Two in a row for Bessie M

Bessie M on Saturday scored her second straight win and third in nine starts, taking a seven-furlong $25K starter allowance at Calder.

Sent off at about 9/2 in the six-horse field, Bessie M and Orlando Bocachica tracked Luis Saez and Bella Moneta through early fractions of 22.87 and 46.17. Bessie M pounced in the stretch and began edging away from that 4/5 favorite to win by a comfortable 2 1/2 lengths in a final time of 1:25.65 over a strip rated as "fast." It was another five lengths back to second-favored Gorgeous Melody.

Bessie M was bred in Maryland by Mr. & Mrs. Charles McGinnes and now races in the colors of Platinum Equestrian Corporation, which claimed her from William H. Harris. She was trained for the win by Antonio Sano.

The $10,500 paycheck for the victory brings Bessie M's career earnings to $57,524. She has failed to hit the board just twice in nine lifetime starts.

I shortlisted the bay filly by Medallist-Catalita, by Mountain Cat, as a Priority 2 animal on a 48-horse list of bargain prospects at last year's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale at Timonium, Md. I would likely have considered her a Priority 1 horse but for the slow start at stud by her sire, who at the time had only 10 winners from 59 foals in his first crop. She's certainly flashing the talent that was previewed in her 22 2/5 quarter-mile breeze at a sale where the Timonium fairgrounds track was playing quite slow. Harris bought the filly, then named Carolita, for $35,000, and earlier this year lost her for $25,000 on the claim at Gulfstream.

To follow my 187-horse juvenile tip-list from 2010, check out the complete list at the bottom of this link.