Top pick: #5 (ARUNA) - Home-bred mare by "Mr. Greeley" became a G1 winner last November when she won the Spinster Stakes at Keeneland. She followed that up by missing by a length at Churchill in the Breeder's Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1). Sent in for a 5 1/2 month break, she raced evenly at Keeneland in the Jenny Wiley(G1) and looked a bit "rusty". Working well for this, she was an easy winner on this surface back in 2010 in the Pebbles Stakes, her only previous local start.
2nd pick: #4 (Hit it Rich) - She's become a much better performer since moving to the grass on a regular basis last summer and is (5-4-1-0) since then and has won a par of G3 stakes along the way. Grey mare missed by a 1/2 length at Gulfstream Feb 11th in the Suwanee River Stakes in what was her first start in three months. Daughter of "Smart Strike" returned there off a 7 week break to win the Orchid Hdcp March 31st and hasn't raced since then. Working fine and her positional speed should have her in this from start to finish.
3rd pick: #6 (Principal Role) - Mare was a notch below Europe's best when she started 13 times over-seas before coming to North America. Nice effort in her first start back, she had some traffic issues when finishing 3rd on this surface in the (G3) Beaugay Stakes on May 5th. She's a threat if she moves forward off that attempt.
4th pick: #3 (Aqsaam) - Very lightly raced daughter of the recently deceased "Dynaformer" has excellent early speed and last out was passed in the final three strides to finish 2nd to Hit it Rich in the Orchid Hdcp at Gulfstream. She's (4-3-1-0) overall and her early speed makes her dangerous.