Sunday Night Notes - July 1

- It was a Grade 1 double for Unbridled's Song, the sire of Octave and Political Force, winners of the Mother Goose and Suburban on Saturday. Chalk players were undaunted by Octave's record of finishing second, sending her off at 1-2. John Velazquez was undaunted by the long, sweeping turn at Belmont, sending Octave three wide for its entire length. So she was clearly the best in getting her first win since last August, after five consecutive seconds.

Unbridled's Song, up to $200,000 these days, has actually been having a slow year. His only North American stakes winners this year were Half Ours and someone called Unbridled Sydney. So these were his first Grade 1 winners of the year.

- The first two juvenile stakes races of the year at Belmont were run on Sunday, and Pletcher won them both. The Toddster is now 88-29-13-13 on the meeting, for 33%. Glacken's Gal took the Astorita; she's by the sprint champion Smoke Glacken, out of a Silver Deputy mare; and she's a half to the stakes winner City Dweller. Ready's Image dominated the Tremont by eight lengths at 4-5. He's by More Than Ready, who also won the race, when it was a Grade 3.

Pletcher ran second in another stakes on the card, the grassy Tweedside for three-year old fillies, with Christies Treasure. She was unable to hold off the last-to-first Lear's Princess, an extremely impressive filly who is now three-for-three for Kiaran McLaughlin, the last two on the grass. That perfect record includes her debut, on the Poly at Keeneland, in which her jockey Elvis Trujillo misjudged the wire, leading Kent Desormeaux to also believe that the race was over. Lear's Princess earned the nod on the wire while galloping out, in one of the oddest finished you'll ever see (check it out on Cal Racing).

On Sunday, Lear's Princess was well back and completely out of the picture as the horses entered the turn. She circled the field and got up over Pletcher's filly by a half length. This filly is by the Roberto stallion Lear Fan, out of a Carson City half sister to the turf specialist, and million dollar earner My Big Boy.

And at Hollywood, Bright Prediction won the 6th at 85-1, thereby singlehandedly breaking up an otherwise hittable Pick Six; the other winners went off at odds of 10-1, 4-5, 5-1, 6-1, and 2-1. The carryover for Monday's card is $3.275 million, the highest carryover in track history. [DRF]