Broadway gives Kept Waiting another turn on dirt

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Kept Waiting ran so well in her dirt debut last Sunday at Aqueduct that her connections couldn’t wait to run her back on that surface.

Sunday, Kept Waiting will make her second start on dirt in the $100,000 Broadway Stakes for New York-bred females going six furlongs at Aqueduct. The Broadway drew a field of seven.

Kept Waiting, a 5-year-old daughter of Broken Vow, went 3-3-1 in nine starts on turf including a New York-bred allowance victory here on Dec. 2. Robert Falcone Jr., who trains Kept Waiting for Sanford and Irwin Goldfarb, noted how well the mare trained on dirt and wanted to give her a shot over that surface.

She was scratched from an open company allowance race on Jan. 20 owing to a sloppy track. That same allowance condition ran on Feb. 6 and Kept Waiting galloped to an eight-length victory. On a day where the track favored outside runners, Kept Waiting rallied along the rail.

“She was right there and as soon as the rail opened, she was pulling Kendrick [Carmouche] around,” Falcone said. “I gave her enough spacing [from Dec. 2-Feb.6] that running her back quick is okay.”

Earlier this meet, Falcone won the Bay Ridge Stakes with Maiden Beauty, who was running back 11 days after winning an allowance race.

Falcone noted that the Broadway did not come up particularly strong and that the race seems loaded with speed.

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“I hope they all go and the race falls apart a little,” Falcone said.

Among the horses who appear to have the most early speed are Sadie Lady and Breakfastatbonnies. In 2021, Sadie Lady won both the Correction and the Dancing Renee, the latter restricted to New York-breds, in front-running fashion. She has finished fourth in each of her last two stakes tries – the Union Avenue in August at Saratoga and the Garland of Roses here in December. Both of those races were run on a sloppy track.

Referencing the Garland of Roses here on Dec. 11, Atras said Carmouche told him, “When he set her down, she didn’t have that gear she normally has,” Atras said. “I hate to make excuses, but she doesn’t run her ‘A’ race on that type of surface.”

Sadie Lady is the 124-pound highweight under Carmouche and breaks from post 4. Breakfastatbonnies will break from the outside post under Jose Lezcano and 118 pounds. Breakfastatbonnies has shown speed in virtually all of her starts including a second-level state-bred allowance win here on Dec. 11.

Time Limit, trained by Mike Maker for Three Diamonds Farm, won the What a Summer Stakes at Laurel Park on Jan. 29. She hasn’t faced New York-breds since July 23, when she came from off the pace to win a 5 1/2-furlong turf race.

Trevor McCarthy rides from post 5.

Trainer Mitch Friedman sends out the uncoupled pair of Awillaway and Chasing Cara, the latter a last-out winner on Dec. 9 The veteran Letmetakethiscall is a 13-time winner, though she will need a major turnaround from her recent form to be competitive here.