Aqueduct: My Wandy’s Girl not alone in liking a wet track
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
With a nor’easter forecast to pummel the area starting midday Wednesday, there is a strong probability Thursday’s $75,000 Pentelis overnight stakes at Aqueduct will be run in slop or mud. Such an eventuality would be nothing new for the five fillies and mares entered in the 6 1/2-furlong race, who have collectively won 16 of 20 starts on wet tracks.
Among them is My Wandy’s Girl, a 3-year-old filly purchased last year in Ocala, Fla., who then went to Camarero Race Park in Puerto Rico to win 13 of 17 starts, capped by the Roberto Clemente in late August.
Although the Roberto Clemente was designated a Grade 2, those behind her had some questionable credentials, starting with runner-up Dawn’s Song, who is 4 for 63.
“I’m not quite sure what to make of her, but she’s come a long way and I’m happy with her,” said new trainer Mike Hushion. “This is a stepping-stone to get her going again. She missed some training due to the weather.”
My Wandy’s Girl was perfect from five starts over off going and unbeaten from eight starts around two turns at Camarero, a one-mile track with dimensions similar to the Big A’s inner dirt track, which is set to open Nov. 28.
“The point is to get her going long again, because there aren’t many around like that,” Hushion observed.
Likely to vie for favoritism are Mildly Offensive and Kid Kate, who finished one-two in the Big Bambu overnight stakes at Saratoga. That race was the New York debut of the Todd Pletcher-trained Mildly Offensive, who dueled through fractions of 21.69 and 44.32 seconds and gamely held off Kid Kate by a half-length.
“Those were some fast fractions – that’s kind of her game,” noted Pletcher.
Off the strength of that effort, Mildly Offensive was 3-5 in the off-the-turf Valor Lady overnight stakes at Belmont, but she broke in a tangle and faded after recovering to contention through the opening half-mile.
Kid Kate, 4 for 5 in the muck and mire, makes her first Aqueduct appearance since a third-place finish in the 2011 Grade 2 Distaff, and comes off a determined score in the Classy Mirage overnight stakes for Chad Brown.
The field is completed by Curlina, who rose from low-level claimers to run second in last year’s Grade 2 Vagrancy, and Winnie Dixie, a three-time allowance winner this year.