La Verdad joins cast for Interborough

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – On the same morning that La Verdad was named an Eclipse Award finalist for her accomplishments in 2015, she was entered to race in what is expected to be an abbreviated 2016 campaign.

La Verdad, a finalist for champion female sprinter, was supplemented to and entered in Saturday’s $100,000 Interborough Stakes at Aqueduct. Provided she runs well there, La Verdad most likely will be pointed to the $300,000 Barbara Fritchie Stakes at Laurel Park on Feb. 13.

La Verdad, a 6-year-old daughter of Yes It’s True, won 5 of 8 starts in 2015. She posted victories in the Grade 2 Distaff at Aqueduct, the Grade 3 Vagrancy at Belmont, and the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom at Belmont in addition to a pair of New York-bred stakes. She finished first in the Grade 2 Honorable Miss at Saratoga but later was disqualified for testing positive for clenbuterol.

After winning the Iroquois Stakes for New York-breds on Oct. 24, La Verdad came back a week later and finished second behind Wavell Avenue in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland. Owner Sheila Rosenblum withdrew La Verdad from the Fasig-Tipton November sale in Lexington, Ky., on Nov. 2. In a bid to strengthen her Eclipse candidacy, La Verdad ran against males in the Grade 3 Fall Highweight at Aqueduct but finished sixth behind Green Gratto.

Trainer Linda Rice kept La Verdad in training at Belmont Park while Rosenblum decided what she wanted to do with the mare. Though she is still scheduled to be bred to Medaglia d’Oro this year, there is time to squeeze in a race or two.

“The fact that Sheila is going to keep her for herself, she doesn’t have to follow the same rules,” Rice said Wednesday. “Frankly, like so many [owners] before Sheila, she enjoys watching her run. It’s hard to find one like her.”

La Verdad drew post 5 in a field of seven fillies and mares entered in the six-furlong Interborough. It is no easy spot.

Room for Me, the decisive winner of the Garland of Roses; Princess Violet, the winner of the Grade 1 Madison in April and second in the Garland of Roses; and Willet, a five-time stakes-winning New York-bred mare, also were entered in the Interborough. Dancing House, unraced since winning a third-level allowance race in April; Fat Kat, a third-level allowance winner at Penn National; and Jubilant Vision, fourth in the Garland of Roses, complete the field.

The Interborough will be carded as race 3 (1:20 p.m. Eastern), and show wagering will not be permitted.