Angela Renee leads top team in Demoiselle

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Todd Pletcher will seek his fourth straight and sixth overall win in the Grade 2, $400,000 Demoiselle Stakes when he sends out Grade 1 winner Angela Renee in Saturday’s 93rd running of the race for 2-year-old fillies at Aqueduct.

Angela Renee’s jockey, John Velazquez, will be in search of a record sixth win in this race. Only twice has Velazquez won the race for Pletcher – in 2001 with Smok’n Frolic and in 2012 with Unlimited Budget. So, Pletcher or Velazquez have won eight of the last 13 runnings of the Demoiselle.

:: DRF Live: Get real-time updates and insights from DRF reporters and handicappers on Sunday

Angela Renee, by Bernardini out of the dam Pilfer, is a half-sister to To Honor and Serve, who won the Nashua, Remsen, and Cigar Mile over Aqueduct’s main track. Angela Renee won the Grade 1 Chandelier Stakes at Santa Anita but finished 10th as the favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

Angela Renee, who will break from post 7 in the eight-horse field, meets a talented group of juvenile fillies led by Grade 1 Spinaway winner Condo Commando, Grade 3 Tempted winner Jacaranda, the unbeaten New York-bred stakes winner Quezon, and the Keeneland maiden winner Gap Year.

The Demoiselle goes as race 8 on a 10-race card and kicks off an all-stakes late pick three, which also includes the Grade 2 Remsen and Grade 1 Cigar Mile.

KEY CONTENDERS

Angela Renee (Last 3 Beyers: 59-87-51)

◗ She was a perfect-trip winner of the Chandelier around two turns before finishing 10th behind 61-1 upset winner Take Charge Brandi as the 3-1 favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

“She didn’t get away cleanly,” Pletcher said. “Feathered gave her a pretty good bump, left her scrambling, trying to get some position. She came out of it well, shipped back well. All of her breezes have been quite good. I don’t know for sure she’ll win, but we expect a much-improved effort than we got in the Breeders’ Cup.”

Condo Commando (Last 3 Beyers: 72-92-85)

◗ She was, as Tom Durkin said, “splashtastic” in the Spinaway. Not so much in the Grade 1 Frizette, where she ran fourth behind By the Moon.

“She’s the type of filly if you take a hold, she gets mad,” said trainer Rudy Rodriguez, who is switching jockeys from Joe Bravo to Joel Rosario. “I know she stumbled, and then Joe took a hold, and then she threw her head up and was never in the race. I don’t think she ran that bad.”

◗ Rodriguez believes Condo Commando will appreciate stretching out to 1 1/8 miles.

Jacaranda (Beyers: 77-72)

◗ She overcame a difficult trip to win her debut and then came back with a front-running score in the Tempted at one mile.

◗ As a half-sister to Grade 1 Florida Derby winner Constitution and a daughter of Congrats, she should handle the stretch-out to 1 1/8 miles.

Quezon (Beyers: 81-79)

◗ She has been most impressive, twice beating New York-breds by six lengths in a maiden race and the Maid of the Mist.

◗ She is passing the East View for this.

◗ She gets Lasix for the first time.