Hotshot Anna back for repeat

Defending winner Hotshot Anna, the breakout graded stakes winner Honey Bunny, and two last-out stakes winners trying something new help make up a competitive and full field for the $100,000 Satin and Lace Stakes for fillies and mares Monday night at Presque Isle Downs.

The Satin and Lace, a sixfurlong sprint on the synthetic track, leads in to the Grade 2, $400,000 Presque Isle Masters, the track’s signature race, on Sept. 16. The Masters has developed into a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. In 2017, Ami’s Mesa won the Masters by a length over Bar of Gold, and then Bar of Gold turned the tables by a nose at the Breeders’ Cup.

Trained by Hugh Robertson, Hotshot Anna won four consecutive races to end last season, including a 5 3/4-length score in the Grade 3 Chicago Handicap at Arlington, a 3 3/4-length win in the Satin and Lace, and a 4 1/4-length victory in the Masters. Crazy Sweet, second in the Satin and Lace and third in the Masters, returns to Presque Isle to meet Hotshot Anna again this year.

Hotshot Anna was away from the races for nine months after winning the Masters, returning to finish second in the Chicago Handicap in June. She then won an optional-claiming race Aug. 3 at Arlington Park. Antonio Gallardo, aboard for both her wins at Presque Isle in 2018, reunites with the mare Monday.

Honey Bunny won five straight races from March to May, all for trainer John Ortiz, culminating with the Grade 3 Winning Colors Stakes at Churchill Downs after allowance-level romps at Keeneland and Churchill. She then finished fourth in the Roxelana Stakes, which was won by Mia Mischief with Covfefe in third, and was fifth in the Grade 2 Honorable Miss Handicap at Saratoga. Tyler Baze, aboard for the Winning Colors score, is back in the irons.

Late Night Pow Wow, trained by Javier Contreras, won the Twixt Stakes at Laurel in her most recent outing. That was her seventh stakes score, with her career highlighted by wins last year in the Charles Town Oaks and Barbara Fritchie, both Grade 3 events, and a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Madison Stakes in April. Shanghai Tariff comes off a win in the Saylorville Stakes at Prairie Meadows for trainer James DeVito, breaking through after three consecutive stakes placings. Neither Late Night Pow Wow nor Shanghai Tariff has run at Presque Isle or on a synthetic surface. Shanghai Tariff is unplaced in two outings on turf.