Belmont Park: My Miss Aurelia scratched from Punkin Pie Stakes

ELMONT, N.Y. – My Miss Aurelia’s long-awaited return to the races has been delayed even longer.

My Miss Aurelia, the champion juvenile filly of 2011, was scratched from Thursday’s $100,000 Punkin Pie Stakes at Belmont Park after suffering an injury to her left front foot, known as “shedding a frog.” The frog is at the bottom of a horse’s foot and is akin to a shock absorber.

“She shed a frog on Monday; it’s significantly better but not enough to run,” trainer Todd Pletcher said Thursday. “On to the Go For Wand.”

Pletcher and Barbara Banke’s Stonestreet Stable, which owns My Miss Aurelia, were hoping to use the Punkin Pie as a prep for the Grade 2, $400,000 Go For Wand at Aqueduct on Nov. 29. Instead, she will just train up to that one-turn, one-mile race, Pletcher said.

The Punkin Pie was originally scheduled for last week and was delayed from being carded for six days due to a lack of entries.

My Miss Aurelia, a three-time Grade 1 winner, has not run since finishing third in the Azeri Stakes at Oaklawn Park in March.

With only four horses remaining in the Punkin Pie, Classic Point, who finished third in a second-level allowance race Oct. 17, looms as the horse to catch and beat. Promise Me a Cat, Crespano, and Galloping Giraffe complete the compact field.