The Soaring Softly (Grade 3)- $175.000 Purse
BEL- For Fillies Three Years Old
Seven Furlongs on the Turf
May 27, 2023

Taking place at BEL on Saturday will be the eighth edition of the Soaring Softly, which is a long sprint on the grass for three year old fillies. It will run as a graded stake for the sixth time, and sees a purse increase of $75.000 to its current level of $175.000. Six horses will be heading to the starting gate in hopes of being the first one to win that race’s larger purse. In 2022, the race was won by La Canada Racehorses and his filly, Amy Is Shameful. It would be the final win of the career for the horse that also won the BC Juvenile Turf Sprint against the boys in 2021. She was retired two starts after winning the Soaring Softly and has already produced four foals. We don’t have a BC winner in the field this year, but we do have the horses that finished second and third in their respective races, so there’s plenty of reason to get excited about the quality of the field. Here’s a look at our runners!

#1- Miss Fury (Mb Stables, ridden by D Davis)- This filly by Fire N Fury has three wins in seven starts, with one being a stake win: the $100.000 Melody Of Colors at GP. She’s been entered in a couple of higher priced races than this one and has only been able to finish in the middle of the field. Perhaps a little more distance will do the trick for her, as up to this point most of her starts have been five or six furlongs.

#2- Deaf Luna (Asgar, ridden by J Lezcano)- Last fall, she ran in the BC Juvenile Turf Sprint just like Amy Is Shameful did, and ended up finishing third in the race. In her debut as a three-year-old, the trainer began her modestly, in the $60.000 Princess Of Palms at TUP, where she got the win, which was the first of two for her in 2023. That other win came at the beginning of the month at CD, in the $225.000 Mamzelle. She has experience running distances at or very close to the seven she runs here, and the Princess Of Palms was one of them.

#3- Sinister City (The Freakshow, ridden by M Franco)- After appearing in the Grade 2 Jessamine last fall, Sinister City would roll off a five-race winning streak, which includes both the Grade 3 FL Oaks and the Grade 2 Appalachian. Those races are at or a little more than a mile, and there would be no reason to think that she would have a problem going seven here. However, she will need to be better than her last start, the Grade 2 Edgewood at CD, where she was fifth and saw her winning streak come to an end. For as well as she had been prior to that, it’s a start that can easily be forgiven and she should have a good shot here.

#4- Lwaxana (Alydar Stables, ridden by J J Castellano)- Last September, Lwaxana made her debut on the grass on a rain-soaked day at PRX and routed the field by eight lengths. That would lead to her running in the Jessamine, but that would not go down as one of her career highlights. Since then, she has been running respectably in ungraded or smaller graded stakes before she finally made a return visit to the winner’s circle in her most recent start: the $250.000 Limestone Turf Sprint at KEE in mid-April. She likes to come from behind, so be looking for her in the closing moments here unless the trainer changes things up.

#5- Era Of Nebraska (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by J R Velazquez)- This filly would win on debut, but after that she struggled to get her second win. She didn’t run poorly, and when she was given Bute before a race, she had a good run in the PID Debutante Stakes. That would never be sustained, and it would be her most recent race where the trainer made a change. That would be moving her to the grass, and Era Of Nebraska stepped up and won the GG allowance that she was entered into. This isn’t a $26.000 race, so the jury may still be out if the surface made that much of an impact.

#6- Broadway Lady (Arindel, ridden by L Dettori)- Broke her maiden at SAR, and would be entered into the Grade 1 Natalma where she showed her potential with a second-place effort. Then, she nearly became a BC champion, but had to settle for second in the BC Juvenile Fillies, coming up short with a late run but being within a length of the win. She has not won this year, but has hit the board in three of five starts, including the $225.000 Mamzelle at the start of the month. It seems like just a matter of time for her to win again, and she is one of the better options in this field.

Prediction: 3-2-6-4

— NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES