Aqueduct: Albertrani has favorites for Affectionately, Interborough stakes

Centring and Delightful Quality, homebred mares from Darley Stable who have been threatening to win stakes for trainer Tom Albertrani, will try again as the morning-line favorites in the Affectionately and Interborough, a pair of $100,000 stakes that share top billing on New Year’s Day.

Centring has not visited the winner’s circle since taking a first-level allowance in October 2012 and has yet to win from a dozen starts on fast tracks. Nevertheless, she is tabbed at 8-5 after racing competitively in six graded stakes in 2013, including thirds in a trio of Grade 1 races and runner-up finishes in the Turnback the Alarm and Go for Wand handicaps to close out the year.

“She’s been running well, and hopefully we will win a black-type race with her before we retire her, probably sometime early in 2014,” Albertrani said. “She’s been placed in a few Grade 1s, which has been great for her pedigree. She’s been running against the top fillies and mares on this side of the coast. I think with a little extra distance, we can turn the tables on the filly that beat her last time out.”

That is Royal Lahaina, who stretches out one-sixteenth of a mile and picks up nine pounds after posting a 13-1 upset in the Go for Wand in her second start for Todd Pletcher following a trainer change.

Pletcher also sends out Teen Pauline while in search of a third win in the 1 1/16-mile Affectionately.

Royal Lahaina, the 2-1 second choice, won her two starts on the inner track last winter by a combined 12 1/2 lengths.

“Royal Lahaina has been training great, and she’s been doing very well as she gets older,” said assistant trainer Byron Hughes. “She’s won at this distance before, and I don’t think she’ll have any problem with it.”

Teen Pauline, the 7-2 third choice, breaks from the outside post in the field of five. The 4-year-old makes her first start against older stakes rivals following a third in the Comely Stakes and has not won on dirt since taking her five-furlong debut at Saratoga in track-record time as a 2-year-old.

“She’s been training well over the dirt here at Belmont, so we’ll see how she likes the inner track,” Hughes said.

Street Secret and Welcome Guest complete the field.

Delightful Quality is the 2-1 choice against six rival sprinters in the six-furlong Interborough. Although she has never finished out of the money in 11 starts, including minor awards in six stakes, she also has been afflicted with a case of “seconditis,” having been second-best in her last three outs and seven times overall.

“She’s been very consistent all year for us,” Albertrani said. “She ran a really good race in the Garland of Roses, so we’re hoping that she’ll be even better this time around. She’ll probably be retired early [in 2014], so hopefully we can get a black-type win with her before she leaves.”

Pletcher counters with Fantasy of Flight, who turns back in distance after setting the pace in the Turnback the Alarm and Go for Wand.

“She has a high cruising speed, so it seems like she’ll be better off at six [furlongs],” Hughes said. “She’s run well at the distance before and is coming into the race in great shape.”

Baby J, the upset winner of the Grade 3 Victory Ride and third most recently in the Garland of Roses, looms as a strong part of the pace as well for trainer Pat Reynolds.

Five Star Momma, Lion D N A, Miss Mischief, and P J’s Superego also entered.