feet the other day. We're hoping for something like that on Friday.
"He's definitely run against some top-caliber horses. He's a pretty nice horse. We're hoping he can handle the competition on Friday and the surface and all that," he added. "He seems to run well on any surface, so that's encouraging. He's been around and he won on the turf, so he's a pretty versatile horse. He's pretty neat."
Rounding out the field for the Pimlico Special are Armando R, Clapton, Cooke Creek, Keystone Field, Kuchar, and Speed Bias.
Earlier on Friday's card is the $100,000 Allaire DuPont Distaff Stakes featuring six fillies and mares 3 and up. Falconet, a daughter of Uncle Mo, makes her Pimlico debut, having finished outside the top three once in nine starts, with a 4-4-0 mark. The WinStar Farm homebred co-owned by CHC won most recently in the Top Flight Stakes. Her path to victory in the 1 1/8-mile contest may be hindered by Canadian-bred Interstatedaydream.
By Classic Empire and out of the Uncle Mo mare Babcock, Interstatedaydream is 4-2-2 from nine starts with more than $500,000 in earnings. She raced at Pimlico Preakness weekend last year, winning the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (G2).
Rounding out the field are Butterbean, Le Da Vida, Misty Veil, and Misty Mauve.
Pimlico Race Course, Friday, May 19, 2023, Race 4Entries: Allaire DuPont Distaff S. Presented by Starry
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Le Da Vida (CHI) Vincent Cheminaud 120 Ignacio Correas, IV 7/2 2 2Interstatedaydream (ON) Florent Geroux 120 Brad H. Cox 1/1 3 3Butterbean (KY) Flavien Prat 120 Kenneth G. McPeek 8/1 4 4Misty Mauve (KY) Johan Rosado 124 Rodolfo Sanchez-Salomon 30/1 5 5Misty Veil (KY) Tyler Gaffalione 120 Michael J. Maker 12/1 6 6Falconet (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 124 Todd A. Pletcher 5/2
Pimlico Race Course, Friday, May 19, 2023, Race 12Entries: Pimlico Special S. Presented by Bulleit Bourbon (G3)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Kuchar (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 120 Todd A. Pletcher 10/1 2 2Rattle N Roll (KY) Flavien Prat 126 Kenneth G. McPeek 9/5 3 3Clapton (FL) Emisael Jaramillo 124 Juan Alvarado 6/1 4 4Armando R (KY) Horacio Karamanos 120 Damon R. Dilodovico 15/1 5 5Law Professor (KY) Manuel Franco 122 Rob Atras 5/2 6 6Cooke Creek (KY) Joel Rosario 120 Jeremiah O'Dwyer 10/1 7 7Speed Bias (KY) Luis Saez 120 Ron Moquett 8/1 8 8Keystone Field (KY) Tyler Gaffalione 120 Michael J. Maker 10/1
