Gyarmati keeping her cool over Wonder Gal

ELMONT, N.Y. - Usually, when a first-time starter wins a stakes race by 14 1/2 lengths, it’s something to crow about. But trainer Leah Gyarmati said she is not going to get too excited after Wonder Gal won Sunday’s $125,000 Lynbrook Stakes for New York-bred juvenile fillies by that margin.

Four of the six horses in the Lynbrook were maidens, one of whom scratched at the gate. Still, Wonder Gal made an eye-catching move around the far turn and galloped home under a hand ride from jockey Taylor Rice.

“She obviously looked terrific, but I’m taking it with a grain of salt,” Gyarmati said. “Let’s get to Saratoga and see the New York-bred filly maidens that Pletcher, Chad Brown, or whoever put out there, and then see if I look as impressive.”

Wonder Gal, a daughter of Tiz Wonderful owned by Jeff Treadway, earned a 79 Beyer Speed Figure for running six furlongs in 1:11.14.

Gyarmati did not have a specific race picked out for Wonder Gal, but the logical spot is the Grade 2, $200,000 Adirondack Stakes on Aug. 10, which leads the Grade 1 Spinaway on Aug. 31.

Gyarmati and Treadway won last year’s Spinaway with Sweet Reason, who on Monday worked four furlongs in 47.32 seconds over the Belmont training track, her third work since winning the Grade 1 Acorn on June 7. She is being pointed to the Grade 1 Test on Aug. 2.

"She does that herself,” Gyarmati said. “She came out of the Acorn great, just like she went into it.”

Gyarmati’s graded stakes-winning 3-year-old Noble Moon worked six furlongs Monday in 1:14.98 over the Belmont main track. It was his sixth work since May 31. The Jerome winner, Noble Moon, had missed three weeks of training following the Wood Memorial due to an ankle issue.

“It was a decent work,” said Gyarmati, who has not picked out a race for Noble Moon. “You could tell after the wire he got a little tired.”