Fairy Godmother in top form but still in need of some pace

Fairy Godmother’s come-from-behind running style will always have her backers and connections holding their collective breath when she competes. It’s a style her trainer, Ray Handal, hopes will carry her to a third consecutive victory when she meets eight other New York-bred fillies and mares going six furlongs over the inner turf, weather permitting, Sunday at Belmont Park.

The race is the second of two similarly conditioned events scheduled on the grass Sunday for New York-bred fillies and mares, each offering a $108,000 purse. The first allowance attracted just seven starters and will be decided at one mile over the Widener course.

Fairy Godmother has improved dramatically since Handal put her back on the grass to capture her maiden by 6 1/2 lengths while competing under a $50,000 claiming tag last spring at Aqueduct. After having her late rallies fall short in two subsequent starts, Fairy Godmother got back on the winning track, first defeating entry-level statebred allowance victory at Saratoga and then open starter allowance opposition at Belmont Park five weeks later.

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“Obviously I’m happy how she’s been progressing coming off the two wins, although that also means she keeps facing tougher competition each time, as is the case Sunday,” said Handal. “I entered her in a stakes a couple of weeks ago but scratched because it just looked too tough for her, although I think the extra time should help her. I’m also happy Flavien [Prat] took the ride back. That’s always encouraging. She’s a quirky filly and he’s been able to figure her out and get her to come with that run.”

An honest pace is always key to Fairy Godmother’s success, and she should have one to run at on Sunday with Sweet Montreal and Oklahoma Smoke expected to be prominent, per usual, from the outset.

Trainer Jim Ryerson is hoping Sweet Montreal can return to the form that produced an impressive 3 1/4-length, wire-to-wire victory in the Joseph A. Gimma Stakes at Aqueduct in just her second career start as a 2-year-old during the summer of 2025. She has gone winless in three subsequent outings, all coming against open company, and is idle since finishing eighth after prompting the pace in the Take The A Train Stakes in early May.

“We put her away at the end of her 2-year-old season, then gave her a little more time off after a breeze at Saratoga this summer just didn’t seem right,” said Ryerson. “But she seems herself now. I just hope she’s tight enough off the layoff. I do love her post. From the outside, she can stalk if she wants or take the lead if nobody else wants it.”

Sweet Montreal is one of two stakes winners in the lineup along with She’s Country, who captured the one-mile Key Cents at Aqueduct in her juvenile finale and will be turning back to six furlongs for the first time on Sunday.

Ryerson will send out another stakes winner, Cosmic Candy Girl, looking to get her back on the winning track in the afternoon’s fourth race. Cosmic Candy Girl led throughout to upset the Suzie O’Cain Stakes at odds of 26-1 in July at Saratoga but has been off the board in three subsequent outings, including a sixth-place finish in the Grade 3 Sands Point just three weeks ago.

“I wasn’t totally surprised she won the stakes, just surprised how she did it because the plan going in was to take her off the pace,” Ryerson admitted. “She used to rate pretty well and we’d like to try to get her to slow down a little bit on Sunday with the hopes she’ll finish up like she did as a younger horse.”

Cosmic Candy Girl is part of a very competitive lineup that includes key contenders Charlottesuniverse and Boomington.

Charlotttesuniverse has improved from a Beyer Speed Figure standpoint with each of her last six starts and exits a second-place finish despite an awkward beginning under similar conditions at Belmont on Sept. 26.

Boomington, who finished second, nearly two lengths behind Charlottesuniverse when the pair last met late this summer at Saratoga, also continues to hold her form extremely well at the present time. She wheels back quickly while stepping up off a last-to-first 1 1/2-length victory going a mile against firstlevel statebred allowance opposition just 15 days earlier.

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