Franklin Square Stakes comes up light

Saturday’s $100,000 Franklin Square for New York-bred 3-year-old fillies at Aqueduct provides a ripe stakes opportunity for its participants but less opportunity for gamblers pondering a bet. The race drew only six participants, including the maiden Trinni Ninja, and contention appears thin.

Three fillies are former maiden claimers, including the frequently raced My Roxy Girl. Winless in her first seven races, she has exhibited marked improvement since adding blinkers in the fall, recording three victories from five starts. Most recently, she narrowly won a starter $50,000 allowance race Feb. 9, earning the top last-race Beyer Speed Figure in Saturday’s field, a 65.

My Roxy Girl met two Franklin Square rivals, Pauseforthecause and Beautiful Buzz, two starts back in a New York-bred allowance Jan. 19, finishing less than a length behind them. She finished fifth, while Pauseforthecause was third and Beautiful Buzz fourth.

My Roxy Girl is trained by Mitchell Friedman and owned by Richard Greeley. Junior Alvarado rides the filly, a stalker in a six-furlong race in which half the field are front-runners.

Pauseforthecause and Beautiful Buzz appear to be the speed horses most likely to stick around late. Both have reason to move forward off their recent starts, with the former set for her second race following a layoff and the latter being a lightly raced filly eligible to improve in just her third race.

Difficult to evaluate is the inconsistent Aunt Babe, the lone stakes winner in the field, but a filly who has lost three of her five races by 16 lengths or more.

KEY CONTENDERS

Pauseforthecause, by Giant’s Causeway
Last 3 Beyers: 63-66-68)

◗ Has the fanciest pedigree in the field, being by Kentucky stallion Giant’s Causeway and out of Spritely, a three-time stakes winner who was Grade 1-placed.

◗ Came up empty in the final furlong when losing by two lengths Jan. 19, though she was elevated from fourth to third by the stewards after being carried out and bumped by Beautiful Buzz.

Beautiful Buzz, by Teuflesberg
Beyers: 64-67

◗ Illustrated in her debut victory over Franklin Square entrant Velvet Trinni that she can be effective from a pressing position on the outside, and her draw in post 4, outside the other speed, leaves her in a position for a similar trip.

My Roxy Girl, by Emcee
Last 3 Beyers:65-62-72

◗ Never switched leads down the stretch in winning her latest, though she did run down a stubborn front-runner who had established an easy early pace.