Aqueduct: Flipcup, Miss Narcissist face new tests in East View Stakes

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Flipcup and Miss Narcissist, the two protagonists in Sunday’s $100,000 East View Stakes for New York-bred juvenile fillies at Aqueduct, each have questions to answer in the race covering one mile and 70 yards over the inner track.

Flipcup, who takes on New York-breds for the first time after racing exclusively against the progeny of Ontario-based stallions at Woodbine, must prove she can handle dirt. Miss Narcissist, a winner of three consecutive sprints, will try to prove she can stretch out around two turns in the field of six.

Flipcup, a daughter of Milwaukee Brew, won two sprints by open lengths and finished a respectable third in the South Ocean Stakes at 1 1/16 miles. All three races came over Woodbine’s synthetic surface and for trainer Brian Lynch. With Woodbine closing and Lynch heading to Florida for the winter, Flipcup’s owners, Team Penney Racing, sent the filly to George Weaver, who breezed her once over Belmont Park’s training track with jockey Rajiv Maragh aboard.

“I think she’ll translate her form fine to the dirt,” said Weaver, who will have Maragh up for Sunday’s race. “Rajiv seems pretty confident off her workout that she’d handle the dirt. He said she wasn’t struggling at all.”

Though Flipcup was running against restricted company at Woodbine, the two fillies who defeated her in the South Ocean Stakes – Lexie Lou and Paladin Bay – were proven stakes winners.

“That was a tough race,” Weaver said. “There were some nice fillies in there that were running Beyer figures in the high 70s, low 80s. I don’t think that race was an easy race. I thought she made a pretty darn good representation of herself.”

Miss Narcissist, a daughter of Freud, has won three consecutive races – all with blinkers added – including the Joseph Gimma Stakes going seven furlongs Oct. 19 and a head victory in a division of the New York Stallion Stakes going six furlongs Nov. 23. Trainer Linda Rice is hopeful that Miss Narcissist can carry her speed around two turns.

“I thought her win in the Gimma at seven-eighths was a better effort than the Stallion Stakes,” Rice said. “With that in mind, I think there’s a pretty good chance that she’ll stretch out. I thought at this time, while she’s fit and seasoned, we wanted to see if she could get the distance before we put her away for the winter.”Junior Alvarado rides Miss Narcissist, the 122-pound highweight, from post 4.

Rice also sends out Champagne Ruby, who won a New York-bred stakes sprinting at Finger Lakes before twice finishing behind Miss Narcissist.

“Ruby’s doing very well,” Rice said. “I thought her last race was a big improvement from the Gimma, where she had a bit of a troubled trip. She seems to be getting more professional with every start.”Cornelio Velasquez rides Champagne Ruby from the rail.

Daddy’s Lil Saint, Underthemoonlight, and Mlle. Minuit complete the field.