Brown holds strong hand in rescheduled Wonder Again Stakes
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ELMONT, N.Y. – The post positions – and a handful of riding assignments – have changed, but the field for the Grade 2, $200,000 Wonder Again Stakes remains the same when the 1 1/8-mile turf race for 3-year-old fillies runs Sunday at Belmont Park.
The Wonder Again was originally scheduled for Thursday, but that card was canceled due to unhealthy air quality in the New York region from the Canadian wildfires. The Wonder Again, and rescheduled Jersey Girl from Thursday, join the Astoria and Tremont – stakes for 2-year-olds – as part of an 11-race program that begins at 1:05 p.m.
Trainer Chad Brown has won four of the first nine runnings of the Wonder Again and will send out Revalita, Venencia, and Prerequisite on Sunday.
Revalita, a French-bred daughter of the two-time Group 1 winner Recoletos, had wide trips in both the Grade 3 Herecomesthebride at Gulfstream Park and Grade 2 Edgewood at Churchill Downs, finishing fourth in the former and second in the latter, both times beaten three-quarters of a length.
The Herecomesthebride, in which Revalita galloped out past the field, produced next-out stakes winners Danse Macabre and Papalito. In the Edgewood, Revalita finished in front of Mission Joy and Papalito, who came back to run one-two in the Regret Stakes on June 3 at Churchill.
Though both of Revalita’s wins came at seven furlongs, Brown said of the nine furlongs, “I think she’ll handle it just fine.”
Jose Ortiz rides Revalita from post 2. She had originally drawn post 4.
Prerequisite is coming off a maiden win going 1 1/8 miles that impressed Brown.
“She had a little bit of a rough trip, made more than one move in the race, and still won,” Brown said. “She came back and worked super two weeks in a row, so I decided to put her in there. She’s got tactical speed, which might help her.”
Flavien Prat rides Prequisite from post 5. She originally drew post 7.
Venencia won her debut in France last November, was purchased privately by a multiple group partnership, and sent to Brown. On April 27, at Keeneland, Venencia rallied from last of 12 to finish third in a first-level allowance going one mile.
“She came with a very nice turn of foot,” Brown said.
Irad Ortiz Jr. rides Venencia from post 3.
Trainer Todd Pletcher, a two-time winner of the Wonder Again, sends out Spansive, who has won her first two starts, both on the front end. Spansive went from post 5 to post 8 in the redraw of the Wonder Again. Joel Rosario will ride, replacing John Velazquez.
Juniper’s Moon, second to Spansive in a first-level allowance, was third behind Mission of Joy in the Grade 3 Florida Oaks at Tampa Bay Downs.
Allamericanbeauty came out of a fifth-place finish in the Florida Oaks to win a first-level allowance going 1 1/8 miles on April 14 at Keeneland for trainer Shug McGaughey. She moves from post 8 to the rail and will now be ridden by Jose Lezcano. Tyler Gaffalione had been named.
“If she breaks good and settles in right and gets in a good kind of gallop, I think she’ll be fine,” McGaughey said.
Be Your Best won the P.G. Johnson at Saratoga at 2 and may have needed her first start this year when she was seventh in the Grade 2 Appalachian at Keeneland. Thirty Thou Kelvin, fifth in the Hilltop at Pimlico on May 19, completes the field.
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