With the Angels returns to work tab

With the Angels, winner of all four of her starts at 2 in 2024, returned to the work tab Saturday at Belmont Park going a half-mile in 51.75 seconds over the training track.

With the Angels is preparing for a 3-year-old campaign that likely won’t begin until May or June, trainer Linda Rice said, owing in part to the lack of stakes for options for 3-year-old fillies in New York. The Bouwerie, for New York-breds, likely to be run at Saratoga during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival the first week of June, could be a possible spot for With the Angels.

Rice said the Grade 1 Test, typically run at Saratoga on Whitney Stakes day – expected to be run Aug. 2 at Saratoga – is a major summer goal.

With the Angels, a daughter of Omaha Beach, won her debut at Saratoga last August by 11 1/2 lengths. She followed that win with New York-bred stakes victories in the Joseph A. Gimma, Maid of the Mist, and Key Cents.

“We’ll bring her along and we’ll find something when the time comes,” Rice said.

Asked if she notices any changes in With the Angels since she got back from her winter break, Rice said, “maybe she’s a little more mature. A little age helps.”

* Captain Cook, the Withers Stakes winner, worked an easy half-mile in 52 seconds Saturday morning over the Belmont Park training track. It was his first move toward the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial here on April 5.

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