Aqueduct: Motion Lounge gives Schettino better shot in second try against Gloria Victoria

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The last time trainer Dominick Schettino ran horses against the Todd Pletcher-trained Gloria Victoria, he finished second and third with the fillies Alwaysinmycircle and Milkyyourway.

In Thursday’s $59,000, second-level optional $25,000 claiming feature for New York-bred fillies and mares at Aqueduct, Schettino again will face the Pletcher-trained Gloria Victoria, but this time he believes he’s bringing a better quality mare to the dance in Motion Lounge.

Motion Lounge, a 5-year-old daughter of Rockport Harbor, is coming off a second-place finish in her first try at this level. In that Nov. 21 race, a one-turn mile over Aqueduct’s main track, Motion Lounge finished in a dead heat with Royal Suspicion, both finishing 1 1/4 lengths behind What the Frost. Royal Suspicion came back in her next start to clear this allowance condition.

This will be the first start since then for Motion Lounge, who breezed a solid half-mile in 48.34 seconds over Belmont’s training track Dec. 31.

“I was very happy with her work the other day. She’s coming into this race in good shape,” Schettino said.

Though Motion Lounge is winless in four starts over the inner track, three were respectable efforts while one was a throw-out. After two seconds and a third, Motion Lounge bled when last over the inner track on March 14. Following a five-month layoff, Motion Lounge has a win and 2 seconds from 4 starts.

“We’ve had no issues with her since we gave her the time off,” said Schettino, who trains Motion Lounge for Anthony Bonomo’s Brooklyn Boyz Stables.

Mike Luzzi, aboard for Motion Lounge’s last two starts, has the call from post 4.

Gloria Victoria seeks her third consecutive victory for Pletcher and the Burning Sands Stable. In her last start, her first around two turns, things set up perfectly as Gloria Victoria sat behind a three-ply speed battle before rallying in the stretch and edging clear late under Irad Ortiz Jr., who will be back aboard Thursday.

“She was very impressive, did what she was supposed to do,” said Byron Hughes, the New York-based assistant for Pletcher. “She came out of her last race very well. She’s been training well in the morning. We think she should be very tough.”

Hot Splash, who was third behind Royal Suspicion in this condition Dec. 6, makes her second start off the Jason Servis claim. Victoryat Last is a seven-time winner and one of three horses entered in this spot for the optional-claiming tag of $25,000. In the same race last March in which Motion Lounge bled, Victoryat Last won by 6 1/4 lengths at 22-1.

◗ There is a pick six carryover of $24,569 entering Thursday’s card. The carryover is actually from Saturday’s program but was not paid out Sunday because the last race was canceled when a tractor broke down on the track and state law requires that all races be run in order for a carryover to be distributed.