Constellation will stick with short game

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – With the owners of Constellation, who won the Ruthless Stakes by 10 lengths on Sunday, having other fillies such as Nickname and Inheritance to attempt the longer races, Constellation likely will be kept sprinting. The next sprint stakes on the calendar at Aqueduct is the $125,000 Cicada at six furlongs on March 26.

“If we move her, it would only be for weather,” said trainer Steve Asmussen, whose stable in New York is overseen by assistant Toby Sheets. “For the unforeseeable future, she’ll stay at Belmont. She likes it there, trains exceptionally well there, and Toby’s done a wonderful job with her.”

Constellation, a daughter of Bellamy Road owned by the L N J Foxwoods Stable of Larry, Nanci, and Jaime Roth, earned an 89 Beyer Speed Figure for the Ruthless, her third win from five career starts.

Jaime Roth, the daughter of Larry and Nanci, said she has no immediate desire to see Constellation attempt to stretch out in distance.

“I’ve learned in a short period of time that when a horse is really good at something, they get more confident, and you could see today she was very confident,” Roth said. “I think leaving her at this distance would probably be the right move.”