Enliven should like Demoiselle's distance

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – As the field emerged from the fog in the Grade 3 Tempted Stakes here Nov. 2, Enliven appeared in good position to win the one-turn mile race for 2-year-old fillies.

In midstretch, however, Oxy Lady blew by Enliven en route to a five-length victory at odds of 36-1. Enliven finished second, seven lengths clear of the rest of the field.

On Saturday, Enliven will make her first start since then in the Grade 2, $250,000 Demoiselle Stakes going 1 1/8 miles at Aqueduct. The good news is Oxy Lady won’t be in the starting gate.

“No excuse last time, just got our butt kicked,” trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said. “I think the distance should be a plus, not negative.”

Enliven, a daughter of Ghostzapper owned and bred by Godolphin Racing, is out of the mare It’s Tricky, a two-time graded stakes winner at 1 1/8 miles. Enliven is a half-sister to Enticed, who finished second in this year’s Wood Memorial.

Enliven will break from the rail under Joe Bravo.

“I like it,” McLaughlin said of the post. “It’s the shortest way around. We’ll be forwardly placed.”

Positive Spirit, a three-quarter sister to 2017 Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming, is coming off a maiden win going a one-turn mile on Nov. 8 at Churchill Downs. That race came a month after she lost a maiden race at Keeneland by a neck.

“The mile and an eighth and the way she’s doing, I think I’m sitting on a very, very nice filly,” trainer Rodolphe Brisset said. “I think the light bulb really went on when she got beat at Keeneland.”

Filly Joel was a sharp maiden winner on Oct. 25 at Belmont, her first start going a route of ground. She has had a steady work tab since that race over Aqueduct’s main track, which has been a bit deeper than usual this fall.

“I like the way the track is,” said Rudy Rodriguez, who trains Filly Joel. “I don’t worry too much time-wise as long as they come back good, train good, eat good.

“I breezed her three-quarters one day, she breezed very good. She came back and is acting like she’s doing better and better. This is a good race for her to prove she can move forward and I think she will.”

Jennifer’s Dream is owned and is trained by the same people as Jaywalk, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner: Cash is King Stable and John Servis. While Jennifer’s Dream hasn’t shown Jaywalk’s brilliance in her first two starts, she has a very strong pedigree, being by Medaglia d’Oro out of the Grade 1-winning mare Joyful Victory.

Girl of Tosconova, Afleet Destiny, and Molto Bella complete the field.