Aqueduct: Grade 3 Comely, Key Cents, Gio Ponti Stakes Previews

By Heather Pettinger —-

Miss Sky Warrior back at the Big A for G3 Comely on Black Friday

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Arlene’s Sun Star Stable’s Miss Sky Warrior will get back to the site of some of her biggest victories in the Grade 3, $250,000 Comely for 3-year-old fillies, one of three stakes on “Black Friday” at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Carded as Race 9, the 1 1/8-mile Comely will be joined by the $150,000 Gio Ponti and the $100,000 Key Cents for New York-breds. Friday’s 10-race holiday card will feature a special first post of 11:50 a.m. ET.

Trained by Kelly Breen, Miss Sky Warrior is a perfect 3-for-3 in graded stakes at the Big A, including a 13-length romp in the Grade 2 Gazelle in April. The First Samurai filly will be making her second start following a nearly six-month layoff after finishing a troubled eighth in the Kentucky Oaks.

Ridden in her return by Hall of Famer Javier Castellano, she stuck with her frontrunning style and set a pressured early pace before fading to fourth as the 3-5 favorite while taking on older horses in the Grade 3 Turnback the Alarm Handicap on October 28 at Belmont Park.

“Everybody was disappointed after her last race, including Javier,” said Al London of Arlene’s Sun Star Stable. “She has a very long stride and goes very fast, but it looks like she’s going a lot slower. She can be deceiving that way. She went the first half of the race in 45 [seconds] and change and that was too fast for any horse going that distance. Being fresh like that off a layoff, it even doubled her problem. She’s not a nut job, she just goes quick. That’s her style and she likes to run.

“You have to be careful of that when you’re a rider,” he added. “Javier’s been on her now and he knows that. We won’t be going that fast the first part of the race. She’s training very well and we’re cautiously optimistic that she’s going to run well Friday. She was just very sharp off the layoff and that did her in last time. She’s a very good horse. She’s won a lot of races, she’s won a lot of money, she’s sound, it’s just that she has a way of fooling people. She can be on the front and relax, or she can be rated. Either way, if she doesn’t go too fast, she’ll finish well for us. We’ll see what happens.”

With Castellano retaining the mount, Miss Sky Warrior will break from post 8.

Set to take on Miss Sky Warrior are Gary and Mary West’s Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan heroine Actress, making her first start since her sixth-place effort in the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx in September for trainer Jason Servis; Bonita Bianca, winner of the New York Oaks this summer, for the Rudy Rodriguez barn and owners Michael Dubb, Bethlehem Stables and Michael Imperio; Winter Melody winner Analyze for trainer Michael Matz; Phipps Stable’s homebred Parade, third to Jamyson ‘n Ginger in an optional claimer on November 9 for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey; Linda Rice-trained Crimson Frost, a seven-length allowance winner on November 8; You Know Too, sixth in the Safely Kept last time out for trainer Michael Gorham; and a pair of up-and-comers for trainer Todd Pletcher in Run and Go and Tapella, each making their stakes debuts.

NYRA PREVIEW

Juvenile fillies compete in Friday’s Key Cents; Secretary At War looks to battle in Gio Ponti

Graded stakes veteran Pure Silver will look to recapture the form she showed in starting her career 3-for-3 in headlining a field of eight state-bred juvenile fillies in the $100,000 Key Cents on Friday at Aqueduct Racetrack.

One of three stakes on the day, including the Grade 3, $250,000 Comely for 3-year-old fillies, the Key Cents, carded as Race 3, will feature Pure Silver looking to rebound off a seventh-place finish in the Maid of the Mist on October 21 at Belmont.

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Pure Silver started her career impressively, winning her debut on June 22 before capturing the Lynbrook on July 16 at Belmont and her first graded stakes start with a 9 ½-length score in the Grade 2 Adirondack on August 12 at Saratoga Race Course.

The Mission Impazible filly ran fourth in the Grade 1 Spinaway before faltering in stretching out to a mile in the Maid of the Mist. Cutting back to six furlongs, Pure Silver drew post 7 with Hall of Famer Javier Castellano in the irons.

Trainer Jeremiah Englehart will saddle a pair in Indy’s Lady and I Still Miss You. A daughter of Take Charge Indy, Indy’s Lady has two wins in three starts, will make her first New York start after winning the Shesastonecoldfox on October 23 at Finger Lakes.

Indy’s Lady earned a 70 Beyer Speed Figure for the 2 ¼-length win. Jose Ortiz will have the call from post 6.

“It was nice to see her rate last time, she’s really maturing,” Englehart said.

I Still Miss You won her first two races, including the Astoria on June 8, and ran second to Pure Silver in the Lynbrook before finishing out of the money in her last two starts, both against stakes company. Jockey Manny Franco will ride from post 5.

“I’m really happy with how both fillies have looked this week,” said Englehart after both breezed Friday on Belmont’s training track.

Cause We Are Loyal, the winner of the Seeking the Ante on August 25 at Saratoga, ran fifth in the Maid of the Mist, will be running for the first time since Mark Hennig took over the training duties. Junior Alvarado will exit post 1.

Newport Breeze, the fourth-place finisher in the Maid of the Mist, has placed twice stakes races, running second in the Seeking the Ante and third in the Joseph A. Gimma. Trained by Peter Eurton, Newport Breeze will break from post 4 with jockey Luis Saez aboard.

Rounding out the field is Tayler’s the Boss, who will be making her first start for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen from post 8; Miss Mystique, looking for her first stakes win for trainer Leah Gyarmati out of post 2; and Stone Cold Flirt, who will break from post 3 for trainer Carlos Martin.
Carded as Race 8, the $150,000 Gio Ponti for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles on outer turf course features a talented field of 10 runners.

Looking to rebound off a fifth-place finish in the Grade 3 Hill Prince on October 7 at Belmont is Allen Stable’s Secretary At War. A son of War Front trained by Jimmy Jerkens, Secretary At War has two wins, one second-place running and a pair of third-place finishes from nine starts this year.

Recording a field-high 92 Beyer in the Hill Prince, Secretary At War will look to move forward with Castellano in the irons when the pair leaves from post 4.

Finishing seventh in the Hill Prince and aiming to get back on track for Englehart and August Dawn Farm is Small Bear. Sired by Macho Uno, the gelding made his first start on the turf last May at Belmont in which he finished third in the Paradise Creek. Prior to the Hill Prince, he ran a strong second to lose by a neck in the Better Talk Now.

With Rajiv Maragh aboard, Small Bear will leave from post 2.

Harold Lerner, AWC Stables, and Nehoc Stables’ It’s Your Nickel will enter off a seventh-month layoff. Trained by Ken McPeek, the 3-year-old will be running for the first time since finishing third in the Grade 3 Illinois Derby. The Dialed In colt will be returning to turf for the first time since breaking his maiden in 2016 at Saratoga.

It’s Your Nickel ran on dirt after that maiden win, collecting a second-place finish in an optional-claiming race at Fair Grounds on January 27 before winning the John Battaglia Memorial at Turfway Park. He was sixth in the Grade 2 Blue Grass and following with a sixth-place finish in the Grade 2 Blue Grass at Keeneland prior to the Illinois Derby on April 22 at Hawthorne on a synthetic racing surface.

Dylan Davis will be aboard and the pair leave from post 10.

Rounding out the field for the Gio Ponti are Lunaire for Woodslane Farm and trainer Tom Albertrani; Bootlegger for E.V. Racing Stable and trainer Naipaul Chatterpaul; Hieroglyphics for Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Pletcher; Darlarna, for Gunpowder Farms and trainer Kelly Rubley; Harlan’s Harmony for Curragh Stables and trainer John Terranova; Funtastic for Three Chimneys Farm and trainer Chad Brown and Fuel the Bern for trainer Danny Gargan and Three Diamonds Farm.