Tiz Miz Sue seeks racing milestones in NY

Trainer Steve Hobby can achieve both of his stated goals for Tiz Miz Sue on Memorial Day.

Winning the $ 400,000 Ogden Phipps Handicap Monday at New York’s Belmont Park would make the 6- year- old mare a racing millionaire and first- time Grade 1 winner. Tiz Miz Sue, owned and bred by Oklahoma- based CresRan LLC, is $ 110,291 short of the milestone from 31 starts after a solid Oaklawn Park meeting that she repeated in the Grade 3 Azeri March 16.

A daughter of two- time Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Tiznow and Oaklawn stakes- winning mare Sue’s Good News, Tiz Miz Sue finished a half- length back when a closing second in Oaklawn’s Apple Blossom Handicap April 12, On Fire Baby nabbing the first Grade 1 victory of her career in front- running fashion. The Apple Blossom is proving a key race with also- ran Summer Applause taking the Grade 3 Allaire Dupont Distaff last weekend on the Preakness undercard at Pimlico.

Tiz Mis Sue is 5- 1 fourth choice in a six- horse Phipps field including last- out Grade 1 winner Joyful Victory ( 7- 5 favorite) and 2012 Kentucky Oaks winner Believe You Can ( 4- 1), both trained by Larry Jones. Trainer Todd Pletcher entered the pair of last- out graded winners Authenticity ( 3- 1) and Disposablepleasure ( 6- 1). Authenticity beat On Fire Baby by a head with Believe You Can third in the Grade 2 La Troienne May 3 at Churchill Downs.

Joe Rocco Jr. keeps the mount on Tiz

Miz Sue, assigned 117 pounds and breaking from post two.

Joyful Victory, Oaklawn’s Grade 2 Fantasy and Grade 3 Honeybee winner in 2011, comes off a March 16 Grade 1 win at Santa Anita that she earned a 108 Beyer Speed Figure. Not nominated to the Apple Blossom, the 5- yearold mare makes her third start of the year, carrying 120 pounds and breaking from the rail post with Rosie Napravnik aboard. Hall of Famer John Velazquez rides Believe You Can, breaking from post six under 119 pounds.

“With Joyful Victory, I know one of them will be on the lead,” Jones said. “A lot will depend on the break and the post positions, both for us and for everyone else. I think I have two of the best riders in the country. They’ll have to do their jobs, and I’ll let them do their jobs.”

The mile- and- sixteenth Phipps is second of three Grade 1 stakes on Belmont’s holiday card. Oncebeaten 3- year- old filly Kauai Katie stretches out in the $ 300,000 Acorn while Flat Out risks his perfect record at Belmont in the $ 750,000 Metropolitan Handicap, both at a mile. Flat Out has backtoback wins in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup and earned a 115 Beyer Speed Figure in winning the Grade 3 Westchester April 27 on opening day at Belmont.

Flat Out, now 7, won the 2009 Smarty Jones at Oaklawn when trained by Scooter Dickey, for whom the horse won the 2011 Gold Cup and Grade 2 Suburban Handicap at Belmont. Owner Art Preston has since entrusted Flat Out ( by Flatter) with Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. Junior Alvarado stays aboard Flat Out, breaking from post six and co- highweighted at 120 pounds.

“We ran him at a flat mile last time, and he ran very well,” Mott said. “I had always wanted to try him at that distance. He’s doing well and the Met Mile is a very important race, and he’s a horse who won’t be compromised by [ the one- mile] distance, which bodes pretty well for him.”

A typically strong Met Mile field includes Westchester runnerup Cross Traffic, who along with last- out Grade 2 winner Discreet Dancer forms an uncoupled entry for Pletcher; Swagger Jack and Sahara Sky, one- two finishers in Aqueduct’s Grade 1 Carter Handicap going seven furlongs and trained, respectively, by Marty Wolfson and Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer; the Bob Baffert- trained stakes winner Fed Biz; and Fair Grounds invader Mark Valeski, a Jones trainee who won the 2012 Grade 2 Peter Pan at Belmont.

Oaklawn has full- card simulcasting from Belmont, Churchill Downs, Hollywood Park, Lone Star Park, Louisiana Downs and other tracks on Monday, gates opening at 11 a. m.