Youalmosthadme Seems Back On Track

Resolute Racing's Youalmosthadme, who dropped a grade and shortened her distance to six furlongs in the $150,000 Miss Preakness Stakes (G3) at Pimlico Race Course on May 17, will try to bounce back after a lacklustre race as the favourite in the Beaumont Stakes (G2) at Keeneland.

Twelve 3-year-old fillies entered the dirt sprint, nine of them stakes winners, but all of them are aiming for a breakthrough graded win.

As a juvenile, Youalmosthadme won stakes races in Kentucky three times, but in her debut as a three-year-old, she tired after pushing the pace for six of the seven-furlong Beaumont. Youalmosthadme came in third, trailed by stablemates Denim and Pearls by 12 1/4 lengths.

In the Oxbow filly's second race of the year, trainer Brad Cox believes she can improve by going six furlongs.

"She probably wasn't quite as tight as I'd like to have had her in the Beaumont. And it was maybe a little too far for her, especially off the layoff," Cox noted. 

"She's obviously very precocious, having broken her maiden in April of last year. We bought her out of that race, and she was very good to us all last year. We gave her a break through the winter, just to let her be a horse. Her run in Beaumont was good. I probably expected a little more, but she's come back to work very well since."

There are numerous ways Miss Preakness may go if Youalmosthadme is unable to build on her 2024 debut. Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.'s Florida-based Mystic Lake won two seven-furlong dirt sprint prizes at Tampa Bay Downs this year. The MoTown filly recently finished in second place on the Woodbine all-weather track in the Star Shoot Stakes.

Since her import from Europe last year, Launch of Amo Racing USA has won three and placed second in dirt-course sprinting competitions. The Jorge Delgado trainee won the Any Limit Stakes on March 17 at Gulfstream Park after finishing second in the Glitter Woman Stakes to eventual Kentucky Oaks (G1) starter Into Champagne.

Value Area has been entered by trainer Todd Pletcher. He came into the race after winning maiden and allowance races in New York and was third in the Ruthless Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack.

D. Wayne Lukas's Lady Moscato had won twice this year since donning blinkers, but her winning streak ended when she placed sixth in the Kentucky Oaks undercard Eight Belles Stakes (G2).

Carmelina, of Parx, returns to sprinting, where the Maximus Mischief filly has four victories, following a lengthier run at Aqueduct in the Busher Stakes and Gazelle Stakes (G3).

"We expect her to really run well here," stated trainer Robert E. "Butch" Reid Jr. "She's won three stakes for us already, so she's a very, very solid filly. She's tough. She hasn't ducked anybody. We got her a little out of her distance capability in that last one so we're going to drop her back and stick to one-turn races from here."