Regret top two meet for a second time

When Edie Meeny Miny Mo and Oxana met last summer in the Grade 2 Prioress both fillies came wrapped in an aura of mystery.

Neither of their trainers were regulars in Saratoga races, and each filly had earned a sparkling Beyer Speed Figure at a lesser venue – Edie Meenie Miny Mo a 91 at Pimlico, Oxana a 96 in a Pennsylvania-bred Parx Racing maiden. Oxana managed a decent Prioress fourth at 5-2 for trainer Tim Hills, while Edie Meeny Miny Mo, trained at the time by Miguel Vera, finished one placing and 1 1/2 lengths farther back at odds of 3-1. The two fillies, now 4-year-olds, face off for the first time since the Prioress in the $100,000 Regret Stakes on Saturday at Monmouth Park, and while Oxana since has established a baseline performance level, Edie Meeny Miny Mo still carries an air of untapped potential.

Now trained by Michelle Hemingway (who said she and owner Holly Hill Farm were “strongly leaning toward” running in the Regret rather than the Caesar’s Wish at Laurel Park, where the filly is cross-entered), Edie Meeny Miny Mo finished a clunky fourth as the odds-on favorite April 16 in a Tampa Bay allowance race, her first start since the Prioress.

On June 5 at Monmouth, however, Edie Meeny Miny Mo bounced back with a 3 1/4-length second-level allowance victory racing over the Regret’s six-furlong distance and with Paco Lopez, who rides Saturday, in the irons.

“It was planned more or less that way,” Hemingway said of the Tampa start. “It was fine if we could outclass the field, but she was about two works short, and we wanted to get her ready for the summer and the Monmouth season since we know she likes the track.”

Edie Meeny Miny Mo, despite a difficult trip, finished a fine second in the two-turn Monmouth Oaks. The filly hopped at the start that day, the second time she’d broken poorly, and wanted to pull harder than ideal while setting a strong pace. Hemingway, who only became a head trainer late last year yet has a 30-horse Monmouth string, said Edie Meeny Miny Mo “has been all class since I got her. She’s very amenable to everything we ask.”

With a good outside draw and a chance at another forward move, Edie Meeny Miny Mo could provide a first stakes win for Hemingway, who also runs the Holly Hill-owned longshot Aziza.

Oxana has failed to come anywhere close to that 96 Beyer in six post-Prioress starts, and while she won a third-level allowance by three lengths June 10 at Monmouth, she beat just four foes and earned a pedestrian 73 Beyer.

Club Car, who ships from Kentucky for trainer Ben Colebrook, could be favored. Club Car’s top 2021 performances win the Regret, but at age 6 she hasn’t looked quite the same in her two most recent starts, and while both races came over muddy surfaces, Club Car has a proven wet-track affinity.

English import Liberated Lady had a dirt breakout in a first-level Monmouth allowance race romp May 30. Dr B is a sneaky exacta threat at a price. Bourbon Rebellion looks overmatched.