$100,000 maiden races fail to draw crowds

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Despite the allure of $100,000 purses, the first two races for 2-year-olds on this circuit drew small fields.

New York Racing Association officials announced in December that they would be offering six $100,000 juvenile maiden races, three for each gender. The races are lead-ins to the $200,000 Astoria Stakes, for fillies, on June 9 and the $200,000 Tremont, for males, on June 10, both at Belmont Park. The races this week at Aqueduct will be followed by similar races at Belmont in early and mid-May.

Wednesday’s 4 1/2-furlong race for 2-year-old fillies drew a field of five, while Thursday’s 4 1/2-furlong race for males drew a field of six, including a coupled entry from the barn of Kim Laudati. Due to the light fields, the entire purse will not be paid out, with only $92,500 – including $50,000 to the winner – being distributed Wednesday and $97,000 if all six start Thursday.

There are three New York-breds in each race, and those horses can earn additional money as part of a bonus plan put in place for all 2-year-old races run at Aqueduct and Belmont this spring and summer. A New York-bred who finishes first in a statebred or open juvenile race earns his owner a $9,000 bonus and the trainer a $4,000 bonus. A second-place finish is worth an additional $4,500 to the owner and $3,000 to the trainer, while a third-place finish earns the owner and trainer bonuses of $2,500 and $2,000, respectively.

Trainer Wesley Ward has won three races for 2-year-olds this spring at Keeneland and has Lady Stardust in Wednesday’s Aqueduct opener. Lady Stardust is by Union Rags and is the first foal out of the mare Hallelujah Trail, who won 7 of 21 races. John Velazquez rides from post 5.

Trainer Rudy Rodriguez sends out So Fancy, a daughter of Tapit purchased for $500,000 at last July’s Fasig-Tipton sale by Robert LaPenta. French Dip, the dam of So Fancy, won her career debut as a 3-year-old, and she also won an overnight stakes over Aqueduct’s main track.

Go Ask Alice, a New York-bred owned, trained, and bred by Richard Lugovich, shows 10 works for her debut. Her 19-year-old dam, Queen of Tarts, was a debut winner for maiden claiming at Penn National.

On Thursday, trainer Todd Pletcher sends out Star Mission, a New York-bred son of Mission Impazible, himself a debut winner at Keeneland. Star Mission is related to three winners, including the first-out winner Nashindy.

Fuhrlong, trained by Phil Schoenthal, is a half-brother to the debut winner and graded-stakes-winning juvenile filly Miss Behaviour.