Grade 1 Alabama Stakes: Devil May Care vs. Blind Luck

It might not be Rachel vs. Zenyatta, but two of the top fillies in the country will meet at Saratoga this Saturday when Devil May Care and Blind Luck square off in the Grade 1 Alabama Stakes.

Below are the entries and post positions for the Alabama.  I'll have a look at each filly in the race once the PPs are released.

Grade 1 Alabama Stakes
Saratoga
1 ¼ miles
Three year olds, Fillies
Purse: $500,000
Post-time: 5:48 EDT

1-Acting Happy was a well-beaten third to Devil May Care in the Coaching Club American Oaks last time out following her sole graded stakes triumph in the Black Eyed Susan on Preakness eve.  Despite the somewhat low Tomlinson Distance rating (277), the mile and a quarter distance would appear to be right up her alley given her pedigree (Empire Maker out of a Pine Bluff mare).  Her tactical speed should be useful from the rail but she's probably going to have to really turn up the level of her performance in order to beat most of these fillies.

2-Devil May Care doesn't appear to have too many weaknesses as she rolls into this race.  She flopped a bit in her 2010 debut at the Fair Grounds but since that time her only blemish was her tenth place finish in the Derby.  She was as close as third in the Derby, only a length back of the lead, but got bumped around by Dublin and Mission Impazible at the top of the stretch before fading to the middle of the field.  Her tactical speed probably gives her the edge over Blind Luck in this spot, assuming she has no trouble getting the ten furlongs.

3-Tizahit won the Grade 2 Demoisel at Aqueduct last November but hasn't showed the same promise as a three year old as she did as a juvenile.  Her two races this year have come against N2X and OC/N2X company and she failed to win both of them.

4-Blind Luck is a bit of an enigma for me in this race -iIn her last start, she had to work very hard to win the Delaware Oaks by a nose over Havre de Grace, a race that produced the winner of the Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks (No Such Word) and a winner in an N2X event.  The speed figure came up good (99) but the runner up, Havre de Grace, had never run that fast in her short career which creates a bit of a question mark about the race in my mind. 

5-Connie and Michael turned into a different filly once she switched from turf/synthetic to dirt this spring and she is probably the logical third choice in this race behind Devil May Care and Blind Luck.  She's a bit of a question mark at a mile and a quarter distance but if she can take a step forward from the Mother Goose she could spring an upset.

6-Havre de Grace ran the best race of her career when she was all-out to finish second by a nose to Blind Luck in the Delaware Oaks just a month ago but there's got to be a bit of a question as to how much that effort took out of her.  She'll need to be at the top of her game to win in this spot and even that might not be enough.