Ladies: Penwith aims to leave rivals behind

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Those who wagered on Penwith at 4-1 in the Affectionately Stakes thought they were going to start the new year off on a winning note before America caught her at the wire.

On Saturday, Penwith’s backers will get another chance to play her, though she’ll be closer to 4-5 than 4-1 in the $100,000 Ladies Handicap at Aqueduct. The Ladies, being run for the 144th time, was once a Grade 1 race run at 1 1/4 miles. It has long been a listed stakes and is run at 1 1/8 miles.

Penwith, a product of Grade 1 winners Bernardini and Composure, is seeking her first stakes victory, as is Moment in Dixie, who is winless in 16 stakes tries. Belle Gallantey, a dual Grade 1 winner in 2014, is looking to bounce back from a fifth-place finish as the 3-5 favorite in the Affectionately.

Shayjolie, fourth in the Affectionately after running second in the Grade 3 Comely, and Holiday’s Jewel, making her stakes debut in her 34th career start, complete the five-horse field.

With the short field, the Ladies has been carded as the third (1:43 p.m. Eastern) of nine races.

KEY CONTENDERS

Penwith (Last 3 Beyers: 88-74-79)

Tried to wire the field in the Affectionately, only to get run down late by America and lose by a nose. Likely to use similar front-running tactics Saturday under Fernando Jara.

“We’re going to leave the gate running,” said Art Magnuson, assistant to trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. “We have to go earn it; we’re training great.”

Belle Gallantey (Last 3 Beyers: 78-81-103)

Trainer Rudy Rodriguez expressed concerns about Belle Gallantey’s weight prior to the Affectionately, and she ran a flat fifth, unable to make the lead from her outside post.

“I still would like to see maybe another 70 pounds more, but that’s not going to be possible now,” Rodriguez said Thursday. “But she’s training good. She’s eating very good. I can’t believe that she doesn’t put on more weight because she’s eating better than ever.”

Belle Gallantey won a pair of Grade 1 races on the lead, and Rodriguez will tell jockey Manuel Franco to “break sharp and take it from there.”

Moment in Dixie (Last 3 Beyers: 86-92-80)

Her connections are desperately trying to get her a stakes win before she is retired and bred later this year.

Should the pace get hotly contested, she stands to benefit the most with her late-running style.

Her mother, Ellie’s Moment, finished second in the 2002 Ladies when it was a Grade 3 run at 1 1/4 miles. Ellie’s Moment did win the 2003 Rare Treat, a race, like this year’s Ladies, run at 1 1/8 miles over the inner track.