Aqueduct: McLaughlin weighing options for It’s Tricky

It’s Tricky, who won Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Top Flight Handicap by 2 3/4 lengths, will remain in New York as her connections ponder what may be next for the 4-year-old filly.

It’s Tricky came out of her Top Flight win a little tired but otherwise in good shape, according to trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. It’s Tricky, making her first start since a second-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic last November, ran over a sealed muddy track that was laboring.

McLaughlin said he is weighing several options for It’s Tricky’s next start, including cutting her back in distance to seven furlongs in the Distaff Handicap here April 14. Other options include the Apple Blossom at Oaklawn on April 13 or the Rampart at Gulfstream on March 31. McLaughlin said Sunday that the Rampart was doubtful, in part, because It’s Tricky didn’t run well at Gulfstream last winter.

Wherever It’s Tricky runs next, her late-spring goal is the Grade 1, $400,000 Ogden Phipps at Belmont on May 28.