Aqueduct: Sunny Desert resumes winning ways in Broadway

Sunny Desert, who had her six-race winning streak snapped when third in the Grade 2 Top Flight Stakes four weeks ago, rebounded with an authoritative victory in Saturday’s $75,000 Broadway Stakes at Aqueduct.

Allowed to settle in fourth position, six lengths off a sharp early pace of 45.16 seconds set by Here’s Zealicious, Sunny Desert rallied outside under Cornelio Velasquez in the stretch, caught Here’s Zealicious and Clear Pasaj inside the furlong grounds, and drew off to win the six-furlong race by three lengths.

“The fast pace was good for me,” said Velasquez. “My filly runs [from] behind. She stayed inside, and at the three-eighths pole I asked her and she came fast! She won easy, too.”

Sunny Desert, trained by John Parisella, ran the distance in 1:10.02 over a fast main track and paid $2.90 to win as the prohibitive choice.

“There was a lot of speed in the race, and she was turning back off two route races,” said winning owner Saul Kupferberg, who claimed her out of a $35,000 maiden race last March. “You never know, but she overcomes everything. We got really lucky with this filly.”

Clear Pasaj outfinished Here’s Zealicious for second by 1 1/2 lengths. Nicole’s Miss El and Lady On the Run completed the order of finish.