Beverly D scouting report: Marypop

Marypop will be making her second stateside start for Mike Stidham in the Beverly D. (G1), but it’s instructive to take a look back at her French career.

Only the fourth stakes winner sired by the Sunday Silence stallion Layman, Marypop began to improve markedly after joining trainer Pia Brandt. She broke her maiden going about 1 1/2 miles at Clairefontaine last August, rallying strongly from well off the pace to win handsomely. Simultaneously taking a class hike and a cutback in distance for the about 1 5/16-mile Prix de Liancourt at Longchamp, she again closed stoutly as a 10-1 chance and just missed by a nose to pacesetter Moi Meme.

Marypop earned another step up in class for the about 12 1/2-furlong Prix de Royallieu (G2) on Arc weekend. After stalking on the inside, the 25-1 shot angled out to join the firing line in the straight and got outkicked in fourth. That was no disgrace, since the odds-on favorite, Candarliya, scored in record time.

 

Candarliya provides a direct form tie-in to Sea Calisi, since they had just finished together in second and third, respectively, behind Treve in the Prix Vermeille (G1). On this evidence, Marypop has a bit to find to bridge the gap to Sea Calisi. (As a further postscript, Candarliya readily defeated males in her latest in the July 14 Prix Maurice de Nieuil [G2]).

Marypop has continued her upward trajectory as a four-year-old this season. She resumed in the April 3 Prix Zarkava at Saint-Cloud, where she was accorded 2-1 favoritism and justified her status with an emphatic three-length decision. Placegetters Brandybend and Havana Moon haven’t gone on to flatter the form, however.

In her French finale in the April 28 Prix Allez France (G3), Marypop reached a new career high in workmanlike fashion. Runner-up Nymeria has since placed in a couple of German Group races and finished a creditable sixth versus males in the July 31 Grosser Dallmayr-Preis (G1).