Actress zips to eye-catching Comely score

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Jason Servis hoped the addition of blinkers would provide a boost for his 3-year-old filly Actress in Friday’s Grade 3 Comely Stakes at Aqueduct. But even he couldn’t have imagined how much his filly improved in the new equipment.

Actress, despite breaking slowly under Jose Ortiz, got herself right into a good stalking position early, then ran away from the competition late in recording an 8 1/4-length victory in the $250,000 Comely for 3-year-old fillies at Aqueduct. Parade got up in the final stride to nail 9-5 favorite Miss Sky Warrior for second. It was two lengths back to Tapella in fourth. She was followed, in order, by You Know Too, Analyze, Bonita Bianca, and Run and Go.

The win was just the second from seven starts for Actress, but both have come in graded stakes. In May, as a maiden, she won the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan by a head. That day, she rallied from 19 lengths back and took advantage of a quick early pace.

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Friday, wearing blinkers for the first time, Actress, last three strides out of the gate, was a stalking third by the first turn. She was a length behind Miss Sky Warrior, who was a length behind Run and Go, who set fractions of 25.34 seconds for the quarter and 49.85 for the opening half-mile.

Approaching the three-eighths pole, Miss Sky Warrior gained a slight lead, but Actress was latched on. Coming to the quarter pole, Actress took over and she drew away easily in the stretch, while Miss Sky Warrior sputtered under Javier Castellano.

Actress, a daughter of Tapit owned by Gary and Mary West, covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:52.66 over a slow-playing main track and returned $7.30 as the second choice.

“It was like a little ace in the hole,” Servis, who watched the race from Florida, said about the blinkers. “There have been a couple of races where we were leaving her too much to do.”

Ortiz said Actress recovered quickly after her slow start, but was a bit antsy for the first eighth of a mile.

“I just put her where she was comfortable and when we passed the mile pole she relaxed really well,” Ortiz said. “I think that was the key, that she relaxed with the blinkers and she waited for me. When I asked her to go, she responded very well.”

Miss Sky Warrior, who had won graded stakes in her three previous starts at Aqueduct, was making her second start since the Kentucky Oaks. Trainer Kelly Breen said the filly came back from the Comely tired, an indication she was not fit enough to handle Friday’s track.

“She’s not 100 percent fit and it’s just a matter of time when she’s going to work her way into it,” Breen said.