Eskenformoney will make Turnback the Alarm career finale

ELMONT, N.Y. – Eskenformoney will be ending her racing career while Miss Sky Warrior will be restarting hers in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Turnback the Alarm Handicap for fillies and mares at Belmont Park.

Eskenformoney, a 5-year-old daughter of Eskendereya, is making her 28th and final start before being sold at Fasig-Tipton’s November auction on Nov. 6. Eskenformoney is winless in seven starts this year, but her last two races came in Grade 1 stakes against Forever Unbridled, to whom she was third in the Personal Ensign at Saratoga, and Elate, to whom she was third in the Beldame.

“She’s dead honest, just missed second the other day,” trainer Todd Pletcher said, referring to the Beldame in which Eskenformoney was beaten a nose for second by Money’soncharlotte. “But she ran well, I thought.”

Eskenformoney has not won since last December’s Grade 3 Rampart Handicap at Gulfstream. That race, like the 1 1/16-mile Turnback the Alarm, is around one turn.

Miss Sky Warrior, a 3-year-old daughter of First Samurai, has handled one turn and two turns equally well. She was victorious around one turn in the Grade 3 Tempted last fall at Aqueduct and again in the Grade 2 Davona Dale at Gulfstream in March. Those races set her up for success in two-turn races such as the Grade 2 Demoiselle at 2 and the Gazelle at 3. Miss Sky Warrior is using the Turnback the Alarm to get to the Grade 3, $250,000 Comely for 3-year-old fillies at Aqueduct on Nov. 24.

Miss Sky Warrior has not raced since she finished eighth in the May 3 Kentucky Oaks behind winner Abel Tasman. Trainer Kelly Breen said Miss Sky Warrior got banged up a bit in that race and needed ample time to recover. Her work tab is littered with bullet moves for her return.

“She’s always been in the bridle for her workouts,” Breen said. “She is speedy. In the beginning, it was a little bit of an issue to try and get her to go the farther distance. After racing a couple of times, she learned to slow herself down and not be so precocious and anxious.”

Though Paco Lopez rode Miss Sky Warrior in her first seven starts, Javier Castellano picks up the mount on Saturday.

Verve’s Tale finished a neck behind Eskenformoney in the Beldame. Prior to that, she won the Summer Colony Stakes going a two-turn 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga.

Trainer Barclay Tagg said he would like to see jockey Joel Rosario be a little more aggressive on Verve’s Tale on Saturday than he was in the Beldame.

Last Sunday, trainer Kelly Rubley shipped up Dalarna from her base at Fair Hill in Maryland to post a 19-1 upset in the English Channel Stakes. She ships in Indian Paint on Saturday for the Turnback the Alarm. Indian Paint is coming off a neck victory in a second-level allowance at Parx Racing.

A Place to Shine, Tejana, and Birdatthewire complete the field.