Baker makes right move with Forever Changed, Awesome Debate

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though he had both Forever Changed and Awesome Debate nominated to Saturday’s $100,000 Broadway Stakes at Aqueduct, trainer Charlton Baker entered the pair of New York-bred mares in an open-company allowance race Friday instead.

Turned out to be a smart move as there were not enough entries for the Broadway to be carded Saturday.

Awesome Debate, a front-runner, and Forever Changed, a stalker, are uncoupled but give Baker a complementary one-two punch in the six-furlong race.

On Dec. 19, Forever Changed finished first and Awesome Debate third, beaten a nose for second, in a New York-bred second-level allowance at Aqueduct. On Jan. 16, Forever Changed came back to run a solid second to front-running winner Jump for Joy in this same condition over a muddy track.

“I thought she ran a good race, maybe was a little farther back than [jockey Eric Cancel] wanted to be,” Baker said.

Baker said he doesn’t think a dry or wet track matters to Forever Changed.

In general, Baker believes Forever Changed is simply doing better right now than she was during the spring and summer, and is flashing the form she displayed in September 2019, when she won statebred allowance races at Saratoga and Finger Lakes.

Awesome Debate came out of her third-place finish to Forever Changed to clear her New York-bred second-level allowance condition on Jan. 9, registering a 2 1/4-length front-running victory while earning a career-best 84 Beyer Speed Figure.

“She’s been lightly raced, and she’s hitting her peak, getting really good right now,” Baker said.

Jorge Vargas Jr. rides Awesome Debate from post 4. The only other true speed in the field appears to be Bay Jewel, immediately to her outside.

Risk Model makes her first start for trainer Brad Cox and owner John Gardiner. Risk Model, coming off an 11 1/2-length maiden win on Dec 19 when trained by Chad Brown for Klaravich Stable, was purchased for $160,000 out of the January horses of all ages sale at Keeneland.

She’s a Black Belt, Glass Ceiling, Glory Dia, and Dovey Lovey complete the field.

Earlier on Friday’s card, Ice Princess drops into an open-company first-level allowance race after losses in two Grade 3 events. Ice Princess is coming out of a sixth-place finish in the Grade 3 Allaire du Pont on Dec. 26 at Laurel.

Ice Princess, a New York-bred daughter of Palace Malice, also drops back from a series of two-turn races to a one-turn mile, a configuration at which she is 2 for 3, including a victory in last February’s Maddie May Stakes here.

Manny Franco, aboard for all three of Ice Princess’s victories, is reunited with the filly for the first time in almost a year.

Ice Princess, trained by Danny Gargan, meets five other fillies and mares, including New York-breds Love and Love and Maiden Beauty.

First post Friday is 1:20 p.m.