Seasons just needs decent start

Seasons nearly won the Hilltop Stakes at Pimlico despite a serious stumble at the start, and now her connections hope the lightly raced, promising filly can put her best foot forward in the $75,000 Boiling Springs on Saturday at Monmouth Park.

Seasons is set to face six rivals in the Boiling Springs, a 1 1/16-mile grass race for 3-year-old fillies, carded as race 5 of 12, with a post time of 2:11 p.m. Eastern. With Paco Lopez taking the mount for trainer Jimmy Toner and obvious talent showing through her past-performance lines, Seasons figures to be favored.

Seasons’s pedigree is second to none. By Tapit, Seasons is the third foal to race out of Winter Memories, a multiple

Grade 1 winner on turf whose dam, Memories of Silver, was an even better grass horse.

Seasons won her career debut, a grass route last summer at Saratoga in which the leader, Frankel at Ascot, ran through the breakaway inner rail just as Seasons was moving toward the lead. She broke slowly and finished solidly for third next out in the Natalma, a one-turn Woodbine mile, and in her 2021 bow stumbled badly at the start of the Hilltop but turned in a 21.72-second final quarter-mile to nab second, beaten a neck by Alda, who had finished nearly three lengths ahead of her at Woodbine. So, just how good is this filly?

“I really don’t know – too early to say,” said Toner, who trained Seasons’s dam and second dam. “We’re just trying to bring her along slowly, teach her to do things the right way.”

Toner said Seasons has tactical speed unseen in her last two starts. The filly has made a habit of late lead changes and does not yet appear to have her mind entirely focused on the task at hand.

“She’s still a little bit on the green side,” said Toner. “We’re just hoping for a clean trip this time.”

Shantisara, an Irish-bred French import, could be live for trainer Chad Brown in her North American debut. The filly’s only turf race, her career debut, came over heavy ground and can be ignored, and racing on French all-weather surfaces she showed enough talent to be taken seriously in this spot.

In her second victory, Shantisara ran tight turns well winning easily at Marseilles Vivaux Racecourse in the south of France. After racing from well off the pace in that 2,000-meter start and her previous victory at 1,900 meters, Shantisara had better tactical speed when cut back to a one-turn mile and facing stronger competition Jan. 23 at Cagnes-sur-mer. She finished second in that race, outkicked by a colt named Summiter, who returned in the spring with a solid third in the Group 3 Prix de Fontainebleau.

Por Que No seems certain to set the pace, but she faded to fourth last out at Gulfstream in her stakes debut after capturing four straight races over lesser foes. She should be kept honest by Orbs Baby Girl, an easy winner of the off-turf Penn Oaks in her most recent outing.

Miss Leslie, Ravir, and Marlborough Road complete the lineup.