Elements Racing and NBS Stable’s impressive Mamzelle Overnight Stakes winner Danse Macabre will look toward a potential start at Belmont Park in the seven-furlong Soaring Softly Stakes (G3T) May 27, with a long-term goal of returning to Kentucky Downs.
The 3-year-old filly trained by Kelsey Danner has yet to finish off the board in seven starts. She added a 2 1/4-length score in the 5 1/2-furlong Mamzelle last week when defeating grade 3 winner American Apple over the Churchill Downs turf. She earned her first win in graded company March 4 in the Herecomesthebride Stakes (G3T) going one mile at Gulfstream Park. Her record sits at 4-2-1 with $666,740 in earnings.
“I was a little bit uncertain cutting back in the distance that far because there was a lot of speed in that race,” said Steve Smith of Elements Racing. “We scratched out of the Limestone (Stakes, at Keeneland) just because of the 12 hole. I actually liked the Limestone better, but coming from the 12 hole is just setting yourself up for problems.
“When she took off (in the Mamzelle), she took off. They couldn’t run her down… I wasn’t shocked but I was surprised that she won by so many open lengths. (Jockey) Adam (Beschizza) said he was waiting to feel them coming but he couldn’t hear them.”
The daughter of Army Mule ‘s win was her first in the orange and black silks of NBS, which has been a running joke for the connections because her only losses have come when she wears them instead of the blue and pink colors of Elements.
“We broke the orange crush I call it,” Smith said.
Steve Smith and Danse Macabre at Churchill Downs
Danse Macabre is nominated for the Soaring Softly but may reroute to another race further out. Smith said the ultimate goal will be to run at Saratoga Race Course and then back to Kentucky Downs in September where the filly earned her first stakes win last year in the Untapable Stakes.
“(Kelsey and I) were talking strategy of where to go with this filly and we had the Soaring Softly at Belmont penciled in, but that was if she ran in the Limestone,” Smith said. “Here we are two weeks more into the season. It would only give us three weeks’ rest, so we’re a little uncertain, but she came out of the race superbly. She didn’t miss a beat.
“The Caress (Stakes, G3T) would be our target (in Saratoga) because it’s a graded race and that’s where we’d like to keep her, in graded company. But of course the bigger picture would be to get to Kentucky Downs for the Mint Ladies Sprint… For us, our feeling with our racehorses is that the horse comes first and we want to protect her, we don’t want to overrace her. But in the same token, if we space out her races too far, she does do gymnastics in her stall. When she’s sharp, she’s sharp,” he said with a laugh.
Leave feedback about this