ELMONT, N.Y. - Cavorting and Condo Commando, winners of the Grade 2 Adirondack and Grade 1 Spinaway, respectively, are set to square off on Saturday at Belmont Park in the Grade 1, $500,000 Frizette for 2-year-old fillies.
The one-mile Frizette - a Breeders' Cup "Win and You're In" event - is part of a 11-race program that also features the Grade 1, $500,000 Champagne for 2-year-olds, the Grade 3, $500,000 Hill Prince, and the $200,000 Temperence Hill Invitational.
Trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, Cavorting is 2-for-2 in her young career. The bay filly debuted in a six-furlong sprint on July 3 at Belmont and blitzed three overmatched foes by 11 lengths, leading from start to finish. Cavorting showed a new dimension in her next outing - the Adirondack on August 10 at Saratoga Race Course - when she sat off the pace and swept by the field turning for home to post a decisive 1 ¾-length victory.
"[Angela Renee's win] certainly flatters our form," said McLaughlin, who trains the 5-2 morning-line second choice Cavorting for Stonestreet Stables. "[Angela Renee] is by Bernardini and so is Cavorting; he's having a great year. Cavorting has been working very well, and all systems are go. She's a lovely filly."
Cavorting drew the rail, and will be ridden by Irad Ortiz, Jr.
Like Cavorting, Condo Commando is undefeated through two career starts, which she has won by a whopping 25 ¼ lengths. The Rudy Rodriguez-trainee could have been nabbed for $75,000 out of her debut, but - fortunately for Rodriguez and owner Michael Dubb - there were no takers, and the dark bay or brown filly trounced the field by 12 lengths.
The daughter of Tiz Wonderful proved her maiden claiming romp was no fluke in her next start, the Grade 1 Spinaway. Amid a downpour at the Spa, Condo Commando sliced through the rain and splashed her way to a 13 ¼-length win. For the effort, she was awarded a field-best Beyer Speed Figure of 92.
Condo Commando, the 2-1 favorite on the morning line, will be ridden by Joe Bravo from post 6.
The third-place finisher in the Adirondack, Wonder Gal, will hope to turn the tables on Cavorting, and may have license to do so. Trained by Leah Gyarmati for Treadway Racing Stable, Wonder Gal won her debut in style by 14 ½ lengths in the Lynbrook Stakes on July 6 at Belmont, but things didn't go as smoothly in the Adirondack.
After tracking the pace along the inside, the Gyarmati trainee loomed a threat entering the stretch, but failed to find adequate room to run. Once she was finally able to extricate herself, the top two were well clear, but Wonder Gal ran on gamely and was gaining on runner-up Angela Renee.
"The hole was opening and the hole was closing," said Gyarmati. "She's a big filly, so she's not going to just shoot right through there, and then she got slammed. When she got in the hole, [Vivian Da Bling] came over on her and turned our filly sideways, and [Wonder Gal] hit the rail. She got a little schooling.
"It makes you wonder how she would have run with a clean trip," she added. "Those are two nice fillies that beat us, but it would have been nice to have clear sailing and see how close we get. She's such a big filly; she needs that room, and you can't really stop her and start her again."
Cornelio Velasquez has the mount aboard Wonder Gal, 6-1 on the morning line, and the pair will leave from post 2.
Rounding out the field are Ring Knocker, who is still a maiden after two starts; Feathered, 9 ¾-length winner of a maiden race at the Spa for trainer Todd Pletcher; Cayman Croc, who broke her maiden by 1 ½ lengths at Delaware Park; and By the Moon, second-place finisher in the Spinaway.
