Clairvoyant Lady has hot trainer on her side

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The two-time Grade 3 winner El Areeb isn’t the only runner with whom trainer Cal Lynch has had success this winter at Aqueduct.

Lynch, based at Laurel Park, has made eight starts at Aqueduct this winter with four horses, and none has finished worse than third. Lynch hopes that trend continues this weekend, as he was to run two horses here Saturday and will send out Clairvoyant Lady in a starter allowance/optional $50,000 claimer that drew the largest field of Aqueduct’s nine races on Sunday. Clairvoyant Lady takes on 11 rivals in the six-furlong race on a card that drew just 64 runners.

Clairvoyant Lady has already made two trips to New York, finishing second, beaten nine lengths by Sounds Delicious, who is 3 for 3 in her career. Clairvoyant Lady, a daughter of Astrology, returned to New York on Feb. 17 and overcame a bumpy start to rally from last and win a race similar to Sunday’s by a neck. The runner-up from that race, She’s Stunning, came back to win at Parx in her next start.

In that Feb. 17 race, Clairvoyant Lady got bumped coming out of the gate by the horse to her inside, then took another hard hit from the filly to her outside and was last early. She found ample room between horses in upper stretch and outfinished She’s Stunning. It was 2 1/2 lengths back to Tainted Angel, who is back in this field.

Clairvoyant Lady is being offered for the $50,000 claiming tag, one of just two horses in the field available to be claimed. Clairvoyant Lady won the White Clay Creek Stakes at Delaware last August.

“She’s game, she’s a stakes winner,” Lynch said. “I thought she was going to get claimed a race or two ago. I own her; she doesn’t owe me anything.”

Angel Arroyo, aboard for the Jan. 26 runner-up finish, is back aboard Clairvoyant Lady, who breaks from post 3.

Manny Franco, who rode Clairvoyant Lady in the Feb. 17 victory, is riding Luna Rising for Kiaran McLaughlin. Two starts back, Luna Rising won a maiden $62,500 claimer by 4 3/4 lengths over the inner track. She came back and finished third in the Franklin Square Stakes for New York-breds.

Banty’s Girl turns back to a sprint after finishing seventh in the Busher Stakes on Feb. 25. Prior to that, she was third in the Ruthless going six furlongs here on Jan. 14.

Tainted Angel, Courtmewithcarats, and Shesmyheartandsoul are other contenders in the field.