The PID Masters Stakes (Grade 2)- $400.000 Purse
PID- For Fillies and Mares Three Years Old and Upward
Six and a Half Furlongs on the Dirt
September 19, 2022

The racing excitement will not be over with once the weekend is, as Monday will feature the 11th running of the PID Masters Stakes, which is a Grade 2 sprint for females on the main track. This stake first appeared on the schedule in 2009, but it has not been held every year, and we did not see it last year. Conditions for the race have been steady through time. In 2020, Team 7 Illusions was the winning trainer, with his filly, On The Flop. It would be the last win of her career, and she only did make four more starts before she was eventually retired. She’s now a mother of five. Mb Stables had a run of four wins in a row for the race, and he will have two of the six horses in this field as he looks for his fifth win. Let’s meet them and the four others that comprise our field of six!

#1- Catch The Trip (Gdp Inc., ridden by M Franco)- Starting on the rail, this five year old mare is a winner of five of seventeen for her career. Half of her races have come on the turf, as have half of her wins, and in seeing how the adds are all over the place from race to race, you have the feeling that Gdp Inc is still looking to completely figure out how she is best. She comes out of a win in the Grade 2 Honorable Miss Handicap at SAR, so hopefully she can build on that. The last two times her adds have been only a shadow roll, she has won.

#2- Baptisted By Fire (Mo Mentum Farm, ridden by E Maldonado)- This one has had people wondering why she has an extra “t” in her first name over the course of 37 races. Fourteen of them have gone for wins, including each of her last two. In June, she beat a field of five in the Grade 3 Desert Stormer and won in a field of four a month later in the Grade 2 Great Lady M Stakes. Mo Mentum Farm should be commended for taking this $45.000 claimer and getting her to succeed at this level. Over her career, she has been very reliable to finish in the top four somewhere.

#3- Precise Performance (Mb Stables, ridden by L Saez)- The winner of the 2020 BC Distaff and runner up in the 2021 BC Fillies and Mares Sprint hopes to return for the third straight year, but it might be tough. She’s won just once in 2022, and open allowance in March but has been second in a pair of graded events, including the 10-furlong Grade 2 DEL Handicap. Stayed running long for her last start, which was fourth in the Grade 1 Hirsch, so I am a little surprised to see her cut back to a sprint here but it shows her versatility.

#4- Story To Tell (Mb Stables, ridden by A Cedillo)- In late May, she ran against her stablemate in the Grade 3 Winning Colors, Precise Performance as well, and ran a spot behind her, in third. She has done plenty of winning otherwise in 2022, scoring three victories, highlighted by the $135.000 Shine Again at SAR while running seven furlongs. Story To Tell will also carry a little less weight in this race, and this would be her signature win to date if she is able to pull it off.

#5- Lucky Insist (Rock Creek, ridden by P Husbands)- Over her career, Lucky Insist has been in a handful of graded stakes, but she has not been able to score a win in one of them. She’s won two ungraded races, one a long time ago, and the other against WV-breds at CT. Otherwise, she’s mainly been a steady and consistent producer in overnights but the trainer is insisting on his belief that she can get it done at this level. She’ll need a bit of luck to pull off a win against this company, but recent speed figures do suggest she can hold her own here even though she was soundly beaten by Lady Narloff in the Princess Rooney.

#6- Lady Narloff (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by J R Velazquez)- During the winter, Lady Narloff was on a great run of form, winning both the Grade 1 La Brea and the Grade 3 Bayakoa before strong finishes in the Beholder Mile and the Vinery Madison. But then, just as things were looking so good for her, she had a couple races where she was not a factor at all. She would able to turn that back around to the positive side again with an impressive performance in the Grade 2 Princess Rooney at GP at the beginning of July, earning a 99 SRF in the victory. She’s been resting since then and is poised for another strong effort here.

Prediction: 6-3-4-2

— NS

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES