Aqueduct: Teen Pauline to show speed in Ladies Handicap

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The Ladies Handicap ain’t what she used to be.

Initially run in 1868, the Ladies is the oldest stakes race for fillies and mares run in the United States and has been won by the likes of Shuvee, Flower Bowl, Beldame, Next Move, and Rare Treat.

Saturday’s 142nd renewal of the $100,000 Ladies Handicap – which lost its Grade 1 status in 1990 – drew a five-horse field that includes the top three finishers from the Affectionately Stakes on Jan. 1 – Teen Pauline, Centring, and Royal Lahaina.

On paper, the Ladies, contested at 1 1/8 miles, could play out in a similar fashion to the Affectionately, as Teen Pauline again looks to be the controlling speed, this time breaking from the rail. Teen Pauline won the four-horse Affectionately in gate-to-wire fashion after Welcome Guest, the other apparent speed, scratched, altering the strategy for Teen Pauline.

“We thought we’d give it a try, and it worked out well,” Byron Hughes, an assistant to trainer Todd Pletcher, said of the front-running tactics. “Hopefully, the same thing will happen again.”

Though the Ladies is one-sixteenth of a mile longer than the Affectionately, Teen Pauline gave no sign that she couldn’t handle that distance as she widened her advantage in the final furlong.

“I think she should handle it no problem,” Hughes said.

The Pletcher stable also will be represented by Royal Lahaina, who won the Grade 2 Go for Wand in November before finishing third in the Affectionately, a race in which she broke poorly.

“She hit the gate on the way out, and her race was basically over,” Hughes said. “Hopefully, she breaks a little sharper and can lay a little closer to the pace.”

Centring, who has finished second seven times in 16 starts, is in search of her first stakes win before her connections retire her with plans to breed her this year. She finished second to Teen Pauline in the Affectionately.

“I’m hoping the extra sixteenth will suit her a little better,” said Tom Albertrani, trainer of Centring. “She’s been pretty consistent but always seems to find one a little bit better than us on the day. Hopefully, there’ll be a little more pace.”

Firenze Feeling, trained by Rudy Rodriguez, comes off a convincing 4 3/4-length win in the Nellie Morse Stakes at Laurel Park on Jan. 4, her first start in a year. She has the potential to be in the race early should her connections elect to go that way.

Flash Forward, a minor stakes winner at 1 1/8 miles around two turns, completes the field.