Aqueduct: Grade 2 Demoiselle, Go for Wand Recaps

Posted On 03 Dec 2023

Life Talk victorious in G2 Demoiselle

By Lynne Snierson

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Repole Stable’s Life Talk made a bold statement in Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Demoiselle, a nine-furlong event around two turns for 2-year-old fillies, at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, who won his record extending ninth Demoiselle and fourth in a row, Life Talk notched her first graded stakes score with a front-running victory and earned 10 qualifying points for the Kentucky Oaks in May. Shimmering Allure, the runner-up 3 3/4 lengths behind, earned five Oaks points, and the New York-bred Dolomite picked up three points for finishing another length back.

Life Talk, who chased probable Champion Just F Y I, in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in November at Santa Anita and the Grade 1 Frizette in October on the Aqueduct racing strip in her last two races, took advantage of her experience around two turns. Dispatched as the even-money favorite in the field of eight, the daughter of Gun Runner out of the Bernardini mare Touchy Feely left the gate alertly and from then on dictated the race on the front end while being piloted by a confident Irad Ortiz, Jr.

When Shimmering Allure, who was hung out wide on both turns, came at her inside the eighth pole, Life Talk had plenty left and responded by kicking clear. Life Talk, who set moderate yet steady fractions of 24.10 seconds, 48.65, 1:13.10, and 1.38.12, crossed the wire in 1:51.10 for the 1 1/8 miles on a muddy and sealed track.

Ortiz, Jr. said about the splits, “Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. So relaxed waiting for me, three-eighths pole, I got nobody around and I feel like I still have plenty. I don’t call her yet, I don’t even move my hands on her and as soon as I did, she took off, she responded.

“It is great to see her back in this performance, because it was a great race [in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies], because she ran so good to get beat last time,” added Ortiz, Jr. “She got beat by three lengths and she come back maybe a little quick after that tough race, flies back all the way here but we have a great team, they all do a great job, the assistants and the trainer. She was one hundred percent. She’s learning. She’s learning every time she runs. We saw a little more experience so I think it helps, because she broke so clear, I didn’t have to use her too much, she was full of energy by the quarter pole.”

Amelia Green, assistant to Pletcher, said the game plan put together by the Hall of Fame trainer was executed to perfection by Ortiz, Jr.

“With how the track’s playing today, you need to get position and like Irad said, she warmed up good and he made the most of it,” Green said. “No one else wanted the lead, so he made the most of that situation. She seemed happy out there and did everything very professionally.”

Shimmering Allure, who is trained by Ken McPeek and was ridden by Junior Alvarado, won the one-turn mile Tempted here on November 5 but was second best on the day.

“I think she gave me hell of a run today but the track was kind of playing speed, so I kind of had to break out of there and put her a bit closer – then I could’ve saved around the first turn. Coming into the second turn, I didn’t have any chance to go on the inside. I had to keep going very wide,” Alvarado said. “She was very good today. She broke good, I asked her a little bit and she put herself very close. Normally she has been running a little bit off the pace from behind and when she put herself in that position, I decided to stay there that close with her since the track is playing a little fast today. She never gave up, she kept digging in all the way through the wire and was trying to go after that horse in front.”

Dolomite, an Alpha Delta Stables homebred trained by Chad Brown, was stepping way up in class and distance after an impressive seven furlongs maiden win over the track on October 22.

“My filly ran really well. I was happy with my trip. I was stalking and followed the winner the whole way, I was just third best. The winner was much the best,” said rider Manny Franco of the third-place finish.

Most of All took two Oaks points for running fourth and New York-bred Caldwell Luvs Gold earned one point in fifth place. Vino Rouge, Ringy Dingy and Cozee Rags rounded out the order of finish. Caress was scratched.

Bred in Kentucky by Gun Runner Syndicate, Mulholland Springs, and Tom Grether Farms, Life Talk banked $137,500 in victory while improving her record to 5 2-1-1. She returned $4 for a $2 win bet.

Live racing resumes Sunday at Aqueduct with a nine-race card featuring the $125,000 NYSSS Staten Island in Race 7 and the $125,000 NYSSS Thunder Rumble in Race 8. First post is 12:20 p.m. Eastern.

America’s Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the fall meet at Aqueduct Racetrack on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Aqueduct Racetrack, and the best way to bet every race of the fall meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

Dr B posts frontrunning title defense in G3 Go for Wand

By Keith McCalmont

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Cash is King and LC Racing’s Dr B made every pole a winning one as she successfully defended her title in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Go for Wand, a one-turn mile for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up, at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Trained by Butch Reid, Jr. and piloted by Jose Lezcano, the 5-year-old Liam’s Map bay operated on a short lead on the muddy and sealed track over the stalking Gerrymander but continued to find more throughout, opening up by four lengths at the stretch call en route to a 3 3/4-length score over Tizzy in the Sky.

“The track’s playing to speed and she likes the track very much, a track just like this – a little moisture on the track, close to the same track last year, I believe. It worked out well,” said Reid, Jr.

Dr B set splits of 22.56 seconds, 45.06 and 1:09.78 with Gerrymander in second and Tizzy in the Sky watching patiently from third. Gerrymander was given her cue by Jose Ortiz through the turn as the 3-2 mutuel favorite Good Sam was asked to launch her rally by Irad Ortiz, Jr.

Dr B put away Gerrymander at the top of the lane and was relishing the wet going as she powered away from her rivals to score in a final time of 1:36.49. The Luis Saez-piloted Tizzy in the Sky pounced to complete the exacta by one length over the late-charging New York-bred Venti Valentine with Good Sam, who was reported to have bled, and Gerrymander rounding out the order of finish. Saddle Up Jessie and Know It All Audrey were scratched.

Lezcano said the swift splits didn’t hamper Dr B.

“Yes it was moving, you know, but I think she is a very nice filly. She ran hard the whole way around,” Lezcano said. “She was very comfortable the first half and I started asking a little bit, but she did pretty good for the whole way almost around.”

It was the first victory in six starts this season for Dr B, who finished second in both the Grade 3 Vagrancy in May at Belmont Park and the Grade 2 Honorable Miss Handicap in July at Saratoga Race Course. She arrived from a distant fourth in the when taking on the boys in the Parx Dirt Mile on September 23.

Reid, Jr. said Dr B, a gate-to-wire winner of this event last year over sloppy and sealed footing, benefited from a short break after the Parx Dirt Mile.

“We sent her to the farm for three or four weeks at Patty Hogan’s place over in Jersey,” Reid, Jr. said. “The grass was nice and she really prospered, put on some weight and came back fresh for just the short break that it was.

“To hold her form that long – we gave her some time off after this race last year – it’s just great that she’s still maintaining this level of competition to be able to compete at this level,” he added. “She’s just been an iron mare from the day we got her and has held that way so far.”

Dr B, out of the graded stakes-placed Proud Citizen mare Boleyn, is a half-sister to the Reid, Jr.-trained stakes winner Stand Up Comic as well as stakes-winner Hi Holiday.

Reid, Jr. said Dr B, if she stays in training, could point to the Interborough here in January with a longer-term goal of the Grade 3 Barbara Fritchie on February 17 at Laurel Park.

“It’s possible,” Reid, Jr. said. “We have our eye on the Barbara Fritchie as maybe one of her big dates we’d like to see. We’ll need a race somewhere in between there and here, so that’s a definite possibility.”

The Todd Pletcher-trained Tizzy in the Sky arrived from a close runner-up effort in the nine-furlong Turnback the Alarm on November 3 here.

“I thought we were going to be on the lead, but it seemed like when she broke from there, she didn’t really want to do nothing,” Saez said. “I had to be after her the whole way, but she kept coming. When we got to the top of the stretch she gave me a little run, but I don’t know, I feel like she needs to go more distance.”

Bred in Kentucky by Eico Ventures, Dr B banked $110,000 in victory while improving her record to 22-6-7-2. She returned $10.40 for a $2 win bet.

Live racing resumes Sunday at Aqueduct with a nine-race card featuring the $125,000 NYSSS Staten Island in Race 7 and the $125,000 NYSSS Thunder Rumble in Race 8. First post is 12:20 p.m. Eastern.

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Contact: Keith McCalmont