Desormeaux back at the Big A for East View Stakes
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Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux will race at Aqueduct for the first time in 11 years on Saturday when he rides likely favorite and probable pacesetter Naive Melody for trainer Wesley Ward in the $125,000 East View Stakes for New York-bred 3-year-old fillies.
“He rode some races for me I don’t know if anybody could have won but him. The guy’s just brilliant,” Ward said of Desormeaux, 54, who also rides Wico for Ward in an allowance race later on the card. “God forbid [Naive Melody] stumbles at the break. Whatever happens, he’ll be able to make a Plan B. . . . I have extreme confidence in him. He’s a phenomenal rider.”
Desormeaux, a winner of 6,178 races, last rode at Aqueduct in 2014 when he piloted Noble Cornerstone to a ninth-place finish in the Gotham.
Naive Melody, a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Domestic Product, overcame post 11 when she sped off to beat 10 rivals under John Velazquez when debuting here on Dec. 28.
“If you see her physically, she’s a big filly. She’s going to go two turns no problem,” Ward said. “That was Johnny’s comment when he got off her. She broke and went 21 and change, and he said ‘Wow, I wasn’t expecting that kind of speed with this big filly.’ ”
Ward said that Naive Melody has come out of her debut win in good shape and that she has been working with the 3-year-old colt Touchy, a multiple stakes-placed runner who is pointing to the Sunland Derby on Feb. 16
“To be matching strides with him in the morning bodes well,” Ward said.
Bernieandtherose is the only two-time winner in the East View. She was scratched from the Busanda Stakes on Jan. 11 due to some swelling in one of her eyes. This will be her first start since Nov.23.
Boston’s Phinest, trained by Chad Brown, was second to unbeaten With the Angels in the $200,000 Maid of the Mist Stakes two starts back, but she finished fourth as the favorite in the $500,000 Fifth Avenue division of the New York Stallion Series.
Storm Changer and Straca complete the field. The East View goes as race 3.
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