La Moneda may target Plenty of Grace Stakes

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Signs of spring were in ample supply Friday in New York. The temperatures were in the low 60s, the racing office sent out a text to horsemen that the first 2-year-old races of the year will be carded for April 17 and 18, and the stakes-winning turf filly La Moneda worked three furlongs at Belmont Park.

La Moneda, who won the Yaddo at Saratoga and most recently finished second in the Grade 3 My Charmer at Gulfstream Park in December, went three furlongs in 37.77 seconds.

Trainer Tom Morley said that La Moneda has been in training at Lynwood Stable, operated by Bill and Lynn Reccio, in Ocala., Fla.

“She came up to us last week and worked very nicely at Belmont,” said Morley, whose New York operation is overseen by Michelle Giangiulio.

Morley said that if all goes well La Moneda would be pointed to the $100,000 Plenty of Grace Stakes at Aqueduct on April 14. The one-mile listed stakes is a logical spot for La Moneda to return for both professional and personal reasons. Morley and his wife, Maggie Wolfendale, NYRA’s paddock analyst, have a daughter named Grace.

“We would like to win the Plenty of Grace considering we have plenty of Grace in our life,” Morley said. “I didn’t know my daughter had such a profound effect on New York racing that they already named a stakes after her.”