Gotham Gala back at best distance for Turnback the Alarm Handicap

Gotham Gala will be making a meaningful distance move Saturday when she returns to racing over 1 1/8 miles in the Grade 3, $150,000 Turnback the Alarm Handicap at Aqueduct.

The race, for fillies and mares, has drawn a field of nine. The group includes Grade 2 winner Jeltrin, Grade 3 winner Golden Award, and the Todd Pletcher-trained trio of Another Broad, Bellera, and Alberobello.

Gotham Gala looks like an up-and-coming filly for Mark Grier and trainer Arnaud Delacour. She enters Saturday’s race off an optional-claiming win at a mile, on Oct. 5 at Keeneland.

“I think this is a good, good distance for her, the mile and an eighth,” Delacour said.

Gotham Gala made her first start at the distance in June and won the $100,000 Obeah at Delaware Park. In her only other race at 1 1/8 miles, she was second by a nose in the $200,000 Lady Jacqueline in August at Thistledown, earning a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 94.

“After the Lady Jacqueline, we thought the Turnback the Alarm would be a good spot for her,” Delacour said. “We were looking for a race in between, and the race at Keeneland was good timing.

“I think she’ll like Aqueduct, but you never know.”

Gotham Gala, a 4-year-old daughter of Smart Strike, will break from post 9 under Daniel Centeno.

“She’s very athletic, moves very well, and she’s got tactical speed,” Delacour said.

Crimson Frost will get good support off a third-place finish in the Grade 2 Beldame on Sept. 28 at Belmont. The winner of the race, Midnight Bisou, is to start as the favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Saturday at Santa Anita. Crimson Frost is a three-time winner at Aqueduct. Harry Hernandez has the mount for trainer Michelle Nevin.

Another Broad exits a fourth-place finish in the Beldame. She won the $200,000 Top Flight in April at Aqueduct.

Moonlit Garden brings the best last-race Beyer Speed Figure to the table, an 88 for her runner-up finish in the Grade 3 Locust Grove on Sept. 14 at Churchill. She is a two-time stakes winner out of the mare Winter Garden, a Grade 3 winner who earned $902,786. Kendrick Carmouche has the mount on Moonlit Garden for trainer Brad Cox.

Golden Award is the 121 pound highweight on the strength of her win in the Grade 3 Shuvee in July at Saratoga. She defeated a field that included Wow Cat, who is to run Saturday in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, and She’s a Julie, who is a Grade 1 winner. Golden Award, who is a half-sister to Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I’ll Have Another, will break from post 6. Junior Alvarado has the mount for trainer Bill Mott.

Jeltrin won the Grade 2 Davona Dale in March at Gulfstream. She will be meeting older horses for the first time in the Turnback the Alarm.