Rose Brier seeks repeat in Evans

Even at age 8, Rose Brier remains a solid Grade 3-type horse in middle-distance turf races. Rose Brier starts Saturday in the $75,000 Edward Evans, a one-mile grass race restricted to Virginia-breds, and there’s a good reason why he’s the 2-5 morning-line favorite.

Rose Brier won the 2016 Evans, which was run at Pimlico, by one length at odds of 4-5. He didn’t show his best that day, but he didn’t need to, and a similar situation is likely to arise this year.

The Evans, race 3, is the first of six statebred-restricted turf stakes on Laurel’s Saturday card. There are three more Virginia-bred races and two for Maryland-breds, including the Mister Diz, which drew the fading legend Ben’s Cat. The card starts at 1:10 p.m. Eastern, and the local forecast calls for a chance of showers.

Wet turf is not what Rose Brier wants at all, but unless the conditions turn positively boggy, Rose Brier should be just fine. He raced on “good” turf last out at Monmouth and managed a third in the Grade 3 Red Bank; two starts back, in the Henry Clark Stakes at Laurel, Rose Brier was second by a head before fading to seventh on a yielding course. Rose Brier still was beaten only three lengths by the victorious Ascend, who returned to win the Grade 1 Manhattan Stakes.

Edgar Prado, who rode the Royal Ascot meet earlier this week, has the mount for trainer Jane Cibelli and the Panic Stable.

Special Envoy, the 2-1 morning-line second choice, finished fourth in the Red Bank but has been proven before to be a length or two inferior to the favorite.

Armoire vs. Queen Caroline

While the Evans looks like a one-horse race, bettors will have two major players from whom to choose in the $75,000 Nellie Mae Cox, the Evans’s onemile sister race for Virginiabred fillies and mares.

Drawn on the rail is Armoire, a talented and progressive filly trained by Arnaud Delacour and ridden Saturday by Daniel Centeno. Her main rival, another 4-year-old, is Queen Caroline, drawn in post 8 for trainer Michael Matz and jockey Alex Cintron.

Queen Caroline clearly is the more proven of the two fillies, and as a 3-year-old, she won this race by a length. Queen Caroline then shipped twice to Indiana Grand to win six-figure turf stakes before finding the water too deep in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland, her final start at age 3.

Her form this year is perfectly sufficient to make her a deserving favorite, a wide-trip but close eighth in a Keeneland allowance race to start her season and a solid fourth behind three rivals stronger than anything she faces Saturday while racing in the Grade 3 Gallorette on May 20 at Pimlico.

Armoire has won three of her five starts; in her only poor performance, she appeared to struggle over wet turf at Aqueduct. Following a January allowance loss at Tampa Bay Downs, Delacour gave her a break, and Armoire returned breathing fire with a strong-rally win over secondlevel allowance foes May 19 at Pimlico. She’ll need to come forward again, however, to handle Queen Caroline.

Two Notch Road seeks repeat

Two Notch Road, somewhat shockingly, was nearly 13-1 when he won the $75,000 White Oak Farm Stakes over 5 1/2 furlongs a year ago. Back in the same race Saturday, Two Notch Road is listed as the 4-5 morning-line choice, which would be a somewhat surprisingly short price on a 10-year-old making his first start in nine months.

Two Notch Road has worked steadily at Monmouth Park for trainer Glenn Thompson but didn’t find his best form last season for a few starts. The 8-year-old Available looks like the horse who might post a mild upset. Available returned from a winter break with a decent run May 28 at Pimlico, and while he was third in this race a year ago, he finished second, one place ahead of Two Notch Road, in the Virginia-bred Punch Line Stakes in September at Laurel.

◗ Rapid Rhythm has faced considerably stronger competition in her last several starts than what she meets Saturday in the $75,000 M. Tyson Gilpin and looks formidable as an oddson favorite in the 5 1/2-furlong dash for Virginia-breds.