The addition of blinkers helped Pretty Mischievous score a signature victory in last month’s Kentucky Oaks, and the Godolphin homebred will look to keep things rolling when she cuts back to one turn for Friday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Acorn Stakes at Belmont Park. Pretty Mischievous, trained by Brendan Walsh, is one of the biggest names on Friday’s 11-race card. The Acorn, along with the $600,000 New York, and $500,000 Just a Game, both for fillies and mares on the turf, comprise a trio of Grade 1 stakes on the card. Rounding out the stakes are the Grade 2, $250,000 Belmont Gold Cup, a turf marathon, and the Grade 3, $200,000 Intercontinental for female turf sprinters. The Acorn, the first of New York’s prestigious stakes for 3-year-old fillies with championship implications, has been lengthened to 1 1/16 miles from its previous one-mile distance, but will still be run around one turn on the massive Belmont Park oval. Following in the series are the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks at 1 1/8 miles on July 22 and the Grade 1 Alabama at 1 1/4 miles on Aug. 19, both at Saratoga. The Grade 2 Mother Goose, traditionally run in spring at Belmont, has been moved to the Belmont-at-Aqueduct fall meet. Pretty Mischievous will look to join Bird Town (2003), Abel Tasman (2017), and Monomoy Girl (2018) as Kentucky Oaks winners since the turn to this century to also win the Acorn en route to Eclipse Award honors. Walsh put blinkers on Pretty Mischievous for the Kentucky Oaks after she was overhauled in the stretch of the Fair Grounds Oaks in March. The result was a neck win over a charging Gambling Girl at Churchill Downs. “I think they helped her to focus a little bit better at the end of the race,” Walsh said. “I had a pretty good idea that they weren’t going to have a negative effect, so that was the main thing. I knew she wouldn’t underperform with them. I think the day of the Fair Grounds Oaks, it probably set up for a closer that day. Not taking anything away from the winner, but she did lose her focus down the stretch.” Pretty Mischievous cuts back to one turn for the first time since winning her first two starts last year. Walsh sent her to Belmont in advance of the Acorn to get in a half-mile breeze, going 47.87, June 3 on Big Sandy. :: DRF Belmont Stakes Package: Save on PPs, Clocker Reports, Betting Strategies, and more. “It’s a different type of track, different configuration, different surface,” Walsh said. “It’s only beneficial for her to have a work there. I think [the configuration] would suit her running style.” The other filly emerging from the Kentucky Oaks is Dorth Vader, a Grade 2 winner in Florida earlier this year. She raced near the pace before finishing fifth, beaten 3 1/4 lengths, in the Kentucky Oaks. The Acorn is her first start with trainer George Waver after being previously conditioned by Michael Yates. “I think getting back to the one-turn configuration will be more in her wheelhouse, but she ran big in the Oaks, too,” Weaver said. Dorth Vader, drawn on the rail with John Velazquez, relaxed nicely through a five-furlong work last week at Belmont. She is typically forwardly placed, but could be outfooted early by Munnys Gold, from post 5 under Irad Ortiz Jr., and Goodgirl Badhabits, in post 7 with Jevian Toledo up. Pretty Mischievous, with regular rider Tyler Gaffalione in the irons, is between the speedsters in post 6. Gaffalione will likely attempt to maneuver to a clear outside stalking spot in the long run down the backstretch. :: Bet the Belmont Stakes with confidence! Join DRF Bets and get a $250 deposit match bonus, $10 free bet, and FREE DRF Formulator! Munnys Gold won her first three starts by a combined 38 lengths for trainer Todd Pletcher and is the only member of this field to earn triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures. Stepped up to Grade 2 company in the Eight Belles going seven furlongs at Churchill Downs, she fought back when passed and was beaten just a head by Red Carpet Ready. Goodgirl Badhabits also stretches beyond seven furlongs for the first time. She won her first two starts at Laurel by a combined 23 lengths for trainer Brittany Russell. Along with Pletcher, who has entered both Munnys Gold and allowance-level winner Frosty O Toole, trainer Chad Brown is represented by multiple entrants – Accede, third in the Eight Belles; stakes winner Occult, fifth in the Grade 3 Gazelle; and maiden winner Randomized. “All three of mine look like milers on paper, so they’re going to have to find an extra sixteenth somewhere,” Brown said. “They might all be just fine, especially around one turn.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.