Lady’s Secret pace may get hot

Paco Lopez got to see a lot of Beth’s Dream’s backside in an April 22 allowance race at Gulfstream Park. Saturday, in the $100,000 Lady’s Secret Stakes at Monmouth Park, Lopez will take a seat on Beth’s Dream’s back.

Beth’s Dream is one of seven entrants in the Lady’s Secret, a 1 1/16-mile dirt race for older horses, and her form certainly is the most unusual among this group.

Beth’s Dream made two starts as a 2-year-old of 2020, both poor, and didn’t race between October of that year and December 2021. She returned for a different trainer, Victor Barboza Jr., and ran in a $16,000 maiden claimer, which she won in a common gallop.

In February, connections tried a Florida-bred allowance race, in which Beth’s Dream aired, and on April 22, in an open first-level Gulfstream allowance, Beth’s Dream went to the front and drew clear to a 11 1/2-length victory. The performance produced a 95 Beyer Speed Figure, easily best in this race, and led Barboza to send Beth’s Dream north for the Lady’s Secret for her stakes and two-turn debut.

Lopez was riding Flying Aletha in the April 22 race, and after chasing the winner, she faded to third. Lopez’s task Saturday could turn tricky. So far, Beth’s Dream, who failed to change leads in the homestretch last out, has been all speed, and she has landed in a race with several pace players.

Rail-drawn Boston Post Road, who ships from Saratoga for trainer Chad Brown, was a sharp wire-to-wire winner of a May 11 first-level allowance race going a one-turn mile in the mud at Belmont Park. Her ability to take back and rate behind horses if required is far from certain since the Peter Brant-owned filly never has even raced around two turns.

Tap Dance Fever and Whole-bodemeister also should show speed, and if the pace we see on paper materializes, the Lady’s Secret should fall either to Moraz or Leader of the Band. Both horses exit the Serena’s Song on May 8 at Monmouth, where Moraz was second, Leader of the Band fourth, in a race won by Miss Leslie, who captured the Obeah Stakes on Wednesday at Delaware Park.

Moraz, 11th in the 2021 Kentucky Oaks, was making her first start for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer while moving from turf to dirt and from California to the East Coast. She finished with good energy and galloped out well in front, and Hollendorfer can see her improving Saturday.

“She’s got some talent and she’s been training very well,” Hollendorfer said. “Her works aren’t super fast but they are very good. She’s faced a lot of decent horses. We think she’s ready to run well.”

Leader of the Band fell too far behind a tepid tempo in the Serena’s Song, lacked room in midstretch, and finished solidly. She won the Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks over this surface last summer and should improve Saturday.