Belmont Oaks setting up as Wonder Again rematch

ELMONT, N.Y. – La Signare and Significant Form, the top two finishers from Thursday’s Grade 3 Wonder Again Stakes, are pointing to a rematch in the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Oaks Invitational here on July 7, their connections said Friday.

La Signare got away with a slow early pace under Joel Rosario and had enough fight to turn back two tries from Significant Form. La Signare, trained by Brian Lynch, was making her first start off a two-month layoff and showed a lot more early pace than she had in her allowance loss to Toinette at Keeneland on April 11.

On Friday, Lynch expressed confidence that La Signare will be effective stretching out from 1 1/8 miles to the 1 1/4-mile distance of the Belmont Oaks.

“For her to run like she did yesterday, particularly the way she finished when she got leaned on by the favorite, I think she’s going to come back on that much more from the race,” Lynch said. “She’s a bit like Heart to Heart,” the Grade 1 winning male Lynch trains “If you leave her alone long enough, she’s hard to catch.

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“Obviously, the question will be the mile and a quarter, but we have a month to play around to see whether we can have her ready for that.”

La Signare earned a 94 Beyer Speed Figure for her Wonder Again success.

Meanwhile, trainer Chad Brown said he is inclined to give Significant Form a try at the Belmont Oaks. Coming off a front-running victory in the Memories of Silver in her seasonal debut at Aqueduct, Significant Form sat back off a slow early pace in the Wonder Again, something that surprised Brown.

“She wasn’t taking him there,” Brown said. “She’s normally a little sharper than that. Given the first quarter she should have been on or right off the lead. We need to run a better race, but I still believe in this horse. It just wasn’t her day.”

Brown said he may run Mighty Scarlett, third in the Wonder Again, in the Belmont Oaks. He also is still considering training Rushing Fall, last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner, up to the Oaks.