Leave Me Alone!

- By far the most exciting race of Calder’s Summit of Speed program – in fact, the only photo finish of the day - was in the Azalea BC at 6f for 3yo fillies. An excellent hunch bet for any other of you with teenage kids, Leave Me Alone took the lead, quickly dispensing of second choice Partners Due, surrendered it to favorite Hide and Chic, who slipped up the rail on the turn, and battled back to prevail by a nose in a thrilling stretch drive.

"She had to work hard," Desormeaux said. "They turned on the pressure at the half and she dragged me back to the front. I was trying to stay off the fence because I thought is was a little softer down there, but then again I might have been wrong because I was almost beaten by a horse that stayed on the fence the whole way.

"Needless to say, I needed every ounce of blood she had the last three-sixteenths of a mile, and she gave it to me." [Thoroughbred Times]

Next stop for Leave Me Alone may be the Grade 1 Test at Saratoga. She’s by dead California stallion Bold Badgett, who's a full brother to multiple graded stakes winner (including the Hollywood Gold Cup) and fellow dead stallion Desert Wine; and a half to living stallion Menifee.

Hide and Chic, who won a stakes at Calder last month, finished nearly 10 lengths in front of the rest of the field. She’s by Seeking the Gold, out of Saoirse, and thus a half-sister to 2 yo Saoirse Cat, who I posted about breaking her maiden for Mott the other day at Belmont. She has an interesting inbreeding pattern, 2x5 to Mr. Prospector, and 4x5 to Tom Fool.

Madcap Escapade bounced back to take the Princess Rooney, putting her over a million in earnings. No disgrace at all for previously undefeated Happy Ticket to run a clear second.

- More on Afleet Alex’s workout the other day:

"It was an excellent work," Rose said. "He did everything on his own."

Afleet Alex clipped off fractions of 25 2/5, 49 2/5, 1:00 1/5 and galloped out six furlongs in 1:14.

"That was exactly what we were looking for," said trainer Tim Ritchey. "The horse looks great." [Asbury Park Press]

The Haskell at Monmouth is Sunday, August 7th.