OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The good version of Randomized wins Friday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Beldame Stakes at Aqueduct. A multiple Grade 1 winner, Randomized is at her best when able to control things on the front end like she did in the 2023 Alabama, that year’s Beldame, and the 2024 Ogden Phipps. This year, however, Randomized has been inconsistent. While she did win the Grade 3 Molly Pitcher at Monmouth in July, that performance was sandwiched between two poor efforts in the Phipps and Personal Ensign. Friday, Randomized could potentially dictate terms against just four – and perhaps fewer – rivals in the 1 1/8-mile Beldame. As is the case with many divisions, there are too many stakes around the country and too few horses to fill them. The Beldame comes two days before the Grade 3, $400,000 Delaware Handicap at Delaware Park and a week before the Grade 1, $650,000 Spinster at Keeneland. Some Beldame entrants were expected to cross-enter in the Delaware Handicap. Trainer Chad Brown wasn’t necessarily planning to run Randomized in the Beldame after her sixth-place finish in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign on Aug. 23 at Saratoga. “She came back and worked well, so I decided to put her in there,” Brown said. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Randomized breaks from post 5 under Flavien Prat. Majestic Oops brings the best form into the Beldame. She has three wins, a second, and a third in her last five starts, with her runner-up finish coming to Randomized in the Molly Pitcher. Oddly, Majestic Oops, who has never won a graded race, was giving four pounds to the then three-time graded winner Randomized in the Molly Pitcher. Dan Ward, trainer of Majestic Oops, didn’t feel his 5-year-old mare handled the Monmouth surface as well in the Molly Pitcher as she did when she won the Lady’s Secret over it a month earlier. “She was struggling to get over it because it can get really dry when it’s hot out,” said Ward, who added that jockey Isaac Castillo “was having to ask her around the turn and he said that’s not really like her, but she still ran good.” Not wanting to wait 10 weeks between starts, Ward ran Majestic Oops in the Grade 1 Ballerina going seven furlongs at Saratoga, where she finished a credible third behind Hope Road. “That was probably the fastest she’s ever gone the first part of the race,” Ward said. “In the routes, she saves it, she doesn’t pull, she just waits.” Ward cross-entered Majestic Oops in the Delaware Handicap. Kendrick Carmouche, aboard for the Ballerina, would be on Majestic Oops on Friday if she runs. This time last year, Gun Song came within a neck of upsetting Thorpedo Anna in the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx Racing. Gun Song, winless in four starts this year, had a foot issue earlier in the season and has not run since a fourth-place finish in the Grade 2 Shuvee on July 18 at Saratoga. “I don’t think she’s ever run that great at Saratoga,” trainer Mark Hennig said. “She loves training there, but she’s never run well over that track. I don’t know if it’s just the heaviness of it that puts a mile and an eighth there a little out of her range for a horse that might prefer a mile or a mile and a sixteenth.” Hennig, who was planning to cross-enter Gun Song in the Delaware Handicap, has liked the way Gun Song has trained since returning from Saratoga. John Velazquez would ride Gun Song from post 3. Margie’s Intention, winner of the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan in May, is the lone 3-year-old filly in the field. She finished second in the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks and third in the Grade 1 Alabama. Manny Franco rides Margie’s Intention from post 2. Just Music, who would be making her stakes debut in this, her 20th career start, completes the field. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.